Hospital Arco Iris Consulta Externa

Medicina Excelente – Atención Considerada
(Excellent Medicine – Considerate Care)

by Kevin Broyles

One of the things that HOPE worldwide Bolivia (Hww-Bolivia) enjoys the most about the partnership with Hospital Arco Iris (HAI) is being able to strengthen the great work of the hospital and to participate in making improvements.  The Consulta Externa provides outpatient specialty and sub-specialty care to almost 80,000 patients each year and serves as the “face” of HAI to our community. A group of leaders lead by HOPE Bolivia have been meeting each week for several months and are making steady progress with meaningful improvements. Improvements not only for our patients but for our doctors and staff as well.  Some of our improvements have included:

• Opening the “Sala de Juegos” to provide educational activities and diversion for children and their parents while waiting.
• Creating a Rewards and Recognition Board – each month we will recognize outstanding doctors and staff members, as well as, our progress on our improvement projects
• Improving Patient Satisfaction – the goal of our CE is to have the highest patient satisfaction in the city – we are surveying our patients to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Decreasing waiting time – we are making changes in the way we schedule patients to decrease the time of waiting.
• Facilitation – HAI has oriented and trained a physician facilitator who guides patients, answers questions and helps smooth out the challenges of navigating the hospital.

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These patient-centered improvements will not only increase the satisfaction of our patients but the efficiency and effectiveness of our outpatient services. This is just another example of the power of partnerships.

Our First HOPE worldwide Bolivia Newsletter! “Powerful Partnerships Providing for the Poor”

by Kevin Broyles

Please join us as we celebrate our first newsletter from La Paz, Bolivia. We hope that you will enjoy and be inspired by the articles and all that God is doing here with our powerful partnership with Arco Iris to help the poor.

Newsletter PDF version

When Generosity Becomes Joy

by Kevin Broyles

“A Happy Child is a Healthy Child – A Happy Child makes Happy Parents”

Because of the generous donations from individuals, sister churches and supporters including the Tampa Bay Church of Christ (Tampa, Florida), the Northview Church of Christ (Roswell, Georgia) and the Iglesia Discípulos de Cristo (La Paz, Bolivia) a dream became a reality. Because of these financial donations and gifts for children, HOPE had the funding and supplies to begin a new and exciting “hand’s on” program of service for the children of Hospital Arco Iris – “Para Los Niños – Sala de Juegos“.

Children at Hospital Arco Iris often know what it means to patiently wait. They often wait for hours in the downstairs clinic and frequently by themselves with little to do while waiting for medical appointments or while their parents are upstairs with family members and loved ones in the hospital.

Last week Bolivia celebrated the “Dia del Niño” (Day of the Child) a celebration honoring children and their families.  On that day, HOPE worldwide Bolivia opened a new play area at Hospital Arco Iris called “Para Los Niños – Sala de Juegos” for the children of the Arco Iris Hospital.  HOPE volunteers transformed a small space into a brightly colored room filled with educational games, puzzles, toys and smiling, brightly clothed, trained HOPE volunteers. The “Sala de Juegos” has quickly become a bright spot in busy waiting area filled with children and their parents.

The “Sala de Juegos” is the first phase of a comprehensive child play and recreational therapy program that will be developed in the future to provide services for the hospitalized children and their families.

Everyone is excited about this new initiative created by HOPE worldwide Bolivia and our partnership with Hospital Arco Iris.  The donations of friends and supporters like you will continue to provide compassionate care and a service for these children and their families in the years to come.

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Hospital Arco Iris Hosts the First Nursing Journal Symposium.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
― Nelson Mandela

On March 19-20, 2013 the Hospital Arco Iris(HAI) nursing department decided to begin change the nursing profession in Bolivia!  They hosted the first nursing journal symposium. The HAI nursing staff invited guest speakers from many hospitals and universities from La Paz. There were distinguished guest lecturers from prestigious institutions such as Universidad Católica Boliviana and Universidad Mayor de San Andrés.  In addition, among the speakers were HOPE worldwide Bolivia nursing volunteers, Jennifer Mullen RN, Triage nurse Northwestern and Inge LeBlanc RN, Intensive care unit nurse from Northwestern University Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, as well as HOPE Bolivia’s Gwen Ellis RN, BSN.  Gwen spoke about SBAR (SVAR), life saving communication for healthcare providers.

The purpose of professional nursing journal symposium is to promote evidence-based nursing practice and improve the quality of bedside nursing care. The event included an incredible standing-room-only 200 in attendance each day. This was an exciting event and a first to see many nurses committed to promoting the change of nursing practice through special educational forums such as these.

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God Multiplies

by Jenny Blenko

(HOPE worldwide Bolivia one-year volunteer with Foundation Arco Iris)

In my eight months as a volunteer social worker with Fundacion Arco Iris and HOPE worldwide Bolivia, this is something that God has shown me to be true again and again.

