Community Commemorates 35th Anniversary of Monseñor Romero Legacy With Clínica Romero Procession

LOS ANGELES - March 22, 2015 - PRLog -- The Pico Union-Westlake community and Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero, will commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the death of Monseñor Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador – El Salvador – during the country’s bloodiest civil conflict, with a procession and prayer on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The procession, led by Catholic Bishop Alexander Salazar, will begin at 1:30 p.m. outside the Children’s Clinic/ Clínica Romero Community Health Center (201 S. Alvarado Street, #100) and will move north toward Clínica Romero (123 S. Alvarado Street) where a procession and prayer will take place followed by a press conference at 2:00 p.m.

Confirmed guests include: L.A. City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell and the Consul General of Guatemala, Bishop Alexander Salazar, Carlos Vaquerano (SALEF), Sandra Rossato (Clinica), and families of unaccompanied minors.

“Through this community procession we hope to bring continued awareness to Monseñor Romero’s work, and keep his memory and tradition alive,” said Sandra Rossato, Executive Director for Clínica Monseñor Romero. “His legacy is one of justice and service to the poor and that is the foundation for our work at Clínica. We provide crucial health services to low-income and immigrant communities in and around the downtown Los Angeles areas, and more recently, have serviced hundreds of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” added Rossato.

In addition to providing mental and health services for unaccompanied minors in the last year, since February 2015, Clínica has enrolled close to 2,000 patients in My Health L.A. – a county program that helps provide health services to undocumented immigrants living in the area. Clínica serves a predominantly low-income, monolingual Spanish-speaking uninsured Latino population and a significant indigenous population from southern Mexico and Central America. Close to 100% of Clínica’s patients live at or below the Federal Poverty Level.

“As we celebrate the 35th anniversary of his martyrdom, we must make a commitment to continue to pay tribute to him and his legacy by serving the poor, bringing awareness to and fighting the injustices that still prevail in El Salvador,” said Carlos Vaquerano, Board Chair for Clínica and President of the Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund (SALEF). "His future beatification is the best way to pay tribute to a great man who gave his life for the poor and demonstrated that at the heart of human rights everybody should be treated equal, with dignity and respect."

Program Details and Visuals:

1:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.

Begin Procession at Children’s Clinic toward Clínica Romero

Image of Monseñor Romero carried by children

Participants will wear orange ribbons in solidarity with UAM

Flags of El Salvador and Guatemala

1:50 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Prayer in Clínica patient waiting room area by

Bishop Alexander Salazar, Catholic Archdiocese

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Press Conference at Clínica

Clínica, Elected Officials, Community Leaders and Unaccompanied minor family speak

For more information about Clínica Monseñor Romero, visit our website at www.clinicaromero.com.

#          #          #

About Us

Clinica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero (Clinica Romero) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) established in 1983 in Los Angeles County to improve the availability, accessibility, and coordination of primary and preventive healthcare services for low-income families and residents of the Pico-Union/Westlake area near downtown Los Angeles. Thirty years after its inception, Clinica Romero continues to uphold its mission to provide quality, affordable, and culturally sensitive health care and other services to the uninsured, insured, and underserved communities of greater Los Angeles regardless of ability to pay by upholding the legacy and tradition of Monseñor Oscar Romero.