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In the News

COVID In Colorado: Health Care Volunteers Used To Traveling The Globe Must Work Remotely

(CBS4)–Half a world away in Africa, COVID-19 has hindered help from Colorado. Health care volunteers are unable to travel to conduct potentially life-saving services.“COVID has restricted all international travel. It’s not safe for our team, it’s not safe for our medical volunteers and it’s not safe for the people that we serve,” said Chandler.Founded by DaVita, Bridge of Life provides AIDS screening and other health care services in nearly three dozen countries. One of them is Uganda.

Help For Health — From Colorado To Africa

(CBS4) – Villages in the country of Ghana are long way away in west Africa, but tied closely to Colorado. Newmont Goldcorp, based in Denver, has two mines in the country. Now it has joined with DaVita’s Bridge of Life to provide medical care to the communities near them. Among those they met was a woman named Hannah with a kidney obstruction who program director Katie Chandler had helped on an earlier trip.

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Grottoes Resident Rides To Save Lives, Honors Son

Manuel “Manny” Castro went from never considering cycling to casually training on his wife’s pink mountain bike to eventually riding over 500 miles around the country to spread kidney disease awareness. Castro is a Grottoes resident who joined the nephrology field over 10 years ago in hopes to channel his compassion into saving lives. After becoming a patient care technician at DaVita, Castro was empowered to register as a rider for Tour DaVita.

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Bridge Of Life Volunteers Help Haitians With Medical Care, Supplies

It took two tries, but a team from Colorado made it to Haiti to provide dental and medical assistance to people living outside the capital city of Port Au Prince. It was a display of international benevolence and caring that almost didn’t happen. Gas price hikes touched off riots in Haiti’s capital in July.

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The Syrian American Medical Society and Bridge of Life collaborate

In April, a group of employees from DaVita Kidney Care division, volunteered with Bridge of Life (BOL) and the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) to travel to Jordan to help examine and evaluate Syrian refugees for hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease.

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Enigmatic Renal Failure in Agricultural Communities – Common Threads and Distinctions in an Atypical Disease

Common Threads and Distinctions in an Atypical Disease

For the past 20 years, a fatal form of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) has plagued agricultural workers worldwide, and is now at epidemic levels. Geographical regions extend from Central America to Asia, while occupations range from rice farmers to sugarcane workers and miners. Conditions, however, remain predictably consistent: An overwhelming majority of the affected agricultural workers live in rural communities, are the sole supporters of families and work the only job available in their impoverished country. Healthcare is non-accessible. Renal dialysis is unaffordable. Premature death is certain.

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Bridge of Life Foundation making massive impact on kidney disease in Jamaica

Hundreds of Jamaicans living with kidney disease have benefited from the work of the Bridge of Life Foundation since they began their missions to Jamaica in 2011. The team of doctors consisting of local and overseas-based volunteers is currently performing arteriovenous (AV) fistula surgeries at the St Joseph’s, University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), and St Ann’s Bay hospitals.

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DaVita Village Trust completes record-breaking surgery mission in Jamaica

Here’s a record health care workers everywhere can be proud of. On Monday, DaVita Village Trust, a Denver-based nonprofit dedicated to improving kidney health, primary health and chronic kidney disease awareness, announced the completion of a weeklong surgical mission in Jamaica that included one record-breaking day of surgeries for a local hospital.

Last month, the organization sent four vascular surgeons and an ultrasound technician to Jamaica to perform 63 fistula placement surgeries for dialysis patients at three hospitals. The effort was conducted through DVT’s Bridge of Life program.

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The silent killer: Chronic kidney disease undiagnosed in millions of Americans

Chronic kidney disease can be debilitating with the most advanced form of the disease requiring dialysis to keep patients alive until an organ transplant can occur.

The American Kidney Fund says 31 million Americans have CKD, the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States. However, statistics from the Fund estimate that nine out of 10 people with the disease are undiagnosed.

