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Dedication speech by Gary Selnow, Ph.D.
"We should be proud that we are participating in a process that, while addressing the health of the human body, reflects the strengths of the human spirit.
I am pleased to be back in Leon to join with you in the ribbon cutting of another Medical Information Center. It was a year ago that we opened the doors on the first Information Center at the Heodra Hospital. The computers here, like the computers there, hold extensive medical libraries that will enable the fine doctors, teachers and students in Leon to contribute even more to the health and well-being of their patients.
WiRED provides Medical Information Centers in many countries—in Central Europe, in Africa, in the Middle East. We were the first to provide many doctors and students in Iraq with current medical information. That project continues.
In Leon, we work with the Polus Center and with Santiago Castellan and his colleagues. This project is sponsored by the Tiburon-Belvedere Rotary Club in California and Rotary International in cooperation with the Rotary Club here in Leon. We work in cooperation because the practice of medicine itself is about cooperation.
We build today on a medical education system that started 3,000 years ago. And so we stand on the shoulders of many people who have worked to improve human health. Health care today is a cooperative effort involving many people: researchers, teachers, technicians, administrators, families, doctors, nurses-and let's not forget that even the patient himself participates.
Medicine is a team effort. Improving health is not an isolated undertaking but a global partnership. These computers remind us of that as they help join the many players into a team. All of us here in Leon connect with people on every continent in objectives shared by all people: improve human health and extend human life.
Cutting this ribbon today is another symbol that we are part of a united effort. In a world pained and broken by war, threats and fear, we should be proud that we are participating in a process that, while addressing the health of the human body, reflects the strengths of the human spirit. This Center is not just about computers, it is a celebration of something much larger—it is a recognition that we are a small part of a large process that spans centuries and continents. Cutting this ribbon reminds us that in a world politically divided, our gathering represents cooperation, and the unity of people everywhere.
And so, on behalf of the sponsors of this project—the Tibron-Belvedere Rotary, Rotary International and the Leon Rotary, all of WiRED's volunteers worldwide, the Polus Center and the many people who have worked on this effort, I want to wish the doctors, the students and the good people of Leon peaceful, healthy and productive lives."
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