We are very excited for our 6th International Acute Care Conference coming up next month!

This March, 20 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from the Twin Cities are traveling to Bolivia, at their own expense, to provide continuing health education courses to Bolivian medical professionals.

Flyer for this year's conference in March

Flyer for this year’s conference in March

Health Education

As part of our model, Mano a Mano is extremely committed to completing infrastructure projects that will be sustainable for the long-term. This commitment means that doing a project involves much more than just putting up a building; maintenance, funding for staff salaries, adequate equipment and supplies, and ongoing support are all crucial components to ensuring that a project lasts and can provide high-quality service.

With clinic projects, it is very important to also provide health education. Our sister organization Mano a Mano Bolivia provides 10-12 continuing education workshops for staff in Mano a Mano clinics each year (in our history we have hosted 84 workshops), and also trains 10-15 volunteer health promoters in each community with a clinic (click this link to learn more about these 2 programs).

Health promoters practicing patient transport near Cochabamba

Health promoters practicing patient transport near Cochabamba

International Acute Care Conferences with MELA

Mano a Mano has been collaborating with medical professionals from MELA (Medical Educators for Latin America) since April 2007. Below is an overview taken directly from the MELA website:

Emergency Medicine and other providers at Regions Hospital are engaged in a partnership with Mano a Mano to provide medical education to Bolivian health care providers. This relationship began in April 2007 and has grown over time. Regions Emergency Medicine Department has provided medical supplies and equipment to Mano a Mano clinics in Bolivia and has an ongoing commitment to support these clinics as needed. This includes educating the physicians and nurses who staff the clinics.

Our group of physicians and other healthcare providers travel to the city of Cochabamba to present a 2-3 day conference to the Bolivian physicians, nurses and dentists. These doctors and nurses work in the Mano a Mano clinics throughout Bolivia and request training in all medical topics to help them care for their patients.

These conferences build on our smaller continuing education workshops hosted by Mano a Mano Bolivia staff, and cover topics requested by attendees that may be more specialized than our own staff can easily cover. These courses are open to the public; last year’s conference had 259 attendees and covered dozens of topics.

Practical Session for Intraosseous Infusion at last years' conference in May 2012

Practical Session for Intraosseous Infusion at last years’ conference in May 2012

Special thanks to all the Regions Hospital and MELA volunteers traveling, and to our amazing staff at Mano a Mano Bolivia who are hosting the conference in Cochabamba!