Category: News

Many considered financial self-sustainability for a poor rural hospital an impossibility, but our first hospital in Pedro Vicente Maldonado (PVM) achieved that goal in 2007. It certainly wasn’t easy. We experimented with all sorts of revenue generating ideas to keep the hospital running, and most failed. One combination of financing mechanisms finally did work: a public-private partnership with Ecuador’s national social security system. Social security pays us for the patients in their system, and we charge other patients who are able to pay very reasonable prices. Although that public relationship has many challenges, it catalyzed our successful journey to 100% financial self-sustainability. To this day…

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A Chinese immigrant carried his daughter into Hesburgh Hospital’s Emergency Room in mid-January. She had some cognitive delays and severe scoliosis, and now she was suffering extreme respiratory difficulty. We diagnosed influenza with pneumonia as a complication. She went downhill very fast and sadly died in the ICU within two hours of coming to the ER.

Influenza is a concerning public health threat in the U.S., as you all know. It is generally a wintertime virus due, in part, to the concentration of people in warm, enclosed areas.

Because the southern hemisphere’s winter falls during the U.S.’s summertime…

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As you all know, we’ve spent two decades working to improve medical care for Ecuador’s rural poor. And recently, this work and commitment earned a $1.5 million grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®). This remarkable award validates the hard work of everyone in this organization, specifically because Andean Health is one of only four organizations to receive one of these prized global grants. This grant will help us specifically address maternal and newborn health services in Santo Domingo and the surrounding provinces.

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Ligia delivered her magnificent, nine-pound baby boy in early November. Big babies with wide shoulders sometimes get stuck above mom’s pelvic bone and need special, rapid maneuvers from the medical team to complete the journey out – her baby was no exception to the rule, but did just fine.

Then mom’s uterus did not contract. When that happens, heavy bleeding can rapidly ensue. Massages and medications frequently alleviate this, but not always. This time, nothing worked.

We took Ligia to the emergency room to try to control the bleeding. Her blood pressure was lower than anything I had ever witnessed; she ultimately required an emergency hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) to save her life…

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We ran into three recent graduates of our residency program who are all now working at that MOH hospital. They said that when they started at the MOH hospital, they quickly noticed the low quality of inpatient care (hospitalized patients) due to so few doctors having proper training. In response, these newly minted doctors proposed

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Today would have been Rev. Theodore Hesburgh’s 100th birthday. Most of you know of Fr. Ted’s considerable impact on American civil rights and immigration, his counsel to Presidents and Popes, and his commitment to Catholic higher education. I’d like to share his impact on this small corner of the planet here in the Andes Mountains…

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Mosquitoes are a real problem for people in tropical climates all over the world, including the region we serve in tropical Ecuador. They come in many different brands, shapes and sizes.

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