Bolivian Methodist Medical Clinics

The Evangelical Methodist Church of Bolivia has seven Medical Clinics that they have built and run. Most of these clinics are far beyond the reach of the Bolivian Government and standard Health Care. These clinics are literally life-giving stations in these remote communities. Most of these villages are very remote, far from any services.

El Alto Clinic

The El Alto Women and Children’s Clinic: We are hoping to turn it into a Women and children’s Specialty clinic through hiring a doctor/specialist and providing additional help. We also hope to build up the Dental practice with equipment to do more then simple extractions as done elsewhere in El Alto.

Konani Clinic

The Good Samaratan Clinic – Konani

-  This is where the first Oklahoma UMC VIM Medical Team went in 1986. Nurse Claudina Hilari serves this, the oldest of the clinics.

Marquirivi

Marquirivi Clinic: 

The newest and perhaps the most remote of the clinics, clinging to the side of this hill. That isn’t an ‘aerial’ photo, it’s from the road descending down into Colquemaya!

 

Churquipampa Clinic (No Photo): The most remote and difficult clinic to get to. Located on the Bolivia/Argentine border, south of Tupiza. Our only male nurse Adrian Maizares works there. Because it is so difficult to get to, they seldome recieve teams.

Colquemaya Clinic

Colqueamaya Clinic:

Located in the Bolivian Altiplano and near desert conditions.

San Julian Clinic (no photo): Located a couple of hours east of Santa Cruz, it is in the jungle/forest area of Bolivia. Nurse Sixta Ilari has been at the clinic for 5 years and deals with all of the tropical diseases.

 

 

Click on Photo to see video

 The shining star of our clinics. Located an hour or so east from Cochabamba in the foothills of the Andes. Served by the amazing nurse Elisa Quiroga since 2002. Elisa has managed to introduce family planning into Cotani (despite great opposition from other denominations). The number of births in Cotani have dropped from 30-40 a year to 5-10 a year, with the resulting healthier babies, children, and rising economic standards. To see a series of short videos on Elisa’s life and incredible work,

(To learn about our work to open a new clinic in Caypayqui, click here

First National Meeting of Bolivian Methodist Clinic Nurses

On January 27-28, 2011 we held the first-ever Bolivian Methodist Clinic Nurses Gathering in Cotani, Bolivia. All 7 health nurses were present, along with the new Director of Services for the IEMB: Ruben Teran; the new head of Medical Services for the IEMB: Dr. David Mamani; his assistant Lidia Quispe; Dr. Don Crawley, Linda Allen and Rev. David Stephenson of the Jilakata. During those two days, we accomplished a lot. We:

• Set new standards of what medical services/programs/procedures are expected at each clinic (Preventative Health Care; Teaching about Boiling water and other preventative measures; Family Planning; Nutrition; Sexually transmitted diseases; Deliver babies; First Aid; Surturing Wounds; Administering IV’s; Splint broken bones)
• Set new standards for the equipment that should be in each clinic
• Got a plan on how to increase the number and quality of the medicines available in the clinics
• Developed a Continuing Education Plan for the Nursing Staff
• Developed plans for extending the health care from the clinics into the community and nearby communities

Most importantly, we helped to break the sense of isolation that the nurses felt, and let them know that someone cares and that they are a part of an important health care delivery team.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Brannin Family Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, we were able to provide most of these needs. Dr. Dan Brannin (oral surgeion and President of the Okla. Dental Society for many years) and his wife Neva, were on a Medical/Dental team from Boston Avenuen UMC to Montero Bolivia in 1990. They left a sizeable portion of their estate to the a private family foundation which is now supporting this work. The service and ministry of the Brannin’s to Bolivia which began in 1990, continues today.