Mejía Honors a US physician for his Humanitarian Work [in the Dominican Republic]

Hoy is a Spanish-language publication in the Dominican Republic.  Below is an English-language translation of an article from 2003 about Heart Care.  Following the article are images of the Spanish-language original version.

From the front page...

President Hipólito Mejía yesterday awarded Dr. Robert Michler the Official Order Heráldica de Cristóbal Colón for his humanitarian work in this country. Michler, was introduced by the director of the Dominican Instituter for Social Security, Willian Jana, has performed heart surgery on 280 Dominican children of limited means at the Robert Reid Cabral hospital.

Mejía honors a US physician for his humanitarian work here

President Hipólito Mejía led the ceremony yesterday honoring Dr. Robert Michler, a US citizen, who was awarded the Official Order Heráldica de Cristóbal Colón for his humanitarian work in the country.

Michler, who was introduced by Willian Jana, the director of Dominican Institute for Social Security (IDSS), has performed heart surgery on 280 children of low income families under a humanitarian program that is based at the Robert Reid Cabral hospital.

The honorable mention of the American doctor was provided under Decree 62-03.

Dr. Michler is a pediatric cardiologist and president of the Heart Care International Foundation since 1995. He acknowledged the honor bestowed upon him by President Mejía and emphasized that his work is taking place not only in the Dominican Republic but also in other countries of South America and the Caribbean.

Michler highlighted the presence of several of the children that had been operated on under this humanitarian program and said it is most important is that these children could become doctors, engineers, lawyers, athletes and even President of the Republic.

Michler had studied at Harvard University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He received his medical degree from the Dartmouth Medical School where he also was awarded the Leopold Schepp Scholarship.

The award ceremony took place in the Ambassador Salon of the National Palace.

Dr. Pedro Ureña read the biography of the American doctor.  Also present at the ceremony were, amongst others, Mr. Sergio Grullón, the President’s secretary, as well as the musical director Mr. José Antonia Molina and the union leaders Mariano Negrón and Gabriel del Rio.

Caption under the picture

President Hipólito Mejía yesterday awarded Dr. Robert Michler the Official Order Heráldica de Cristóbal Colón for his humanitarian work in this country. Participating in the ceremony were Dr. Willian Jana, director of IDSS, and a number of the 280 children operated on by the doctor at the Robert Reid Cabral hospital.

Spanish-Language Versions (click to enlarge)

This article was originally published in May 2003 in Hoy, a newspaper in the Dominican Republic.