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.

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.

After years of watiing, 11 patients found the healing care they needed through our recent Neuro trip to Paraguay. For the three patients profiled here, they also found a supportive family to walk with them through their journey to healing.

Our first three days in Paraguay included a Stroke Symposium, endovascular procedures, a cerebral bypass surgery, a presentation on revascularization, dinner with the Paraguayan Neurosurgical Society, and a two-day workshop on microsurgical bypass skills.

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.

Florentino’s health was declining minute by minute. He was not expected to survive the night. Bolivian Dr. Susana Aviles and US Dr. Malcolm Bilimoria consulted and they agreed they would operate together as soon as Florentino could be prepped.

Ensuring donated biomedical equipment remains in good working order requires access to spare parts and consumables, and biomedical engineers and technicians with the skills to provide ongoing maintenance and repairs. This was the impetus for a recent mission trip organized in partnership with the TriMedX Foundation.