Bolivian Clinic Awarded

BIENVENIDOS AL CENTRO MÉDICO HUMBERTO PARRA 

It’s not an easy journey to the Centro Médico Humberto Parra (CHMP). Located in the eastern Bolivian rainforest, down muddy roads, and patchwork bridges, the clinic is the only medical facility available in the surrounding 40,000-person area.  

Every year, more than 3,000 patients travel to CHMP for clinic visits, surgical campaigns, anti-parasite programs, and emergency care resources. The clinic has three exam rooms, a treatment room, dental suite, an ophthalmology suite, a laboratory, a small pharmacy, a classroom, and a small children’s library. 

For over a decade, Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine has partnered with the Centro Médico Humberto Parra, sending faculty and resident volunteers to care for clinical patients, as well as students who can learn and assist in the coordination. 

However, eight years ago, these short-term volunteer trips evolved into a year-long Fellowship program for students.

“Students sought a longer-term experience because they valued sustainability and wanted to provide a true benefit,” said Dr. Blair. “We created the Fellowship to provide that opportunity. Since then, each year, students have helped start or build projects for the clinic and the community; whether  assisting with surgical campaigns, giving intestinal anti-parasite medication to kids, or providing diabetes medication and education. A few years ago, the student Fellow was able to get an ultrasound machine. They’ve left their mark on the clinic and the clinic has left its mark on the students.”

Unlike other medical study abroad programs, the Bolivian clinic expects students to not only shadow doctors and treat patients, but also learn the ins and outs of its operations.

“They learn the costs and management of resources, including making tough decisions on managing finite resources, which I think is extremely important in today’s health care system and economy,” said Dr. Blair.

For Bolivian fellow Escobar, experiencing the administration side of health care reinforces her career path in medicine.  

“I want to be involved in primary care and hospitalist medicine with both adults and children. Being in Bolivia helped solidify that for me,” said Escobar. 

REMEMBERING SUSAN HOU, MD 

"Dr. Hou was just incredible. She's done such altruistic work, but never talked about it. She was so humble,” said Megha Srivastava, a 2018 Bolivian fellow. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Dr. Hou pursued East Asian studies at Stanford University and medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She trained as a nephrologist at Tufts-New England Medical Center and became a world-renowned expert in kidney disease and pregnancy.  

Along with co-founding the Centro Médico Humberto Parra clinic, Dr. Hou was also instrumental in organizing the first liver transplant in Bolivia and establishing the Daniels Hamant Foundation to provide patients with unaffordable medications. 

“Everyone should have equal access, and everyone should have access to not just basics, but the ultimate medical care, anywhere in the world. She never wavered from that conviction,” Dr. Blair said about Dr. Hou’s commitment to humanitarian health. 

As a practicing physician running an international free clinic, Dr. Hou’s legacy continues to motivate Stritch students, who have a similar passion for global health. 

"Seeing all the work they’ve done and how they were able to start this clinic, keep it going, and constantly working to make it better is something that really inspired me,” said Srivastava. 

The sustainability of the clinic is also a unique feature of the program. Instead of a program staffed and coordinated solely by Loyola, Centro Médico Humberto Parra is embedded into the community of Palacios, and employs physicians, fellows, and students from other universities.  

“It felt like I could leave and pass the torch, that the program is always in good hands. It runs on its own, it’s not dependent on volunteers or short-term help coming in,” Srivastava said.  

Its vision has also inspired fellows like Srivastava and Escobar to develop a different vision of global health. One that they plan to pursue as they move into their residencies. 

“Through the fellowship, I learned that I want to expand my understanding of public health and the administrative aspects of how to start a clinic and how to practice medicine in different situations, whether that be in the states or abroad while being aware of resources,” said Srivastava, who’s also volunteered in global health programs in India and Guatemala.  

Beyond the medicine, both fellows say the most powerful part of their year in Bolivia was experiencing the community brought together by the clinic. 

“The Molitch family spread this culture of love and humility here and in Bolivia, it just permeated the whole program and touched so many hearts,” said Srivastava. 

“My first week there, I just felt so welcome in the clinic,” added Escobar. “I wasn’t even homesick; I already felt like I was part of the community and the clinic."