We are celebrating our 15th Anniversary!

In 2006, Bridge of Life’s (BOL) mission was to save and improve lives by bringing kidney care treatment, education, and hope to vulnerable communities around the world, and our vision was to expand global access to kidney care so that everyone with kidney disease can have the opportunity to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Fifteen years later, BOL upholds this historical mission and vision.

BOL has expanded our reach to strengthen healthcare globally through sustainable programs that not only TREAT chronic disease but PREVENT it as well. Due to our long-term sustainable relationships with in-country partners and stakeholders, BOL has BUILT successful partnerships, TRAINED in-country health professional and community workers, CONNECTED under-served patients to medical treatment, EDUCATED individuals on disease prevention, and ENGAGED medical professionals as volunteers throughout our programs.

As we celebrate our 15-Year Anniversary of strengthening healthcare around the world, the BOL team would like to take a moment to reflect on this important milestone and the milestones that led us here. See our first 5 Milestones below and be sure to visit our 15th Anniversary page!

Milestone 1: Bridge of Life is Founded – 2006

Several DaVita leaders had the vision of expanding access to dialysis treatment in countries where it was limited or non-existent, and in 2006, Bridge of Life was founded. Since that time, more than 1,500 volunteers and thousands of generous donors have helped to expand our work to 33 countries, impacting over 130,000 lives.

Milestone 2: First Dialysis Clinic Was Launched – 2006

In the fall of 2006, the first Bridge of Life dialysis clinic was launched in partnership with the World Organization of Renal Therapies and The University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé (CHUY) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Milestone 3: Supported First Kids' Camp – 2007

BOL launched its Kids’ Camp Program in 2007 by teaming up with The Painted Turtle, a camp for kids with serious medical conditions based out of California.

Milestone 4: Tour DaVita Began with Bridge of Life as the Beneficiary – 2007

Since Tour DaVita (TDV) began in 2007, it has raised over $13 million for Bridge of Life to assist in their efforts to help to prevent, control and treat kidney disease and its key causes around the globe.

Milestone 5: Launched AV Fistula Surgical Program – 2012

After noticing that the majority of dialysis patients continued to receive treatment through a catheter, even years after beginning dialysis, Bridge of Life created an AV (arteriovenous) Fistula surgical program.

Thank you for being a key part of all that we’ve accomplished. There is so much we can do together in the next 15 years!