Both the Chagas disease scenario and the cardiac health field have greatly evolved since our Pacemaker Program began over 20 years ago. Dr. Marta Vakulenko of Los Angeles, USA, and Dr. Paola Rodriguez of Cochabamba, Bolivia, represent a new generation of surgeons who will continue to build our bridge to care for cardiac rhythm patients into the coming decades.

Home visits with our patients are an opportunity to pause, to look at the richness of others, and to examine our own comfortable world. We were grateful for the opportunity to visit two of our pacemaker patients this week.

Following the model of our surgical programs, we are expanding support to hundreds more patients in Bolivia.

Operating in this pandemic poses greater risks to patients, and to their medical teams in the operating room. And yet, care must continue. As surgeries resume in our programs, safety is our top priority.

Despite the postponement of surgeries, our program remained active during these long months. Social workers maintained contact with patients and in July, our pacemaker control clinics re-opened to provide regular monitoring.

The humble crosses in a Bolivian cemetery inspired the start of our Pacemaker Program. Where Chagas Disease wreaks devestation, we strive to bring hope.

While saving one life, each pacemaker we implant can heal and empower an entire family. Patients in 2017 included mothers and fathers with families who depend on them, and even children themselves. Meet some of the families who received this restorative care through our Pacemaker Program in 2017.

A healthy heartbeat is something that pacemaker patients like Patricia can never take for granted. Once patients receive an implant through Solidarity Bridge, we commit to their permanent, lifetime follow-up care.