Nearly one-third of the global disease burden stems from surgically treatable conditions. And while many global health initiatives focus on primary and preventative care, five billion people around the world still lack access to basic surgical services. Rooted in the tradition of Catholic social justice and a spirituality of solidarity, Solidarity Bridge seeks to respond to this concrete reality.

We work in partnership with the medical communities of Bolivia and Paraguay to increase access to safe, essential, and timely surgical care. With our partners, we operate four year-round surgical programs. Through year-round virtual exchanges and short-term medical mission trips, we connect US medical practitioners to their peers in each country. Together, we are building a healthier future.

Partnership is a key element of our mission. we refer to each of the diverse individuals and organizations who contribute to our common mission as partners.

We have many partners in this mission, but our closest partner, our sister organization in Bolivia, is Puente de Solidaridad.

Puente de Solidaridad opened their doors in 2005 to manage our programs and day-to-day operations in Bolivia locally. They are now a legally and financially independent nonprofit, and though we are two distinct organizations, neither of us could succeed without the other.
 
Puente de Solidaridad is headquartered in Cochabamba. They play a critical role in nurturing our relationships with partner hospitals and doctors throughout Bolivia. In addition to this work, they employ social workers responsible for screening our surgical patients for financial eligibility and for overseeing follow-up care for those who require it, including all pacemaker implant recipients. Puente de Solidaridad manages a supply warehouse that catalogs, stores, and distributes our in-kind donations ranging from high-value surgical instrument trays to gauze and suture supplies, both for mission trips and year-round activities. We are deeply grateful for their commitment to our mission. Together, we harness the energy, skills, and compassion of highly specialized medical practitioners in the United States who join Bolivian specialists in valued relationships of professional service and training.

In the United States, partner hospitals and health care systems can support Solidarity Bridge through medical supply donations, missioner recruitment, financial support, and more.

In Bolivia, we have formal agreements with more than a dozen partner hospitals to host medical missions and campaigns or to collaborate in providing year-round operations through our four surgical programs.

In Bolivia and Paraguay, our partner physicians are surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other doctors who receive training and equipment from Solidarity Bridge and provide surgeries for patients throughout the year, while also passing along acquired skills and knowledge to their students and peers.

In the United States, we call our partner physicians missioners. These are medical mission trip volunteers, highly specialized medical practitioners who travel with us on short-term mission trips to work alongside their Bolivian peers in our common endeavor to bring surgery and medical care to the underserved.
Learn more about becoming a missioner. 

Medical organizations, foundations, and corporations throughout the world help make our work possible through in-kind and financial donations. The following are some of our major corporate partners.

Contact Catherine to learn how you can become a partner in our mission. 

Years ago, our mission teams observed the connection between poverty and poor health in Bolivia. Solidarity Bridge championed efforts to improve economic conditions by facilitating the establishment of fair trade partnerships between US businesses and Bolivian artisans who would benefit from expanded markets for their products. Fair trade practices honor the cultural heritage of artisans by respecting their craftsmanship and paying living wages, while also supporting locally sourced, low-impact, or recycled materials. Today our partners at Puente de Solidaridad manage exports from Bolivian cooperatives to vendors in the US.  

Read more about our fair trade partners, Dharma Trading Co. 

Staff and Board of Directors

We invite you to get further acquainted with our Staff and Board of Directors.
Select a board or staff member's image to view their bio.

Founding Story

Solidarity Bridge began in 1999. Our founder, Juan Lorenzo Hinojosa, launched the organization out of a deep desire to connect with and serve people in need, and to do so through the embodiment of solidarity. These values have shaped our work throughout the years, and still guide us in our mission today. Read more of our founding story.