Project: Bolivia. 2004.
I
Our project is located at Hernández Vera University Hospital, situated in Villa Primero de Mayo, one of the most popular neighborhoods in the city. It belongs to the Spanish Catholic religious congregation ISCE and was founded by Dr. María Luz Almendros Pasantino, a gynecologist and member of the ISCE congregation.
An initial ophthalmology service had previously been established there by Dr. Bern Hellerhorst, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Trier in Germany, who provided care at the hospital during his vacations for more than 25 years.
For nearly 10 years, our founder, Dr. Julio Yangüela Rodilla, also treated patients with eye conditions at this hospital. In order to fulfill the dream that local staff could provide daily care to patients with vision problems, he founded Visión Mundi in 2004.
Today, the Ophthalmology Department of Hernández Vera Hospital offers a comprehensive eye care service made up entirely of Bolivian staff: three general ophthalmologists, one pediatric ophthalmologist, an optometrist, a social worker, maintenance staff, nurses, and accounting personnel. The department includes an operating room, six consultation rooms, YAG laser, argon laser, and an Optical Center. It is also the regional referral center for retinopathy of prematurity, serving a population of more than three million people.
We have succeeded in making our project in Bolivia fully self-sustaining, recovering more than 100% of its costs and serving as a model for other blindness prevention programs developed by our NGO, as well as for similar initiatives replicated by other Spanish NGOs in different locations. This project was made possible thanks to development aid funds from the Government of La Rioja and the City Council of Logroño.
