Travel Resumes: a privileged opportunity for deep human connectedness
Written by Program Director, Lindsay Doucette
After more than two years of communicating virtually, it was a powerful experience to walk into Hospital Santa Bárbara in Sucre, Bolivia, this week. The privilege to work side-by-side with our partners and encounter patients and their families face-to-face is something we have truly missed. Returning to mission travel provides a special opportunity to re-connect more fully as human beings with colleagues, partners, and friends. Over the course of three days of neurosurgical mission in Sucre we are reminded why being present truly matters.
This was the first surgical mission of the newly established Neurosurgery and Neurology Institute (NNI). The week’s activities were organized in collaboration with our Bolivian sister organization, Puente de Solidaridad, and the neurosurgical service of the Hospital Santa Bárbara, led by Dr. David Gardeazabal. By physically traveling to Sucre, the NNI team was able to channel skills and resources that would be otherwise unavailable to our partner surgeons and their patients. Patients like Sergio, a thirty-two-year-old intensive therapy resident and father of two.
In 2019, Sergio was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor that was causing the production of excessive growth hormone and acromegaly symptoms. Neurosurgeons in Sucre did not have the tools or experience to perform a transnasal surgery to remove the pituitary tumor, but they included Sergio among the slate of patients to be operated during the 2019 Solidarity Bridge neurosurgery mission. This trip was cancelled due to political upheaval in Bolivia. Sergio could not afford surgery in a private hospital and his operation was postponed further by the pandemic. Finally, this week after a two-year wait, US neurosurgeon, Dr. Richard Moser, and Bolivian ENT, Dr. Patricia Arteaga, successfully removed Sergio’s pituitary tumor. During the surgery Dr. Moser and Dr. Arteaga (who had traveled from Santa Cruz to support the mission) provided mentored training for the surgeons in Sucre, with the goal that they will eventually be able to perform the surgery on their own.
Through mentored surgery, Dr. Moser was also able to instruct the Santa Bárbara team in the use of their newly acquired craniotome. The brand-new drill for use in craniotomies was donated through a collaboration between Rotary International, Puente de Solidaridad, and Solidarity Bridge. Dr. Moser also provided technical support to balance a newly donated neurosurgical operating microscope. Through these efforts in equipping, training, and technical support, the Sucre neurosurgical service will be better able to serve their patients long after we return home.
Our brief visit also provided the opportunity for meetings to explore new areas for partnership in Sucre, including a meeting with the medical faculty of the Universidad San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca (USFX). Founded in 1624, USFX is the second oldest university in the Americas and boasts the oldest medical school in Bolivia. Speaking with the dean and academic director of the medical school we identified exciting possibilities for future collaboration. The NNI team also met with the Instituto Chuquisaqueña de Oncología, the Hospital Universitario San Francisco Xavier, and other departments of the Hospital Santa Bárbara to discuss equipping, training, and surgical partnerships.
Being physically present in Bolivia, seeing the beauty of this country, and re-uniting with colleagues re-energizes us in our mission to increase access to surgery around the world. While the ability to connect virtually has its benefits, the experience of shifting our geographic context provides an invaluable perspective on life and our deep human connectedness.
Through partnerships and collaborative actions that are measurable and sustainable, the Neurosurgery and Neurology Institute works to build capacity and expertise in Bolivia and Paraguay in order to increase access to safe, affordable and timely health care.
We are committed to alleviating the suffering, death and disability from neurological disorders and injuries that disproportionately impact patients in the countries where we serve.