Make Something New
Written by Ann Rhomberg
Throughout these early autumn weeks, the teams at Solidarity Bridge and Puente de Solidaridad (PdS) have been finalizing plans for our final three 2023 mission trips. Departing today is our Multi-Specialty team of 14 US participants, and it’s my honor as Executive Director to fulfill the role of Trip Leader throughout this 9-day mission.
Historically, our multi-specialty teams have partnered with municipal hospitals in Bolivia to offer clinical and surgical care for communities who otherwise have limited access to such services. This year, our clinical specialities include dermatology, cardiology, and family medicine, while our surgical care will center on women’s gynecologic needs. Unique to this trip, our team also includes IT specialists who will work with the hospital’s administrative team to advance their internal initiatives.
Executive Directors Patricia Vargas of Puente de Solidaridad and Ann Rhomberg of Solidarity Bridge gifted a candle to the Cliza Hospital upon concluding the 2022 Multi-Specialty Mission Trip, vowing to keep the fire burning of collaboration among institutions.
Our team will be based at the Hospital Materno Infantil San Juan de Dios hospital in Cliza, Bolivia, situated 30 miles southeast of the city of Cochabamba. This is our third multispecialty mission trip to this site, selected by our partners at PdS based on the hospital’s requests for support and training. They are a key partner for us in Bolivia because of our shared commitment to serving the most vulnerable patients with great care and compassion. We are grateful to PdS for their strong planning leadership and we look forward to their hearty accompaniment throughout this collaboration.
Our mission goals include:
Provide specialty care to low-income patients in partnership with the Bolivian medical community
Exchange knowledge and skills with hospital partners
Donate medical supplies to local partners who serve low-income patients
Zooming out, the overarching goal of our mission is to offer rich experiences of inter-cultural encounter and personal growth to all who participate - medical practitioners, patients, donors and supporters - everyone! Mission trips constitute only one aspect of our year-round work, but these visits provide unique opportunities to expand our minds and hearts. Because of this, we very intentionally make time for personal and communal reflection and we invite The Divine to fill us, ‘to make something new.’
We hope you feel something new, too, as you follow our progress in Cliza!