Home Visit Encounters
Written by Maria Eugenia Brockmann, Senior Director of Programs
It is a humbling experience to walk into a patient’s home. Each visit is an invitation to see reality from a different and new perspective. These encounters also remind us of the multiple realities that coexist in our world, and of the need to open our hearts and eyes to see them.
At the start of our Pacemaker mission trip this week, we had the opportunity to visit two of our patients in their homes. Epifanía and her daughter welcomed us to their home in Colcapirhua, a town on the outskirts of the city of Cochabamba. “Twenty years ago, this was all corn fields, flowers, and cows…now it’s all brick houses. The city has grown so much that it is consuming us in the rural areas,” her daughter told us with nostalgia.
Epifanía has Chagas, an endemic parasitic disease that can affect the heart and GI tract. She suffers from severe heart arrhythmias and fainting episodes. To avoid serious heart failure she will need a pacemaker for the rest of her life.
Dr. Marta Vakulenko, a U.S. electrophysiologist, and Dr. Paula Rodríguez, a Bolivian cardiovascular surgeon, led our pacemaker mission trip this week in Cochabamba. It was exciting to see these doctors working side-by-side on one of our first mission trips after more than a two year pause.
Alina, a 12-year-old girl, is another patient we were honored to visit and serve last week. She lives in Pucarita, a new settlement neighborhood in the southern part of the city. Alina, her mother, and sister welcomed us into their home, introducing us to their two dogs and cat.
Alina is amazingly brave. When we asked if she was nervous or afraid of her surgery she told us no, and in fact she looked forward to it. She is excited to be able to run with her friends again. Alina dreams of growing up to be a nurse so she can take care of others. She has a faith and strength that inspires. Her mother wants to share in her hope, esperanza, but confided in us her concerns for the health of her little girl.
Alfonso Flores, our longtime colleague at Puente de Solidaridad, accompanied us on these visits and shared that he believes that home visits with our patients are an “opportunity to pause, to look at the richness of others, and to examine our own comfortable world.” The only way you can be of true service, he added, is by seeing how you can help make our reality kinder for the people we encounter.
With hopeful hearts these patients welcomed us into their homes.
As we left Epifanía’s home, a soft rain washed over us. Her daughter thanked us for our visit. She repeated her thanks to make sure we understood that this home visit was broader than we thought: “thank you for being here, in Bolivia.” With grateful hearts, we thanked them for receiving us. And with deep gratitude, we share these words of thanks with all the supporters in our US community who help to make these encounters of healing possible.
We hope you will keep our mission in mind as you plan your holiday giving. Your donation makes surgery accessible to patients like Epiphania and Alina.