Serving the poorest of the poor: the story of Jeremiah J. Lowney.

Since 1966, Dr Jerry Lowney has practiced orthodontics in Norwich, Connecticut, where he has been active in both community and professional organizations, including the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors for Higher Education. Since his first volunteer trip to Haiti in the mid-1980s, during which he provided dental services for the poor, he has returned to that country at least three times each year. Over time the nature of his activities has changed. Through grant writing, personal influence, liaison with a religious order, a huge investment of time, successful fundraising, the seizing of every opportunity, and the expenditure of large amounts of his own money, he has created a multimillion-dollar general health facility in one of the poorest areas in Haiti. Besides dental treatment, the scope of his activities has ranged from creating centers for high-risk pregnancy and malnutrition to the hiring of physicians, the training of local nurse practitioners, and an Adopt-a-Family program run by his wife, Virginia. His actions have been influenced by Virginia's caring attitudes and by his conviction that much is expected from those who have received life's bounties.