NAYARIT, Mexico — Even though they didn’t know each one another, dozens of doctors and U.S. boaters helped bring health and happiness to an underprivileged community south of the border.

Photo by: www.MexicoBoating.com A Gift to the Hospital — Carried down from California by a pleasureboater in November, this donated ultrasound cardio evaluation device is already in use at San Blas Hospital. The machine was formally dedicated at the hospital’s special-needs Children’s Party, Jan. 18.

San Blas, a small harbor located between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, has a marina and estuary that are popular with cruising boaters and sport anglers. However, the region is among the most impoverished on the Sea of Cortez, still struggling to recover from Hurricane Kenna.

After six months of coordinated efforts here to help the community’s children, U.S. boaters and doctors were honored Jan. 14 during San Blas Hospital’s ninth annual Children’s Party.

“My heartfelt thanks go out to the many boaters who made this magnificent donation and event happen,” said Norm Goldie, a U.S. boater who retired in San Blas and now volunteers at the hospital. Goldie coordinated the medical donations and Children’s Party.

Dozens of doctors in California, Colorado and Missouri donated their services and medical devices to provide hundreds of pairs of orthopedic shoes, hearing aids and eyeglasses for 150 special-needs kids who are patients at San Blas Hospital’s new children’s rehabilitation center. One cardiologist donated a multipurpose ultrasound machine that performs a wide range of operations.

“That ultrasound device does the work of five different machines combined, none of which we could afford,” Goldie said.

Over the summer, several southbound boaters collected the much-needed equipment, occasionally paying to ship it across the U.S. for repairs — and they brought it all to Mexico by sea in November.

The owner of one cruising trawler hoisted the half-ton cardiology machine on board and delivered it to Baja California — along with cases of shoes and other material donations. All the gear and services were donated on a personal humanitarian level without financial gain.

The San Blas Hospital’s ninth annual party for special-needs children included food, games and wrapped holiday gifts for at least 150 children and their families.

“Wow,” Goldie said, “what an effort by so many people!”

While the children broke open piñatas, officials from the U.S. embassy and Nayarit’s state department of health services held a dedication ceremony to formally accept the medical devices and to honor all the U.S. boaters, U.S. doctors and local volunteers who had helped get the new center well enough equipped to open.