Bridge of Life is taking a team of medical volunteers to Montero, Bolivia to work with our in-country partner Etta Projects to provide chronic disease prevention training to primary care doctors and nurses who support the treatment of diabetic patients. Through our training, partners will be equipped to offer exceptional patient health education to better their disease and reduce the risk of Chronic Kidney Disease.

Meet Magli

Magli lives in Montero, Bolivia with her 4 children and husband. She decided to visit Bridge of Life’s screening because one of her son’s heard about the health fair and told her she should participate because she hadn’t been feeling well.

Lately, she hadn’t been sleeping well. She was constantly thirsty and needing to urinate. She also felt hungry all the time, even though she had lost more than 10 kg in the past month.

She was absolutely shocked to learn she suffered from diabetes.

The Bridge of Life volunteers sped into action.

A volunteer RN on the team helped her to understand her health results. The Nephrologist counseled her on managing her diabetes and started her on medication. The dietitian gave her 24 hour diet recall questionnaire to gain a better understanding of her diet. She offered her personalized nutrition education and practiced making new plates with food models until she mastered her new healthy diet. And the social worker counseled Magli and provided hope of healthier days to come.

Magli left the screening feeling empowered in what habits she needed to take on to live a healthy life with diabetes.

Today, the work continues. Bridge of Life is partnering with a team of community health workers and the local health center to make certain Magli’s diabetes is being managed correctly. They offer her continuous lab testing, health education and access to medicine.

This is the power of BOL’s Chronic Disease Prevention program – to provide all people, everywhere access to comprehensive healthcare.