“Community-supported pediatric healthcare can break the cycle of poverty.
A sick child limits a family’s ability to make ends meet, struggles to learn in school, and can grow up to find few employment options, perpetuating socio-economic disadvantages.
Communities are not powerless in this respect. We mold the future with each child we treat.”
Dra. Alejandra Peña Salguero, Board Member
Creating Access to Care
Before 2016, there was no pediatric healthcare for the 5000+ children in Todos Santos and El Pescadero. Low-income families could not afford transportation to take their kids to see a specialist, let alone time away from work without pay. As a result, many children suffered from untreated chronic conditions.
In 2022, we celebrated the milestone of helping our thousandth child. Just 4 years later we have nearly doubled that number as our patient enrollment rate has grown exponentially, challenging us to find ways to continue serving every child who qualifies.
- Due to an ongoing population explosion combined with outreach efforts, the number of patients seen per month has surpassed 150 children.
- Patient cases are more complex, and many diagnoses and treatments require travel to mainland Mexico.
- Because low-income parents struggle to miss work to take their child to a specialist, we strive to bring physicians to Todos Santos. In 2025, more than 88% of all care took place in Todos Santos.
- Our goal is to engage families early with newborn screenings to greatly improve early diagnosis, treatment, and clinical outcomes. In 2025, 30% of new patients are 4 years old or younger.
Over the past 10 years, Padrino has treated more than 1950 local children, profoundly improving access to care and clinical outcomes. But as more low-income families arrive and we expand our programs to include universal newborn screening for all residents, Padrino must grow to meet our mission.
The Padrino Pediatric Center
A generous donation provided Padrino with a 1,200 sq meter lot in the San Vicente neighborhood of Todos Santos. With pro-bono services by Los Angeles-based architect Peter Hamilton and El Pescadero resident Andres Ariza, Padrino has planned a purpose-built, outpatient medical center. A traditional facade appropriate to Todos Santos will envelop a well-equipped, modern facility with room to grow.
The two-story, accessibility-compliant medical center will offer space and equipment for administration, social work, pediatrician consultations, social and mental healthcare, physical therapy, therapies for children with special needs, visiting specialist and telemedicine consultations, and family counseling, as well as a staff room, conference room, storage space, and a guest suite for visiting physicians and partners.
The new facility will allow Padrino to:
- guarantee local access to pediatric care for families who cannot afford to miss work and travel to providers.
- eliminate waiting lists for new patients
- expand newborn screening and visiting specialist programs
- better equip the clinical team with diagnostic and therapeutic aids
- create therapeutic garden spaces
- operate a secure pharmacy for patients
- employ high-tech information technology and security systems
- reduce staff stress and foster teamwork
- expand community and staff education
View from Calle Verduzco
Inside the Courtyard
Main entrance to patient reception
Inside the Courtyard
Aerial View
Location of lot in Barrio San Vicente
The Dream Becomes Reality
On January 31st, 2026, we gathered with donors, community members, government leaders, and our patient families to break ground on the future Padrino Pediatric Center in the San Vicente neighborhood of Todos Santos.
Follow along as we build for the future!
Donate to The Padrino Pediatric Center
Since 2022, Padrino has raised more than $1.2 million US dollars to ensure years of access and health equity for children in our region.
Due to rising construction costs, Padrino is raising additional funding of $150,000 USD for furnishings, equipment, and landscaping. Also, to ensure long term sustainability of the facility, we are starting a fund for long-term operations.
We invite everyone to take part in establishing this legacy for the children of our community by contributing.
- Consider a tax-deductible donation toward completing the construction, furnishing and equipping the facility and landscaping the grounds.
- Pave the way with a commemorative brick – Reserve a brick inscribed with your name, your business, or the name of a loved one to fund furnishings and medical equipment. ($1,000 USD each)
- Make a founding donation to the Healthy Children Development Fund, which will ensure the long-term sustainability of Padrino services in our community.
How to Contribute
We invite everyone to take part in establishing this legacy for the children of our community by contributing.
US tax-deductible donations and Mexican pesos donations to the capital fund may be made in numerous ways including check, PayPal, credit card, charitable giving fund, bank transfer, or stock donation.
Questions? Write to Nancy Naigle at info@padrinocf.org for instructions.
Regardless of the giving method, please specify “Building Fund” with your donation.
Padrino is both a US 501(c)(3) and a Mexican Asociación Civil (A.C.)
Padrino Children’s Foundation
EIN #47-3798912
Fundación Padrino Todos Santos AC
RFC: FPT220920350
Articles To Learn More
Padrino Children’s Foundation: A Pediatric Care Oasis
By Pedro Benítez Crespo with translation by Francesca Magallon in Journal del Pacifico, Winter 2025
The Padrino Children’s Foundation has a vision of a community in which all children achieve their full potential for health and well-being. The non-profit organization is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and their families living in situations of financial need. Since its founding, Padrino has worked tirelessly to foster health equity for low-income families through improved access to comprehensive pediatric care in a region that has historically had none. Qualified families with relatively greater economic resources are encouraged to make a small contribution toward the total cost of treatment, but receiving a needed service never depends on payment. Driven by values of solidarity, empathy, and transparency, Padrino seeks to create a lasting impact in the communities it serves—Todos Santos, El Pescadero, and surrounding areas.
Nonprofit Outgrows Facility as Community’s Medical Needs Grow
BY KATHRYN REED in the Gringo Gazette, January 2, 2023
Since its inception in 2016, the Padrino Children’s Foundation has outgrown its space three times. That is why the nonprofit is on a quest to raise $750,000 for a two-story, 5,000-square-foot building in Todos Santos. As the town’s population grows, so do its needs. Each month Padrino sees new patients, with about 20 percent of the local population coming through its doors. That’s 21,800 medical interventions provided to 1,211 kids since January 2017.
Two Blocks from the Future
By Rebecca Otto
When did Padrino Children’s Foundation realize it needed to build, not rent? A chance meeting with Padrino board member Nancy Naigle last November gave me, a writer and Padrino donor, the chance to find out for myself.
I hadn’t visited Padrino on Cuauhtémoc near Santos Degollado in the San Vicente neighborhood, so I didn’t realize that Padrino faces itself on this busy dirt road—the clinic on one side and MAKA therapy center on the other. The clinic site opened in early 2019. MAKA moved across the street in 2020. This second rental eased a squeeze, but created a weather problem. During hurricane season, torrential rains divide Padrino from itself…
Building for the Future of Children’s Healthcare
BY NANCY NAIGLE in The Journal del Pacifico, Winter 2023
What was it like to be an impoverished child from Todos Santos or El Pescadero who needed healthcare in 2016? Most likely the family would have gone to the Centro de Salud. Often, the parents were advised to see a specialist in La Paz, such as a pediatrician. The parents would have struggled to afford the transportation and hours away from work for the specialist consultation. In many cases, the child would go without the needed care.
These were the prevailing circumstances when Padrino Children’s Foundation was founded in 2016…
