“Move It” Around the World

Made it to Denver! Congratulations Tour DaVita champions! You’ve moved it all the way back to DaVita Headquarters in Denver, Colorado! Along the way you’ve given 21 children in Guatemala a better quality of life by supporting their AV Fistula surgeries! And dialysis patients in Jamaica can anticipate future kidney transplant surgeries because of the funds you raised. And in Mexico, India and the Philippines, life-saving PPE will be delivered because of you. Your participation in Tour DaVita Move It has touched, changed and saved adults and children around the globe.

Ya mon! You’ve landed in Jamaica, and what an exciting time to be here. Bridge of Life is gearing up to launch its FIRST EVER kidney transplant project in Jamaica! Your support will help people waiting for a kidney transplant to receive the gift of life! And your support will empower doctors and nurses in Jamaica to implement and operate kidney donation programs, rescuing dozens of lives, helping people avoid lifelong dialysis and dramatically reducing healthcare costs. We also recently launched a Healthy Living Program in partnership with local public hospitals in Kingston. When a patient is first identified with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease, they are invited to join this project that provides them with prevention education, extensive lab testing and medication. Our goal is to slow the progression of or stop people from reaching end stage renal disease. As they say in Jamaica, “Tank yuh” for your commitment to our work!
You’re in the final stretch to your return to Denver – you’ve got this! Thank you for Moving IT with us in 2021 for the men, women and children we serve across the globe!

¡Bienvenido a Nicaragua! Bridge of Life started working in Nicaragua in 2016. Since then, we’ve engaged 40 volunteers to provide more than 2,200 chronic disease screenings to locals. Although the COVID-19 pandemic postponed our travel to Nicaragua, six community health workers have continued our work by providing medication and health education and testing to 220 people identified as having hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. With your support, we will provide blood pressure and glucose monitors and routine medications to these chronic disease patients in the El Crucero region. Our goal is to ensure routine monitoring and effective management of hypertension and diabetes for these patients. Next stop, Jamaica!

You’ve reached the Philippines! This country is currently in a state of health emergency due to recent high records of confirmed cases of COVID-19 (around 25,000 daily). Three out of four cases recorded are being identified as the more transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19. During this unprecedented global health crisis, Bridge of Life is working to protect vulnerable dialysis patients in the Philippines. Over the next year, we hope to strengthen the skills of dialysis health workers and equip them with the tools to deliver safe and effective dialysis care. We might be distant, but we’re still helping the Philippines to fight COVID-19 together!

You’ve Moved IT all the way to Bangladesh! Bridge of Life began working in Bangladesh in 2016, and we currently support a 16-station dialysis unit in Dhaka that offers lifesaving dialysis treatment to almost 100 patients. Over the next year, we will continue providing remote clinical and technical support to our partner here and advisement on a new unit design as our partner expands its dialysis treatment capacity. Now, on to the Philippines!

Congratulations, Tour DaVita champions! You’ve made it to Sierra Leone! During the core of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bridge of Life expanded its work to Sierra Leone to support a five-station dialysis unit in Freetown. We were able to provide new clinic start-up technical and clinical training on site for the unit’s dialysis team. We will continue to support our partner here through remote and onsite follow-up visits to ensure quality dialysis treatment for patients. Thank you for helping to change lives in Sierra Leone!

¡Estamos en México! ¡Viva México! Bridge of Life’s work in Mexico began in 2011. Since then, we have expanded our support to five different cities, improving dialysis care for hundreds of patients throughout the country. Most recently, we’ve supported our partners here through COVID-19 prevention and management and infection control training. Over the next year, we will engage volunteers who will offer virtual training webinars in Spanish that include a series of management-based training modules. Your support is critical to the launch of this important initiative in Mexico!

You made it to Tonga, and we’re sure glad you did! Currently, there are no dialysis treatment options available to patients in the kingdom of Tonga. People diagnosed with kidney failure have only one option to receive dialysis treatments: to relocate to another nearby country, such as Fiji or New Zealand. This singular option is a major financial burden and extremely disruptive to the lives of both the patients and their families. Your support will help transform the lives of dozens of people with end stage renal disease. In 2022, we aim to build Tonga’s first ever dialysis clinic in partnership with the Semnani Foundation! We hope to establish a four-station unit and provide the necessary clinical and technical training for dialysis staff so that the people of Tonga can finally have access to safe, high-quality dialysis care. Now, onward to Mexico!

You’ve walked, hiked, pedaled, and paddled your way to India!

Bridge of Life has supported five operational dialysis clinics in India over the past 13 years. COVID-19 has put our partners here under unprecedented pressure, especially since March 2021, when the number of confirmed daily cases of the coronavirus started to explode. This resulted in an increased demand for health care training, particularly in infection control and quality standards. We’ve responded by sending medical supplies and personal protection equipment to our partners here.

