“I was hopeless” is a phrase you frequently encounter when speaking with parents of children with drug-resistant epilepsy. It serves as a powerful reminder of the vital role that Solidarity Bridge plays in sustaining hope for those whose hope has run thin. Along with committed partners, Solidarity Bridge is restoring hope for Bolivian children suffering drug resistant epileptic seizure disorders by making epilepsy surgery accessible. 

At 53, Margarita is a woman who has faced more challenges than most people do in a lifetime. When I first met her, she was overwhelmed by debilitating headaches and near blindness. About 18 months earlier, her symptoms had started with headaches and subtle vision problems. But at the time, she and her family thought it was all tied to the devastating loss of her husband of more than 30 years. The grief of losing him had consumed her, and no one could have imagined that something else might be wrong.

Bolivian representatives from the Santa Barbara Hospital spent a week in Honduras to observe a range of rehabilitation training and care methods for neuro trauma patients at Teleton Honduras. This South-South exchange facilitated the sharing of expertise and collaboration to solve healthcare challenges.

It was a tremendous honor for Solidarity Bridge’s Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute (NNI) to be invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bolivian Society of Neurosurgery (BSN) and participate in its XXII Congress, in La Paz, Bolivia during their visit at the end of August. 

In a groundbreaking collaboration with Solidarity Bridge this fall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Neurological Surgery will welcome the first Bolivian neurosurgeons as part of a one-month observership program.

Surgery Residents during previous on-site training course held in March of 2024, focusing on spinal surgery.

A Bolivian nursing student needed highly-specialized brain surgery unavailable in the public healthcare system in his country. Read about his international journey to care and healing.

“Successful surgical training is not dependent on the equipment, the finances, or even the planning as much as on the dedication of the people and their motivations for being here.”

From virtual lectures to hands-on practice, our two day Spinal Surgery Workshop gave more than 25 neurosurgical residents from Bolivia and Paraguay an opportunity to advance their skills.

José was the first of six patients with complex neurosurgical conditions operated this week at the Santa Bárbara Hospital in Sucre, Bolivia. These surgeries are part of a long-term effort drawing on the contributions of local and U.S. neurosurgeons, neuro-anesthesiologists, neuro-intensivists, and neuro-rehabilitation specialists toward a vision of establishing the Santa Bárbara Hospital as a premier neurotrauma center.

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.