CHAGAS DISEASE

Wilmer (above), only 20, has suffered most of his young life from Chagas. He can’t work or go to school and remains housebound most of the time as his heart struggles to beat.

Chagas heart-related problems include an enlarged heart, altered heart rate or rhythm, heart failure, or cardiac arrest. Heart issues like this cause patients pain and fatigue so severe they often can’t even get out of bed and they eventually die. When the heart is this damaged, a pacemaker is needed to stabilize the heart and prevent heart failure.

Chagas is usually spread by an insect that infests mud, adobe, or thatched houses and kills more than 50,000 people a year in Latin America. Bolivia is the worst infected country, where half of the population is at risk, mostly those who live in poverty or rural areas. Chagas infects 1.8 million Bolivians, including over 300,000 children under 12, and accounts for thirteen percent of all deaths in the nation.

OTHER MEDICAL PROGRAMS

Children's Bridge Program
Children's Vision Program
Medical Supplies Program
Neurosurgery Program
Open Heart Program

PACEMAKER PROGRAM

Through in kind donations of supplies and labor, our annual cost of $95,000 for our Pacemaker Program multiplies 10 times into nearly $1 million worth of surgeries for the poor of Bolivia, saving over 75 lives a year!

In partnership with the St. Jude and Medtronic Corporations, since 2001, we have implanted over 650 pacemakers in suffering Bolivians. We are one of only two non-profits who funnel pacemakers to the poor for Medtronic. Medtronic is the largest pacemaker company in the U.S. and each year donates to us hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pacemakers and other related heart surgical supplies to save the lives of poor Bolivians afflicted with Chagas. After meeting the pacemaker needs of every poor person in Bolivia, our goal is to move into other South American countries.