With your support, we will continue to assist our partners with onsite and remote training, dialysis equipment repairs and maintenance training and acute unit portable reverse osmosis system upgrades to ensure they can keep their clinics running efficiently and safely.

Next stop – Tonga!

It’s been a long trek, but you’ve made it all the way to Uganda! While Bridge of Life has worked in many regions throughout Uganda over the past three years, we will focus our work in Kabale in 2022. Our goal is to build a model that will strengthen capacity for COVID-19 mitigation and community health outcomes and that can be rolled out countrywide. The project will support hundreds of people living with chronic diseases in socio-economically disadvantaged communities by training and empowering community health workers who can, in turn, provide accessible, affordable and quality health care services to local patients. We are also planning an exciting event in Kabale to recognize World Diabetes Day this November that includes a health education fair, health screenings and a community soccer tournament. That’s right – they are Moving IT with us in Uganda!

You’ve arrived in Ghana!

Bridge of Life has supported two dialysis clinics here. In 2019, we also launched our chronic disease prevention program in Ghana, which we’ve been able to sustain during the COVID-19 pandemic through the hard work of 12 local community health workers. We will continue to provide ongoing support to these health workers so they can continue preventing chronic diseases for individuals living in the Ahafo region.

With COVID-19 on the rise in Ghana, it is crucial that these health workers have what they need to protect themselves and the communities they serve. Thank you for helping us to provide personal protection equipment, like hand sanitizer, hygienic kits, thermometers, and surgical masks, to these health workers and the people they serve. We will also launch our new mobile app in Ghana in the upcoming months, which will enable us to better track health outcomes for patients.

Up next…Uganda!

You’ve reached Haiti, where Bridge of Life’s support is needed now, more than ever.

Following closely on the heels of the assassination of Haiti’s president and civil unrest and turmoil for the people of Haiti, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck this country on August 14th, causing widespread damage in the southwestern region and killing more than 2,000 people.

Your support will allow us to continue supporting organizations on the ground to get resources, such as food, medicine and personal protection equipment, to Haitians in this urgent time of need. And you will help us to continue supporting community health worker projects in Nordette and Croix Des Bouquets, implementing chronic disease screenings and providing equipment to Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, in partnership with Partners in Health.

Thank you for Moving IT for Haiti!

¡Llegamos a Bolivia! Bridge of Life’s work in Bolivia began in 2017 and, since then, it has expanded annually.

This year, we will launch an exciting project in partnership with Etta Projects aimed at training community members and high school students to promote healthy changes to daily routines, including drinking more water, using less sugar and salt and recognizing the value of exercise. We will engage 30 community health workers from six different villages to support adolescent leaders.

Why target youth? Young people have a vibrant voice and are great at leading sports and healthy activities in villages. We also want to empower people at a critical point in their lives with knowledge about chronic disease prevention so they can build healthy families and educate their communities on safer lifestyles. Your support enables us to have a positive impact on the health of 3,850 individuals in Bolivia! Gracias por su apoyo!

Next stop...Haiti!

Your first stop of Tour DaVita 2021 is Guatemala, the country where Bridge of Life has traveled to the most. We’ve led 26 medical trips to Guatemala and engaged almost 200 volunteers in our work here. We have several exciting projects planned here for 2022, including:

• Providing over 20 pediatric dialysis patients with ateriovenous fistula surgeries to decrease infection rates and improve mobility and overall quality of life (this will also very our first medical mission since we suspended travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

• Supporting kidney donors with medical tests, consultations and virtual health education.

• Offering virtual training to improve standards of care for Fundanier, a pediatric dialysis unit in Guatemala City (the largest in Latin America!).

• Chronic disease screenings to thousands of individuals in La Democracia, a region in southern Guatemala that has the highest incidence of kidney disease in the entire country.

We would not be able to accomplish all of this without champions like YOU! While we all would love to stay a little longer in beautiful Guatemala, pack your bags, because your journey around the world is just getting started!

You MOVED IT to raise over $900,000 of our $1.1 million goal before the start of Tour DaVita! Now it’s time to MOVE IT for Bridge of Life! Together, we will travel around the world TWICE this weekend.

Now more than ever, places like Bolivia, Uganda and India need our help. Over the weekend, we will move enough collective miles to travel from Guatemala all the way to Tonga in the South Pacific. Then we will start our second loop around the world in Mexico ending at DaVita’s headquarters in Denver!

Follow here or on Tour DaVita’s social media page to see the progress you and fellow Tour participants have made around the world. Text messages will also be sent to those who opted in.

Remember: all of this is dependent upon our participants logging their virtual challenge activities! The process is simple, see our step-by-step instruction here.