The women we care for are themselves caregivers—they are mothers, they are daughters, they have jobs that put food on the table. Until this trip, I never fully understood the profound difference that access to minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery can make in allowing a patient to pursue treatment.

Solidarity Bridge and Puente de Solidaridad are two sides of the same coin, both promoting solidarity as central to who we are and why we do what we do.

Returning to the Chuquisaqueño Cancer Institute this week,  our goal is to leave the hospital team prepared to independently perform laparoscopic hysterectomies going forward.

Across five specialties, our U.S. missioners have been working with their Bolivian colleagues to learn from one another and collaborate in making life better for our patients and the wider community.

MSMT changes lives by providing specialized care that is otherwise unavailable to patients at rural Bolivian hospitals.

In order to truly enter into the work that brings us to Bolivia —the care of patients in need— we must be present, we must listen, and we must stand in solidarity with the patients and all who work so hard to give them life-transforming care.

Mission trips constitute only one aspect of our year-round work, but these visits provide unique opportunities to expand our minds and hearts.

A decade ago, there was very little access to endoscopic pituitary surgery in Bolivia, regardless of a patient’s economic status. Today, access to these procedures has grown and expanded across the country.

Patients suffering strokes and aneurysms in Paraguay may wait months or years for treatment due to a lack of essential but highly specialized endovascular supplies. A generous donation by Stryker delivered during our June mission trip to Asunción is helping make neuro-endovascular care accessible for many such patients.

Each day of the Neurology and Neurosurgery Institute mission trip on epilepsy care brings new reminders of the complexity of neurological disorders. Working in collaboration among a team of specialists improves chances for accurate diagnoses and successful treatments. 

This week in Bolivia, we are celebrating a major achievement: the first-ever epilepsy surgery performed in the public children’s hospital of Santa Cruz!

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases, but three-quarters of people living with epilepsy in low-income countries do not get the treatment they need. Our Neurosurgery and Neurology Institute (NNI) is partnering with colleagues at the public Children’s Hospital in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to bridge this gap.