God always takes what I have to give and makes it something greater. In October, with a trip home looming ahead of us, my best friend and fellow volunteer Alina Wahl and I decided that it would be a good idea to make the most of our time in the United States by planning a fundraiser. With little experience planning such events and little idea what to buy or where to buy it, we began praying, talking to friends and family, and roaming the markets of La Paz looking for beautiful things to sell. Prayers were answered, and everything quickly fell into place: a family friend offered to host a fundraiser at her house, and the South Bay Church told us that we could also fundraise after Sunday service. A month later, we were on our way home with two huge duffel bags stuffed to the brim with alpaca scarves, sweaters, hats and gloves, and handmade necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings.

By the grace of God and the generosity of many people, both fundraisers were a great success—we raised nearly $3,500 to donate to our projects! It was so special to not only be able to raise money, but also to personally share the stories of the people and families that the money will impact.

Now, nearly four months later, the money is already being put to good use. Last week, we were notified that we would officially be able to build a bakery where homeless youth will be able to both gain the skills and make money to help them get off the street. We are still hoping to start a microfinance program to give sex workers the opportunity work their way out of prostitution.

2 Corinthians 9:10 says, “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” What a blessing that this is the God that we serve!

With love from Bolivia,

Jenny Blenko

JOSE’ – A BOY BATTLING LIFE-THREATENING THYROID CANCER

Meet José Alvaro and his family. 

José is a 15-year-old boy who lives in a poor, rural community near the city of Oruro, Bolivia. José lives with his parents and five sisters. His  parents are farmers. Year after year, they are barely able to survive from the earnings (about $1,500 a year) they receive from their labor. 

Two months ago, Jose’s life was drastically changed by a rapidly growing tumor in his neck. José and his family ignored this growth, hoping it would get better. But the tumor began to close his airway making it difficult for him to breathe, and virtually impossible for him to work or play. José and his parents traveled for many hours by bus to La Paz to seek urgent medical care. When he arrived at Hospital Arco Iris, he was in critical condition. He underwent an emergency tracheostomy surgerey (breathing tube in the neck) to provide an airway. Presently, it has also taken away his voice. He also underwent another emergency surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor.  While, Jose’s life was saved at that moment, the real battle has only begun for him and his family.

José currently remains in intensive therapy for breathing support and has been evaluated by several specialists.  The tumor was diagnosed to be papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland (rare in children, but treatable).  Jose’s life can be spared with additional surgery and cancer treatment. But the dilemna is that Jose’s family has no money to pay for this medical care.  Without these treatments, José will die. With these treatments, José has the opportunity to return to a good quality of life and to pursue his dreams of becoming an agronomist (specialist in farming).

Like any child, José dreams of being healed and returning to live with his family. José is an extremely intelligent boy who can read very well. He loves to learn and he has a big heart to help and encourage others. He loves animals and dreams of becoming a successful farmer- not only to help his own family, but also to help his small rural community.

Your financial support can truly help save the lives of children like José and make their dreams become a reality!  Contributions can be made on-line at HOPE worldwide Bolivia – Donation.

Thank you in advance for your hearts to help the poor and your partnership of compassion.

A New Year!

By: Dr. Kevin Broyles

A time for reflecting on the successes and those things not yet realized from 2012 and a time to plan for our future in 2013.

Hospital Arco Iris (HAI) and HOPE worldwide Bolivia (HWWB) have been working on “POA”s and “Matrizes” to guide us this next year.  What’s a POA, what’s a Matriz? Not word salads but rather methods to analyze our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and to strategically plan for success.  These will guide HAI to accomplishing our values and making improvements necessary to accomplish our mission and vision of providing high quality and compassionate health care to those we serve – the poor, the widows, the orphans and children who live on the streets of La Paz.

In 2012 Hospital Arco Iris provided over 168,000 outpatient medical visits. These included over 76,000 visits provided by the three mobile medical units that go out into the community to give medical care for those who would be unwilling to go to a hospital or clinic. HAI provided over 7,000 hospitalizations, 3,500 surgeries and 18,000 emergency room visits. Sixty percent (60%) of the care was to children 18 years of age or less. In 2012 HAI provided almost 10,000,000 Bs ($1.4 million) in free health care (that is quite an accomplishment for a hospital that has very little support from the outside).

Our goals at HOPE worldwide remain focused in five areas. Improving financial sustainability of the hospital by improvements in safety, quality and efficiency of the great care already provided and by creating new initiatives to help fund the charitable mission of the hospital. Education of our nursing, medical staff and interns as well as educating the next generation of health care providers. With leadership development we will work to change the culture of our hospital to better achieve our values. We will continue to enjoy the incredible collaborations that have been forged with academic medical institutions overseas. Finally we will continue to facilitate donations of intellectual capital, funding, supplies and equipment so desperately needed to provide safe and quality care to our beneficiaries.

Again a special thank you to all of our donors, colleagues, readers and followers for your continual support, prayers and encouragement throughout the year – we couldn’t do it without you!  With your partnership we are indeed looking forward to a prosperous 2013!