Accompanying Margarita on Her Healing Journey

At 53, Margarita is a woman who has faced more challenges than most people do in a lifetime. When I first met her, she was overwhelmed by debilitating headaches and near blindness. About 18 months earlier, her symptoms had started with headaches and subtle vision problems. But at the time, she and her family thought it was all tied to the devastating loss of her husband of more than 30 years. The grief of losing him had consumed her, and no one could have imagined that something else might be wrong.

South-South Exchange in Honduras for Improved Neuro Rehabilitation Care

Bolivian representatives from the Santa Barbara Hospital spent a week in Honduras to observe a range of rehabilitation training and care methods for neuro trauma patients at Teleton Honduras. This South-South exchange facilitated the sharing of expertise and collaboration to solve healthcare challenges.

Medical Mission Trip BlogMary McCann SanchezSeptember 30, 2024NNI, Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute, neurotrauma, Neuro FeatureComment

A Legacy of Partnership: NNI Featured at the Bolivian Society of Neurosurgery’s 50-Year Celebration

It was a tremendous honor for Solidarity Bridge’s Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute (NNI) to be invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bolivian Society of Neurosurgery (BSN) and participate in its XXII Congress, in La Paz, Bolivia during their visit at the end of August.

Medical Mission Trip BlogSolidarity BridgeSeptember 12, 2024nni, Neuro Feature, Neurosurgery & Neurology InstituteComment

From Bolivia to Wisconsin: The Resident Education Program Takes Flight

In a groundbreaking collaboration with Solidarity Bridge this fall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Neurological Surgery will welcome the first Bolivian neurosurgeons as part of a one-month observership program.

Medical Mission Trip BlogLindsay DoucetteSeptember 6, 2024NNI, Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute, Neuro FeatureComment

NNI and UW-Madison Lead Course at Bolivian Neurosurgical Society 50th Anniversary Congress

Surgery Residents during previous on-site training course held in March of 2024, focusing on spinal surgery.

Medical Mission Trip BlogLindsay DoucetteAugust 23, 2024NNI, Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute, Neuro FeatureComment

When Healing is a Journey

A Bolivian nursing student needed highly-specialized brain surgery unavailable in the public healthcare system in his country. Read about his international journey to care and healing.

Dedication and Motivation Advance Surgical Care

“Successful surgical training is not dependent on the equipment, the finances, or even the planning as much as on the dedication of the people and their motivations for being here.”

See Far, Go Further

From virtual lectures to hands-on practice, our two day Spinal Surgery Workshop gave more than 25 neurosurgical residents from Bolivia and Paraguay an opportunity to advance their skills.

This is Your Home

A decade ago, there was very little access to endoscopic pituitary surgery in Bolivia, regardless of a patient’s economic status. Today, access to these procedures has grown and expanded across the country.

Updates from the SB TeamSolidarity BridgeSeptember 20, 2023Neuro Feature, Training, Neurosurgery & Neurology InstituteComment

Promoting National Stroke Planning in Paraguay

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.

Medical Mission Trip BlogLindsay DoucetteSeptember 15, 2023Stroke, NNI, Neuro Feature, Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute, EquippingComment

Unique and Complex: The Art and Science of Epilepsy Treatment

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.

Groundbreaking Epilepsy Surgery in Bolivia

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!

Advancing Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Epilepsy in Bolivia

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.

Medical Mission Trip BlogSolidarity BridgeAugust 28, 2023Neuro Feature, Neurosurgery & Neurology Institute, NNI, EpilepsyComment

NNI and UW-Madison bring world-class neurosurgical education to Bolivian and Paraguayan Residents

Over 60 residents, students, and early-career doctors in Bolivia and Paraguay are participating in a UW-Madison virtual neurosurgery residency program facilitated by the NNI.

An Integrated Approach to Traumatic Brain Injury Care in Bolivia

Anyone who has witnessed the devastating impact of a traumatic brain injury knows that an integrated approach is needed to care for patients and support their reintegration into society. On a November NNI trip to Hospital Santa Bárbara in Sucre, Bolivia, we expanded our focus to the entire spectrum of care for TBIs.

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