Our History, Philosophy and Results

History: Each year state-of the art health care providers and suppliers in Minnesota dispose of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of usable but no longer needed medical inventory. At the same time, many Bolivian health care providers who serve the poor are unable to provide essential care because they lack the most basic supplies and equipment.
 
Mano a Mano Medical Resources (Spanish for "hand to hand") was founded on the simple proposition that medical inventory that would otherwise be wasted should be routed to places where it can literally mean the difference between life and death.      
 
For many years, one of Mano a Mano's founders carried small medical donations to his native Bolivia when making yearly visits to his family. Having extensive personal contacts with health care providers there, he could see first-hand the desperate need for these gifts and know how they were used. His contacts with Minnesota hospitals and clinics made it clear that many of them store and then ultimately discard usable supplies, instruments and equipment because they cannot afford to pay staff to sort it for use or resale.

Over the years other interested  persons began to assist in this effort to redistribute medical surplus. In October, 1994, that group of volunteers incorporated Mano a Mano Medical Resources as a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) organization and began to dramatically increase the scope of its activity.                   
 
They began by seeking donations of surplus medical supplies, instruments and equipment from local hospitals and clinics. Then they arranged to transport them to Bolivia where a counterpart group of volunteers distributed them to non-profit hospitals and clinics that serve the poor.
 
Mano a Mano soon received seed funding for two community health clinics to be built in desperately poor villages near the city of Cochabamba. Since 1997 Mano a Mano has partnered with communities, government entities and other Bolivian organizations to construct, staff and open 76 health clinics in communities that previously had no access to health care. In 2002, Mano a Mano has recently initiated environmental health programs clean water, sanitation), road improvement projects and emergency air lifts of patients in need of medical care.

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Philosophy: Mano a Mano has been guided by a simple yet powerful premise: that a group of committed volunteers can and should redirect one community's unwanted medical surplus to other communities where that bounty can quite literally mean the  difference between life and death. The power of this premise has been demonstrated by the extent to which the organization's scope and accomplishments have in such a short time exceeded even our most ambitious dreams. The hallmarks of our operation have been, and will continue to be, volunteerism, frugality, competence and accountability.                                     
   
The organization will continue to operate locally on a personal and "hands on" basis. Efforts in the Twin Cities will largely be guided by our Bolivian staff's assessment of the best means to build upon and expand Bolivia's competence and capacity to address its greatest health and development needs.

Our guiding priciples are these:

  • Volunteerism
  • Frugality
  • Competence
  • Accountability
  • Empowerment
  • Flexibility
  • Respect 
  • Partnership with Communities

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 Results

Since its inception in October, 1994, Mano a Mano has:

  • Collected over two million pounds of medical surplus. Last year its counterpart organization, Mano a Mano - Bolivia filled 833 requests for medical supplies and equipment from non-profit health care programs.
  • Constructed and opened 76 community health clinics. Two of the original seven are owned and operated by a Bolivian non-profit organization and 56 are financially independent but managed by Mano a Mano.

In 2006, the 70 clinics that Mano a Mano operated at the end of the year

  • Had over 280,000 patient visits
  • Delivered 1486 babies
  • Vaccinated nearly 42,000 men, women and children
  • Included more than 83,000 individuals in group and individual health education sessions

Mano a Mano has:

  • constructed public showers, bathrooms, laundry tubs and water access in 21 communities
  • repaired rural roads to improve access to clinics and communities
  • constructed new classrooms and teacher housing in 22 communities
      

Each Mano a Mano clinic provides these services:

  • community organization and outreach: inform community residents about clinic services and encourage their use
  • preventive services: child and adult vaccinations, health education, well child visits, family planning, prenatal and post natal care
  • attended deliveries
  • acute care for illness and accident cases
  • management of chronic illnesses
  • health training: train community residents as community health workers


Community residents use their clinics in astonishing numbers.  In many clinic communities residents had never seen a physician or nurse until their clinic opened, yet they clearly voiced the value they placed on having access to care.  Clinics average over 400 patient care visits monthly.
 
Mano a Mano clinics have experienced an immediate increase in patient contacts within a short time after opening.  Not only have these clinics directly served nearly 280,000 during the past year; they have provided health education to entire communities and created an unanticipated impetus for community development.  Buses and taxis now serve several previously isolated communities and local entrepreneurs have started small businesses next to many clinics.  The clinics become the genuine center of the community from which new ideas and initiatives spring.

Mano a Mano partners with communities, local governments, the Bolivian Health Ministry and Bolivian non-profit organizations to prepare Bolivian sources to assume responsibility for funding and operating clinics within three years of opening.  Mano a Mano will continue to provide medical supervision and clinic personnel and continuing medical education.  Currently, Bolivian sources fund salaries of 94 percent of the physicians and nurses employed in Mano a Mano clinics.  Bolivian sources fund 29 of the 29.5 dentists who serve these clinics, with Mano a Mano paying for the remaining half position.
 

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