Our History

    A coalition of Salvadoran civil war refugees sought to address the pressing mental and physical needs of their compatriots in the Los Angeles community and founded Clínica Romero in 1983 with the assistance of volunteer physicians. Inspiration for the mission of the clinic is rooted in the active compassion and defense of the poor exemplified by the life of martyred Archbishop Romero of El Salvador. Clínica Romero’s staff continues this tradition of compassionate treatment of others by their embedded organizational values.

    1983

    Aurora Martinez, one of the founder's of Clinica Romero

    First site for Clinica Romero

    1833 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles

    Pediatricians providing care at Clinica Romero, Losa Angeles

    1984

    Dr. Hoffman (sitting); Dr. Mercedes Mendoza, dental clinic coordinator; patient and translator at Clinica Romero, Los Angeles

    Anne Mello receives the first grantfor Clinica Romero, Los Angeles

    1985

    Visit to Clinica Romero by Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley; Anne Mello, director; Dr. Jack Kent, medical director; Debbie Benada, R.N.; and E. Valentino, BOD president. Javier Huete and his daughter Celeste are standing by the door, Los Angeles

    1988

    Eduardo Gonzalez and staff, Los Angeles

    1989

    Clinica Romero staff: Oscar Lopez, Blanca Orellana, Mario Hernandez, Los Angeles

    2019

    Dr. Kent was former board member and provider for Clinca Romero and died on June 24, 2019

    Saint Romero

    Until his assassination by right wing gunmen, Archbishop Oscar A. Romero (1917-1980) of San Salvador spoke out courageously in defense of human rights and social justice in strife-torn El Salvador.

    Romero’s campaign for human rights in El Salvador won him many national and international admirers as well as a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. It also won him enemies, however. On March 24, 1980, a group of unidentified gunmen entered a small chapel in San Salvador while Romero was celebrating mass and shot him to death. The archbishop had foreseen the danger of assassination and had spoken of it often, declaring his willingness to accept martyrdom if his blood might contribute to the solution of the nation’s problems.

    “As a Christian,” he remarked on one such occasion, “I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.”