Solidarity in Turbulent Times
“It’s about access.” You’ll often hear this phrase spoken in our office or among those advocating for surgery as an essential part of health care.
There are four key components to surgical access: timeliness, capacity, safety, and affordability. On the provider side, a doctor cannot operate without the necessary infrastructure at her hospital, without the correct sterile supplies or adequate reserves in the blood bank.
Staff from Puente de Solidaridad (in blue) arrange for a delivery of surgical supplies to a hospital partner in Santa Cruz.
For patients, access to surgery can be limited when they are forced to choose between taking time to recover or earning their daily wages or when even the cost of diagnostic exams are more than they can afford. Barriers like these cause patients to avoid going to the doctor, or put off needed operations in deference to their most immediate needs. But in many cases, delaying treatment makes a patient’s medical case more complicated.
In 2019, Solidarity Bridge was proud to help 287 patients overcome these barriers and access life-changing surgical care. And an additional 178 patients received material support to make their care affordable.
In times of strife, it is those living on the margins who suffer the most. Since mid-October, political instability in Bolivia has also become a barrier to medical care and is affecting access to surgery. As we meet regularly with our partners in the offices of Puente de Solidaridad, our sister organization in Bolivia, we are more grateful than ever for this robust partnership that ensures our support even in these turbulent times.
Social workers meet with our surgical patients in the hospital and at their homes.
As many of you know, following the presidential elections on October 20, demonstrations ensued around the country, and we were forced to postpone two of our mission trips. While we could not carry out our training activities as planned this quarter, we know that patients in need are still attended to by our Bolivian partners on the ground in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Puente de Solidaridad maintains relationships with local doctors, helping to resource them with the supplies they need to operate. They provide full-time social workers to accompany patients throughout their medical journey, and they manage a warehouse that Solidarity Bridge fills with donated medical supplies and equipment. Even when our US missioners cannot be present to offer their support, our mission continues.
Today we are called to strengthen our commitment to be in solidarity with those who suffer. In coordination with our Bolivian partners, we are called to see beyond obstacles and overcome barriers in order to bring healing to this broken world.
One thing that our partners have asked of us during this time is for our prayers. We are praying for the current tensions to ease, and we hope for a just and peaceful resolution to the situation in Bolivia. We pray that governments, in the US and in Bolivia, will prioritize the needs of those who are most vulnerable.
We invite you to unite your prayers with ours using the prayer below, or by joining us at 7:45 AM Chapel Mass each Wednesday at St. Nicholas Parish Evanston, throughout the end of the year.
God of justice and peace,
Hear our prayer for all who suffer.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe.
Let us dream together, pray together and work together in solidarity,
to build one world that mirrors your wisdom
Amen.