Thank You HERO Fargo for the Community Partner Award!

Thank You HERO Fargo for the Community Partner Award!

On Friday night, at their 14th annual HERO Bash, HERO Fargo (HERO stands for Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization) recognized Mano a Mano as its Community Partner of the Year! We are very grateful to be honored by HERO, which has been a great partnership for years.

Exchanging Donated Medical Supplies to Meet Each Organization’s Needs

Both Mano a Mano and HERO collect donated medical supplies and equipment; we both redistribute those supplies to people in need. Mano a Mano focuses on people and organizations in need in rural Bolivia, and HERO focuses on people in need in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Both organizations receive at least 150,000 pounds of donated items each year, and inevitably some of those items are not the best fit. For a number of years, HERO has driven from Fargo to St. Paul every month or two to exchange supplies that are higher priority items for the other organization.

HERO’s Executive Director Stephen Roise mentioned a specific example during his speech on Friday night:

HERO had a waiting list of up to 300 people for shower chairs; thanks to Mano a Mano they have been able to provide them to everyone on their waiting list. Without Mano a Mano, Roise said that they would still have a sizable waiting list.

Creating Partnerships

Mano a Mano’s mission is to create partnerships with impoverished Bolivian communities that improve health and increase economic well-being. But the need for partnership extends well beyond Mano a Mano and the communities of Bolivia; working with other nonprofit organizations like HERO is extremely beneficial to help further our mission, as well as support communities in the Upper Midwest, and we are very grateful to HERO for the recognition on Friday!

Mano a Mano’s Health Education Program – 4th Quarter 2017

Mano a Mano’s Health Education Program – 4th Quarter 2017

A central component of Mano a Mano’s health program is to provide health education:

• to communities through providing training for volunteer health promoters
• to communities through weekend health clinics providing basic services
• to Mano a Mano’s clinic staff as continuing health education
• to medical professionals from other organizations

These programs are managed and administered by our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia, and serve a complementary role to the construction of community clinics throughout rural Bolivia. (In partnership with local communities, municipal governments, and the Bolivian Health Ministry, Mano a Mano has built 162 clinics to date.)

Continuing Health Education

In the 4th Quarter of 2017, Mano a Mano Bolivia hosted two continuing health education workshops – one for doctors and one for dentists – with a total of 104 participants and 19 instructors presenting. These workshops are accredited for participants, and each attendee receives a certificate of completion.

Health Education for Public Organizations

In addition to providing continuing health education for Mano a Mano’s 500+ medical professionals on staff in our network of clinics, Mano a Mano Bolivia provides continuing health education workshops for medical professionals from public organizations in Bolivia.

Between October and December 2017, Mano a Mano Bolivia hosted 5 workshops with a total of 227 attendees (attendance in each workshop ranged from 35 to 60).

Weekend Health Clinics

In October and November 2017, 15 medical professionals volunteered their time to fly to three small communities in the Amazon region of Bolivia in the department of Beni to provide dental, medical, and lab services (there were 5 volunteers for each of the 3 weekend health clinics). Each weekend health clinic, or jornada, takes place over 2 days, with volunteers flying to the communities to provide health care services in the communities.

In total, 292 people were attended to during the 3 weekend health clinics: 149 received medical care, 88 received dental work, and 55 received lab services.

Thank You Dr. Katrina Phillips for Presenting at Mano a Mano

Thank You Dr. Katrina Phillips for Presenting at Mano a Mano

Thank you Dr. Katrina Phillips for presenting at Mano a Mano as part of our Talk Series last night! Her talk focused on ”Termination through Tourism: The Battle over the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.”

Professor Phillips is an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and an Assistant Professor of History at Macalester College. She earned her B.A and Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. She teaches courses on American Indian and American history, and her current research focuses on the American Indian historical pageants in the development of regional tourism economies in the 20th and 21st centuries.

We Host a Speaker Every Month: Upcoming Events on May 29th and June 12th

Dr. Phillips’ talk was the second in our ongoing series of talks and discussion on “indigenous peoples and their environments.” We at Mano a Mano want to engage with researchers and practitioners working with indigenous peoples on development and environmental issues. Our goal is to share and learn from each other and to support the indigenous peoples we serve.

We have 2 speakers scheduled for May and June:

• Caroline Doenmez, MA, Human Rights Studies/Native Studies, Works at American Indian Studies & Anthropology Departments at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts – “Empowering Indigenous Women During the Birthing Process” – Indigenous Communities and their environment – Tuesday, May 29 at 6:30p
• Tom Kenote, working towards his MS in Natural Resources Science & Management and is from the Omaeqnomenewok (Menominee Nation), and the Lac Courte Oreilles band of Anishinaabe in Wisconsin “Indigenous Phenology” – Indigenous Communities and their environment Series – Tuesday, June 12 at 6:30p

All of our talks will take place at Mano a Mano (925 Pierce Butler Route, St. Paul, MN 55104).

Please RSVP with Carmen (carmen@manoamano.org or 651-457-3141).

Container Loading: April 2018

Container Loading: April 2018

85,000+ Pounds of Donated Medical Supplies & Equipment On Their Way to Bolivia

All 4 containers are loaded and ready to start their journey from Saint Paul, Minnesota to Cochabamba, Bolivia! Over the weekend, Mano a Mano volunteers loaded over 85,000 pounds of donated medical supplies and equipment – that includes nearly 2,000 boxes of medical supplies, 40 gaylords (very large boxes) of orthopedic supplies and equipment, more than 200 wheelchairs and 1,000 pairs of crutches, and literally tons of other items.

Thank You Volunteers!

Thank you to everyone that helped load containers over the past few days, and thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that picked up, sorted, and organized these supplies over the past 6 months. It is a huge effort to make these shipments possible, and we couldn’t do it without the time and dedication of everyone in Minnesota and Bolivia that is so actively involved. These supplies will be distributed to people and organizations in need from throughout Bolivia in the coming months; check out a video from a recent distribution here, or below:

Shipping 4 Containers from Minnesota to Bolivia April 5-7, 2018 – Volunteers Needed!

Shipping 4 Containers from Minnesota to Bolivia April 5-7, 2018 - Volunteers Needed!

Mano a Mano is loading 4 containers with about 100,000 pounds of donated medical supplies on April 5th-7th; we need your help! Loading will be at Mano a Mano’s St. Paul, Minnesota warehouse (925 Pierce Butler Route, St. Paul, Minnesota 55104), at the following times:

• Thursday, April 5th from 9am-5pm
• Friday, April 6th from 9am-5pm
• Saturday, April 7th from 9a-12p (or until finished)

If you are interested in helping load containers (you can come for as long or short of a time as you’d like), please contact Carmen (carmen@manoamano.org or 651-457-3141).

Our Last Loading Event at Mano a Mano in August 2017

On August 24-26 2017, Mano a Mano volunteers loaded 5 containers with 120,882 pounds of donated medical, school, and other supplies, with a conservative value of $1.8 million. These containers then started their journey to Bolivia, which takes a few weeks to arrive in-country, and many more months to clear customs.

Many of these supplies were distributed to organizations that came from around Bolivia during a distribution event in Cochabamba, Bolivia earlier this month.