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For me, this is so refreshing to strip away everything -- the infrastructure, the technology, the resources...Here we find the very essence of healthcare. It's simply people helping other people.
John Romer, Sr. Vice President of DaVita Rx &
Bridge of Life Volunteer
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With YOUR support, in 2016, Bridge of Life has:
- Completed 10 international medical missions
- Hosted 8 domestic chronic kidney disease (CKD) screenings
- Supported 5 kids' camp sessions
- Been supported by 107 DaVita Kidney Care and 32 DaVita Medical Group teammate volunteers
- Impacted 7,108 lives
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Bridge of Life Needs MD, NP & PA Volunteers
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Bridge of Life (BOL) is currently accepting volunteer applications for upcoming 2016 international medical missions. This is an exciting opportunity to help improve healthcare across the globe with your fellow teammates!
We are specifically looking to fill
20 PROVIDER POSITIONS (MDs, NPs and PAs). Please apply by
Friday, July 8th!
Please review our
Volunteer website page prior to submitting your application for a full overview of FAQs. If you have additional questions, please contact
Katie Chandler, Program Manager, BOL.
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Teammates Bring Health & Hope to Haiti
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From June 4-12, BOL completed its second mission to Haiti, providing both primary care services which included tackling issues such as fever, diarrhea, parasites, and infections and kidney care services which included chronic kidney disease testing and prevention education.
Over the course of just five days, our team of 20 DaVita teammate volunteers served 1,812 patients in the local communities of Galette, Dumay, Ti Marche, Turbe, and at our in-country partner's Double Harvest clinic.
Fleurette Forbes, Social Worker, expressed, "This experience has truly changed my life. Helping people is what I do, but never in this way and never helping myself so much simultaneously."
During the mission, our team researched and tested a new Electronic Medical Records system that BOL will implement this year to electronically track patient treatments, consultations and follow-up care.
"I rarely get a chance to say that I truly made a difference in someone's life, and for five days, I know I actually did," said Dave Stephenson, IT Tech Lead. "It's tough going from changing people's lives back to changing out hard drives, but now I have a better idea of what it'll take to build a better patient tracking system."
BOL is grateful for the hard-working volunteer team who toughed it out through hot weather, extreme humidity and rough conditions to ensure our Haitian patients received the care needed.
Interested in volunteering with BOL? Check out our Volunteer page on our website to submit a volunteer application and find answers to FAQs or contact us at [email protected].
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DaVita Rx Rallies Teammates to Donate
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DaVita Rx teammates hosted a Supplies Drive to gather medical supplies and other items that were used during the recent BOL primary care and chronic kidney disease screening mission in Haiti. Boxes were placed at various DaVita Rx pharmacies, and teammates donated available items.
Supplies included hygiene materials such as toothpaste, children's medicine, deodorant, and first-aid materials including Band-Aids and aspirin
.
These necessary supplies made our volunteer work in Haiti possible and provided life-improving healthcare treatments for the individuals treated.
"DaVita Rx is always looking for creative ways to support BOL," said Amber Johnson, Supervisor, Customer Experience. "A tangible way for teammates to participate in such an awesome cause was actually supplying some of the over-the-counter medications that were necessary for the BOL Haiti mission. In regular DaVita Rx fashion, teammates across Rx banded together in a short amount of time and donated over 500 over-the-counter medications and supplies."
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Team Fusion Supports CKD Screening
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16 DaVita teammates from Team Fusion volunteered at BOL's recent chronic kidney disease (CKD) screening in Waukegan, Illinois to screen 137 individuals and provide prevention education information. BOL greatly appreciated the time they took out of their schedules to serve locals who attended the health fair at Jesus Name Apostolic Church.
Local Senator Mark Kirk also partnered with BOL at the event to help spread awareness on this often "silent" disease and stress the importance of getting screened for CKD.
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Corporations Step Up with Aid
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BOL was grateful to receive several corporate donations in order to provide primary care treatments and chronic kidney disease screenings during our recent mission to Haiti.
Through the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, Henry Schein provided
oral hygiene products, medical diagnostics equipment and diabetes screening Health Kits
. McKesson supplied items such as sanitizer, toothbrushes, thermometers, sharps containers, tongue depressors, gauze, bandages, and sutures. Alliant Credit Union donated
50
pairs of sunglasses to provide locals with sun protection. And Global Protection Corporation supplied
1,000 condoms to provide safe sex alternatives, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and lifesaving protection to those at risk of contracting and transmitting HIV in remote areas.
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Donor Spotlight
The Weitnauer Family
BOL is excited to share our latest donor spotlight on Curt and Angela Weitnauer. The Weitnauers have been contributing to BOL since 2014 when Curt took over as president of Mar Cor Purification, and they decided to make personal donations to BOL in addition to Mar Cor's corporate contributions.
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The Faces of Kidney Disease in India
Lori Vaclavik, Executive Director of BOL, recounts her recent experiences in India, from her visits to the dialysis clinics BOL helped to establish to her firsthand encounters with individuals screened for chronic kidney disease.
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Teammates Caring for Our World
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Teammates joined together during recent months to contribute to BOL, and we are thankful for the time and effort they gave in making these donations:
The DaVita IT Team at Casa Nueva in Denver, Colorado earned $417 for BOL during their recent team "garage sale!"
Teammate Kyle Hunter's daughter and her fellow National Junior Honors Society members at Westview Middle School in Colorado raised $583 through a smoothie sales fundraiser and generously contributed the grand total to BOL!
Team Evergreen teammates in Washington state, who fundraised for their upcoming BOL Kids' Camp volunteer sessions, earned $490 to contribute toward their personal fundraising goals!
Interested in fundraising for BOL? Contact Jessica Dankert, Manager of Donor Relations & Communications, for more information.
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To view our upcoming BOL missions, check out our events calendar:
To support BOL's onging work, please visit our online donation page:
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BOL is a nonprofit organization founded by DaVita HealthCare Partners, Inc. and operating under DaVita Village Trust, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. BOL improves access to primary care and dialysis treatment in underserved communities around the world while also focusing on prevention of kidney disease through early-detection testing and education. BOL serves thousands of men, women and children through four programs: kidney care, primary care, prevention and education, and kids' camps. For more information, please
click here
.
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Bridge of Life | 888-374-8185 | BridgeOfLifeInternational.org
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