Dr. Jorge and Mildred Corona
Initial Volunteers
Dr. Dennis Bedard met Dr. Corona and his wife on his first dental mission to Guatemala. Dr. Corona had a private practice in a poorer part of Guatemala City and he also worked at a health unit in the village of Fraijanes. Mildred was a kindergarten teacher at an inner-city school. In the early days of DFA’s involvement in Guatemala, Dr. Corona arranged dental clinics for DFA in shanty towns around Guatemala City, where he provided medical services for the inhabitants. Starting in 1999, Mildred arranged for DFA to provide dental services to the kindergarten children at the school where she taught. The Coronas provided our teams with support and guidance and allowed DFA to store equipment at Dr. Corona’s medical clinic and at their home. They would guide us to our clinics and were always at the airport to greet our teams when we flew in late at night. If anyone got sick, Dr. Corona made sure medicine was delivered to wherever we were located. The Bedards watched the Corona’s children grow up (Juan Pablo, Rafael and Fabiola), and they, in turn, began to assist us in different aspects of our clinics. They could never do enough for us. We will always remember Dr. Corona’s guitar playing. We are proud to be able to call them our friends.