Help Bolivian Children Living in Poverty

Despite the pandemic, the Rosa Vera Fund continues our vital work. Our partners at Consejo de Salud Rural Andino are taking many precautions, while still providing our patients with the care they so desperately need. In addition to home and virtual visits, patients are coming in for some essential therapies. Our goal is to raise funds to create a true telemedicine center for remote visits with specialists who are more than an hour away.

Usually at this time of year, our team of US-based doctors goes to Bolivia to meet with patients and their families, as well as meet with their Bolivian medical counterparts. This year, that wasn’t possible, but our intrepid team assessed them nonetheless. Although in-person visits are always preferred, Dr. Darlene Melk and Dr. Lisa Hunt were able to have virtual visits with the parents and children to get updates on their histories and develop individual plans with the close assistance of our Bolivian medical team for the coming year.

Each family was brought to La Escuelita where they were weighed, measured and had vital signs taken. A doctor from the Consejo was in the room with each family giving details on recent labs and medication doses. Drs. Hunt and Melk could even “examine them” with their help. It is important to note that none of this work could take place without the close guidance and assistance of our Bolivian medical team on the ground.

Dr. Melk and Dr. Hunt reported that children are all doing well and have been heathy throughout the pandemic. Due to weekly delivery of food supplies and medicines, none of the children are malnourished, nor have they suffered medical setbacks. The parents all expressed gratitude for the RVF and for allowing their children to receive virtual speech therapy and special education. Some are also receiving physical therapy at home.

After this experience, CSRA leader Nurse Mitma Claure Alcocer and the RVF physicians agreed that the RVF can admit four new patients to the Rosa Vera Fund in the coming weeks (January 2021). Great news!

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Moving Forward During the Time of Covid-19........Wow. The pandemic has impacted most of Bolivia hard. The area we work - the sprawling small city of Montero, outside the district capital of Santa Cruz - has been hit especially hard. Unemployment is extremely high, there is growing food insecurity and malnourishment, and people are living on the edge. 

RVF staff are working long hours to make sure our families get a weekly donation of food, diapers, and clean water. Our efforts are keeping families from going over the edge.

And there is a bright spot - Zoom! We are in the early stages of setting up Zoom meetings for patients at La Escuelita - our school and therapy center. While most of our patients can be seen by RVF doctors onsite, but some children are also receiving care from a specialist located several hours away, in Santa Cruz, depending on their medical conditions. In these cases, caregivers are able to use our laptop with Zoom capabilities to bring in their child for appointments with specialists - at a distance. 

Through the support of people like you - we will help RVF families get through this terrible pandemic. Along the way, we have been forced to come up with creative, out-of-the-box solutions to meet the challenges that arise. Thank you, sincerely, for sticking with us and believing in our work!

Sincerely,

Karen M. Melk, Board Chair

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