Rotary Club partnerships improve healthcare facilities across Bolivia
Assembling donated equipment at Santa Barbara Hospital in Sucre.
A partnership between Solidarity Bridge and Rotary is helping to expand access to specialized diagnostics and treatments at public hospitals serving diverse Bolivian populations. Our first joint project culminated in the donation of a laparoscopic tower to El Viedma Hospital in Cochabamba in 2018. Inspired by that successful venture, Solidarity Bridge and Puente de Solidaridad collaborated with several Bolivian Rotary Clubs to secure five additional Global Grants from the Rotary Foundation. These grants will meaningfully increase clinical and surgical capacities in five hospitals serving the central and eastern regions of the country.
“The mission of the Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotary Club members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.”
Through their Global Grants program, the Rotary Foundation has developed a well-tested model with impressive impact. Rotary projects must be sustainable and provide long-term solutions to community problems. For each of our projects, Puente de Solidaridad worked with local Rotary Clubs in Sucre, Santa Cruz, or Cochabamba to fulfill the Global Grants process, beginning with community listening sessions to identify needs and develop solutions that align with local values and culture. The process encourages local ownership of projects to facilitate their maintenance after external funding ends. And whenever possible, equipment and technology are purchased from local sources to support the local economy.
The first of our five Global Grants was awarded in Sucre, Bolivia, in August 2021, providing equipment to strengthen neurosurgical treatment in the region. Hospital Santa Bárbara, where the equipment was donated, is the only third-tier general reference hospital for the entire department of Chuquisaca (population 581,000). It also treats critical patients from other departments in the southern region of the county where no other public hospitals perform neurosurgeries. During our December 2021 mission trip, Solidarity Bridge missioners helped to inaugurate the new equipment and perform some of the first surgeries with it. We are also providing ongoing support in the use of this new equipment by hosting monthly neurosurgery case discussions between US and Bolivian neurosurgeons.
Our second recent grant was awarded in Santa Cruz in February 2022. This donation of surgical equipment to the San Juan de Dios Hospital will help the general surgery team to perform more precise diagnoses and complex, minimally-invasive surgeries for patients throughout Bolivia’s most populous department. In March 2022, visiting Solidarity Bridge mission surgeon Dr. Magued Khouzam met with doctors from the general surgery service to review the equipment, provide additional training, and discuss complex cases.
Our third grant was awarded in April 2022 to the public Children’s Hospital in Santa Cruz. Portable ultrasound equipment and an EEG machine will benefit the region’s pediatric neurosurgery and neurology patients. This donation complements our other efforts to expand epilepsy care in Bolivia, including an April mission trip in collaboration with the British organization, TeleEEG, which donated additional equipment and technical training on its use. We continue to partner with the Children’s Hospital to organize monthly webinars on pediatric neurology.
Our fourth Global Grant was awarded to the Mizque Hospital in the department of Cochababma. This grant provided medical equipment for the hospital’s emergency room. Solidarity Bridge and Puente de Solidaridad have a long history of partnership with the Mizque municipal hospital.
The General Surgery Department at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Santa Cruz celebrated the reception of critically-needed laparoscopic surgery equipment and supplies.
The final grant, to be fulfilled shortly, will provide X-ray equipment to San Juan de Dios Municipal Hospital in the town of Cliza in the department of Cochabamba. This imaging equipment will vastly enhance the hospital’s diagnostic, surgical, and patient follow-up capacities for the surrounding rural community. We look forward to continuing our support for this hospital through our upcoming Multi-Specialty Mission Trip.
This tremendous investment in the Bolivian healthcare system is the fruit of a global alliance of solidarity. We give special thanks to the Rotarians in Bolivia and across the world who have donated, and to Marga Hewko, Betsy Meisenheimer, Stephanie Lippian, and Seyda Calderwood from the Rotary Club of Chicago for sharing their expertise and support in these efforts. These investments in public hospitals will go a long way to increase access to care for the country’s most vulnerable patients. We have been fortunate to receive grants from The Rotary Foundation and to partner with Rotary Clubs in Chicago and Bolivia who clearly share our spirit of solidarity and our vision of a more dignified and healthy future for all. We look forward to continuing to work together.