In July, Bridge of Life (BOL)'s team of 15 volunteers provided primary care services and chronic disease screenings to 1,119 individuals in six rural Nicaraguan communities where families have difficulty accessing regular medical care due poor roads, lack of transportation and
other challenges.
Volunteers treated patients for various medical conditions, including fever, parasites and infections and also
dis
pensed medications and vitamins. Adults were screened for hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease and also received preventative education on these chronic illnesses.
"It was amazing how suc
h a small but targeted amount of education delivery could meaningfully impact the level of health literacy in a population,"
said Matthe
w Daley, Director, Home Modalities, DaVita Kidney Care.
As part of a new initiati
ve that BOL is launching this year in both Haiti and Nicaragua, p
atients identified as high-risk during screenings were e
nrolled in a chronic disease prevention program that is managed by BOL-train
ed Communit
y Health Workers (CH
W
s). BOL worked
with
Dr. Peter Pierrot and the Double Harvest Clinic in Haiti and Dr. Luis O'Campo with Susie Syke Clinic in Nicaragua to train local CHWs on providing monthly care to patients at risk of hypertension and kidney diseas
e.
"As a veteran of many missionary journeys, I have to say the system in place at BOL far excee
ds the norm and is a model for what medical missions should look like," said Andrew Gabig, RN and Clinical Coordinator, DaVita Kidney Care.
