Health Bridges International, Inc.

Health Bridges International: Health Bridges International (HBI) works to build bridges of collaboration within extremely impoverished and marginalized communities. HBI grew out of the vision of a physician who first worked in Perú over 25 years ago and witnessed immense health care needs. HBI builds bridges of collaboration - empowering communities to source their own futures, while delivering evidence-based health and human services.

We are dedicated to sustainability and the development of projects that realize long-term change. To this end, HBI connects resources to needs through innovative programs, leveraged with integrated technology solutions and projects that build local-level change agents. The work of HBI is grounded in our Four Pillars of Bridge Building: Training, Consulting, Connecting and Serving.

Programmatic Activities: HBI works within the framework of our Four Pillars of Bridge Building. HBI undertakes projects that emphasize partnership, encourage broad participation from a number of stakeholder groups, and develop programmatic models rooted in sustainability and transferability. Our focus is centered on transforming child welfare services, shaping healthcare delivery models for marginalized populations living with disabilities and supporting healthcare professionals in gaining access to the knowledge and skills they need to save lives.

The work of HBI is about championing change by uniting efforts. We realized early on that our work must be based on securing long-term impact. And, we realized that long-term impact can never be based on charity, must be facilitated by local change agents, and needs to be linked to larger sustainable initiatives.

Mission: We facilitate sustained improvements in health and well-being among individuals and communities living in poverty.

Collaboration Model: Inspired by years of work with grassroots organizations, locally developed projects, community leaders, partner organizations, and government funded programs - Health Bridges International carefully evaluated the structure that demonstrated the greatest success. Out of this evaluation has grown the Health Bridges Collaboration Model. Many organizations operate in isolation or try to squeeze the problem within their solution. We believe complex issues require complex solutions. We believe there are more than enough resources to meet the needs of each person and every community – the challenge is linking these resources. To this end, we strive to create connections and build bridges between resources and needs.

Vision: Health Bridges is a commitment to advocacy, collaboration and service to improve health among people living in poverty.
Health Bridges builds bridges and not projects
Health Bridges fill gaps and connect resources
Health Bridges believes that people have the desire to build their own models for change – they just need some support

Partners: American College of Education (Indianapolis, IN), Oregon Health and Sciences University (Portland, OR), University of North Carolina-Wilmington (Wilmington, NC), Linfield College School of Nursing (Portland, OR), The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Universidad Catholica Santa Maria (Arequipa, Perú), San Marcos University (Lima, Perú), Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (Arequipa, Perú), Baylor College School of Medicine (Houston, TX), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY), Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA), St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN), Yale University (New Haven, CT), National Firefighters Association of Perú, Arequipa Firefighters Association, Echo Medical NGO, Andean Community Partners (Minneapolis, MN), Without Borders (Minneapolis, MN), Colegio de Obstetras del Perú, Colegio Regional de Obstetras del Perú, Ministry of Health of Perú, Peruvian College of Nutrition – Arequipa, Missionary Society of St. Paul (Malta, EU), Lucky Iron Fish Corporation (Canada), Entia Corporation (London, U.K.), Union Biblica del Perú, Caritas Perú, Anglican Church of Perú

Measuring Success: HBI measures our success through a methodology that includes quantitative measures (i.e., psychometrically validated surveys) and qualitative measures (e.g., key informant interviews and focus groups). In addition to formal evaluations for measuring success, we frequently invite feedback from partners, individuals engaged in our projects and programs and stakeholders to HBI. Collectively, the methods we use to measure success allow us to view our work from a number of different vantage points and continuously learn and grow.

Impact: HBI is strategically positioned for significant growth. Programmatically, our work is reaching thousands and making big impacts in the training of professionals, development of models of service delivery, and advocating for the needs of underserved women and children. HBI works to develop models of service delivery to scale our impact and build more bridges for some of the most marginalized communities around the world.