Our final mission trip of 2017 has been focused on training, serving patients in need, and strengthening our partnerships across the state of Santa Cruz.

Troubling symptoms and a difficult diagnosis can turn your life upside-down. For the past two years, this has been the case for Shirley, the first patient during our Fall Neurosurgery Mission Trip. 

Our Neurosurgery Mission Team has just landed in Santa Cruz where summertime temps are in the mid 90s. This week, veteran missioners and their Bolivian colleagues will offer training to a cohort of neurosurgeons and residents from across the South American continent. We are one in our mission to provide high quality neurosurgical care to those who greatly need it. 

There are many challenges to offering advanced care to those living in poverty, but this case from our Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip shows how hope springs from such challenges when we work together, accompanying each other through difficult circumstances. 

Accompaniment, sharing in the joys and sorrows of someone's life and acting with love to help them live to their full potential, is the central work of mission. It is also the central work of many of the Bolivian women we are meeting this week on our Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip. 

Six Solidarity Bridge missioners depart on a weeklong Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip with an ambitious goal: to restore and improve the quality of life for women who lack access to vital treatment.

In the final blog from our 2017 Multi-Specialty Mission Trip, new staffer, Rocio Mendez-Rozo, shares her experiences as a first-time missioner. 

Chaplains are important members of our mission team, they help missioners to reflect on their experiences and accompany our patients during their time in the hospital. Hear more about about their work in today's blog. 

In the first day of the mission trip, the team was welcomed by our Bolivian partners and had the opportunity to enter into a reality that is new to them. They are learning about both the richness of the Bolivian culture and landscape, as well as the immense struggles that come with deep poverty and inadequate access to health care.  

As 21 missioners fly south to serve patients in Punata, Bolivia, Solidarity Bridge Executive Director Ann Rhomberg reflects on the trip as a chance to heal, connect, and find nourishment.

The populations of Bolivia and Illinois are similar in size. But when it comes to health care access, just a few key statistics reveal stark contrasts.

Solidarity Bridge friends, supporters, and missioners came together on September 9 for our annual mission team send-off.