Casting Open the Doors of the Heart: Lessons Learned in a Jubilee Year of Mercy is a five-part blog series written by Mary McCann Sanchez, Senior Director of Programs. Part One explores living out our faith through our daily work. 

Each time I passed Elia, I noted her friendly smile and eventually stopped for brief conversation. Her warm expression of support along with her calm and rooted demeanor, immediately melted my stress away.

Our Benezet Intern, Gustavo, share his reflection at the end of the General Surgery Mission Trip. "Though this was my fifth mission with Solidarity Bridge, this week has been my first experience accompanying a general surgery team. Experiencing the operating room and the pace at which things function inside that room is quite a privilege." 

Our General Surgery Mission Trip has already completed seven surgeries in their first two days. Join us as we check in with them in Santa Cruz and learn more about the patients they will be serving this week. 

As our Multi-Specialty Mission Trip ends, we reflect on our experiences and strive to turn our calling into a strong foundation. 

As an organization rich in faith, we refer to those who travel with us as missioners. Today in our blog, we share a few reflections from our team in the midst of their mission experience.

In the clinic at Punata, adult cardiologist, Dr. Mark Ottolin, and pediatrician, Dr. Monica Joseph, worked together to assess a young boy with a congenital heart defect. 

Our multi-specialty mission team is working at the municipal hospital of Punata this week. Punata is a small city encircled by the Andes mountains, but thanks to the publicity efforts of the Puente de Solidaridad staff, patients from all over the region are travelling to our location to take advantage of our missioner’s expertise.

Today marks the start of back-to-back mission trips for Solidarity Bridge. Our multi-specialty mission team has just arrived in Punata, Bolivia, and next week, a general surgery mission team will be working in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Learn about the fruits of our most recent neurosurgery mission trip, which included a two-day course on Pediatric Neurosurgery. It is our hope that Solidarity Bridge’s Program for the Development of Neurosurgery continues to turn the earth like a plow, opening furrows for the enhancement of neurosurgery, and a commitment among all in medicine to use these advanced skills to serve those in great need.

On mission in Santa Cruz, Solidarity Bridge and our local partner, Puente de Solidaridad, will offer a training in pediatric neurosurgery. By training neurosurgeons in this complex area, more Bolivian children with cancer or tumors will have hope for a better chance in life.

Each of us at Solidarity Bridge is called to dream and believe that what has been done to date does not limit what is doable in time... This happens when we, the communities of Solidarity Bridge and Puente de Solidaridad, strive to live the conviction that, as a human family, we are one - somos uno.