Raquel
Raquel is the youngest of three children of Mirtha and Policarpio of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Policarpio earns around $220 dollars a month as a machine operator at Sofía, a large food processing plant in Santa Cruz. Raquel was hospitalized for eight days at birth, diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). PDA can be monitored and managed medically for a while, until it sometimes resolves on its own. But when it doesn’t resolve after a few months, as in Raquel’s case, the best course of action is usually to surgically repair the defect before it begins to have repercussions on the child’s health. Raquel is another of many Bolivian children now benefitting from timely care through a simple catheterization procedure that requires only one night of recovery in the hospital.