Amid our long-term goals and strategies, the day-to-day work of Solidarity Bridge always comes back to serving the needs of the patient in front of us. Each brings a unique story, and it is a gift to be invited to be a part of it. For both our patients and ourselves, these encounters can be fraught with heartache, but are also a source of great joy

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.

Resuming our in-person partnership with the Oncological Institute of Eastern Bolivia this month, our main goal was to provide specialized training and fill essential surgical equipment and supply needs. But we also traveled to the Cancer Institute to share the burden, albeit for just one week, of the ups and downs of cancer care.

Bolivian-led mobile surgery campaigns served more than 50 patients throughout the summer months.

This is Mission. Moving forward step by step, patient by patient. Celebrating lives restored, and doing what we can to maintain hope for a future for our patients and their families.

An interview with Doctors Jaime Vallejos and Johnny Camacho, general surgeons and longtime partners from Viedma Hospital in Cochabamba, during their 2018 Solidarity Visit to the United States.

The gap in high-tech surgical care available to wealthy and poor patients has narrowed a bit in Cochabamba, thanks to a partnership to donate a new laparoscopic tower and supplies to the city’s most important public hospital.

Elena’s journey—which began with a devastating injury and led her to nursing school—shows the powerful ripple effect of gratitude.

In her last update from our General Surgery Mission Trip in Santa Cruz, Dr. Kim Grahl shares a reflection on finding your way when there is no clear path forward. 

Language barriers are a common issue in our cross-cultural work. But sometimes learning another language can give us new perspective, or a deeper understanding of the world around us. In this update, Dr. Kim Grahl shares how her perspective of the word ‘enough’ is changing on mission.

 Through the interconnected work of the dozens of individuals and several institutions involved in this 1-week mission trip, we managed to provide almost 50 surgeries!