A Mother's Best Gift is a Healthy Child: Saving Children in Bolivia
By Rebecca M. Sam, BSN, RN, CPN, CCRN
Year after year, Medical Bridges has been a part of allowing mothers in Bolivia to share another day with their children. Through the generosity of providing medical supplies to a diverse group of healthcare professionals, more than twenty children’s lives were saved in Bolivia through the free of charge open heart surgeries and heart catheterizations. For twelve years a group of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals from Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital have joined forces to travel to the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia to provide lifesaving procedures for children who have no other options.
Congenital Heart Disease
In the United States, children with congenital heart disease receive the surgery they need and, for the most part, go on to live full and normal lives. In under resourced countries like Bolivia, if a child’s family is not able to pay to travel to another country to receive this life-saving surgery from a private surgeon, the child's life will be cut short by heart failure.
Carolina's Surgery
One sweet little girl who received this gift of life is Carolina. Carolina underwent open heart surgery to restore blood flow to her lungs in 2011 at the age of 13. Before surgery Carolina was so sick that she was not able to walk or get out of bed. Her loved ones were preparing for her imminent death. The team from Houston was able to perform life-saving open heart surgery and reestablish blood flow to her lungs, immediately increasing oxygenation to her entire body and allowing her vital organs to function normally. Carolina was brought back from near death with the supplies provided by Medical Bridges. After her open heart surgery Carolina was asked if she was in pain, she said, “I am a woman. I am alive. Nothing else matters. I am alive.”
A Bright Future
Six years later, Carolina was brought back for the mission team to re-evaluate her and see if she needed any additional interventions. Carolina is now a thriving student in Bolivia studying eco-friendly tourism at the local college. Because of your support and encouragement, Carolina may one day be a mother to a child of her own.
Rebecca M. Sam, BSN, RN, CPN, CCRN
Clinical Care Coordinator UTHealth | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | McGovern Medical School Department of Pediatric Surgery | Division of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery
