Miguel Beltran
Paul Harris Fellow
Testimonial of Club President, Marty Lindemann/Service Impact
Miguel was born in Ecuador, educated as a medical doctor in Belarus, practiced medicine as a doctor of oncology in Ecuador and ten years ago decided to
become an immigrant to America, Once here he was denied admission to train or practice as a medical doctor—his profession.
Instead, to house and feed his kids, he eventually opened a successful dry cleaners in Needham. He came to our attention for his work in bringing last
fall a badly burned eleven year old boy to Boston from Ecuador for treatment at Shriners Hospital. The boy was in a coma after being attacked, doused with
gasoline and set on fire.
Miguel found out that to bring the boy here would require a $53,000 medical airplane trip. Instead, through friends in Ecuador, he was able to ask the President of Ecuador for help. The President responded by offering his personal airplane and the boy was brought here for treatment. Shriners hospital agreed to treat this severely wounded young man, he survived and is now back in Ecuador.
In reading about this man, we discovered that he is no ordinary dry cleaning store owner. So far, he has on his own brought more than 25 kids from around the world for medical treatment here. He is using his medical degree to help screen and place needy kids for life changing surgery in Boston.
Or, you can watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
While Miguel is not yet a Rotarian, he has well demonstrated that he has more than enough heart and Rotary spirit! He has demonstrated his commitment to children’s health and is currently in the early phases of securing his tax exempt status. We are honored to be a part of his team.