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Press Releases

Global Livingston Institute and Bridge of Life Partner to Support HIV Prevention and Free Health Services to More Than 3,000 Ugandans

DENVER, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Global Livingston Institute has partnered with Bridge of Life, an independent nonprofit organization founded by DaVita Inc., and Reach a Hand Uganda to provide free health services throughout the iKnow Concert Series in Uganda. The concert series will take place in Kampala on March 8; Masaka on March 9; and Kabale on March 12. Performances include artists Michael Franti, Rob Drabkin and top Ugandan artists including Navio, Nina Roz and other international artists. Read more »

12th Annual Tour DaVita Raises $1.1M for Bridge of Life

Cyclists rode nearly 100,000 miles through Virginia to raise awareness about kidney disease

DENVER, Oct. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, today announced Tour DaVita, an annual event to increase awareness of kidney disease and to encourage vital health screenings, raised $1.1 million to benefit Bridge of Life, a nonprofit organization founded by DaVita that supports medical missions in the U.S. and abroad. Read more »

More Than 600 Cyclists to Ride through Virginia to Raise Awareness about Kidney Disease

DENVER, Sept. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — DaVita Kidney Care, a division of DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, today announced the kick off of its 12th annual Tour DaVita on September 23 in Doswell, VA. Read more »

DaVita Teammates Volunteer with Bridge of Life and the Syrian American Medical Society to Support Health Care Needs of Syrian Refugees in Jordan

More than 1,000 displaced individuals receive chronic disease screenings and education

DENVER, May 16, 2018 – PRNewswire – DaVita Kidney Care, a division of DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) and a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, today celebrates its teammates (employees) who volunteered with Bridge of Life (BOL), a nonprofit organization founded by DaVita Inc., and the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) last month to screen Syrian refugees in Irbid, Jordan for hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease and provide health education.

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DaVita and Bridge of Life Partner to Empower Community Health Workers to Lead Chronic Disease Prevention    

Partnership will help launch program to train local clinicians serving high-risk patients

DENVER, May 16, 2017 – PRNewswire – DaVita Kidney Care, a division of DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) and a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, and Bridge of Life (BOL), a nonprofit organization founded by DaVita Inc., are partnering to train community health workers on blood pressure reduction strategies in rural communities. Launched in April 2017, the program will be implemented over the next 18 months and aims to increase the availability of health care to those who are at risk of hypertension and kidney disease in impoverished areas of Haiti and Nicaragua.

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Bridge Of Life Receives Health Care Product Donations from Henry Schein Cares Global Product Donation Program

Donated Health Care Products Will Help Expand Access to Care for At-Risk Men, Women and Children in the United States and Developing Countries

DENVER, January 19, 2017 – Bridge of Life announced today that it has received a donation of health care products under a grant from the Henry Schein Cares Global Product Donation Program. Through this program, Henry Schein, Inc., the world’s largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners, provides recipient organizations with several health care product donations valued between $5,000 and $25,000 over the course of two years.

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DaVita Care India and Bridge of Life Partner to Host Free Kidney Disease Screenings in Jodhpur and Phalodi

Kidney care leader partners with global nonprofit to help Indians learn their risk and slow the progression of chronic kidney disease

DENVER (April 22, 2016) – DaVita Care India, a leading provider of kidney care and health care services, and Bridge of Life (BOL), a nonprofit organization founded by DaVita Inc., partnered with HBS Trust to facilitate kidney disease screenings and education events in Phalodi and Jodhpur. Over 650 Indians were screened and educated about chronic kidney disease (CKD).

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DaVita Reports on 2015 Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation

Vision for Global Citizenship, Commitment to Patient Care, Sustainability and Goodwill Continues to Grow

DENVER (April 18, 2016) – DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading independent medical group and a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, today announced the release of its 2015 Community Care report, which highlights key clinical, operational and corporate social responsibility (CSR) achievements in the past year.

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Bridge of Life Launches New Missions in Telehealth, Hand Hygiene and Primary Care

DENVER, May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care and health care services, today announced that Bridge of Life (BOL), the primary program of DaVita Village Trust, completed three new missions to Belize, Haiti and Vietnam to treat patients and assess conditions for future missions.

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DaVita Village Trust Breaks Surgery Record during Recent Mission to Jamaica

Surgeons complete 63 fistula placement surgeries in three hospitals

DENVER (Nov. 19, 2014) – DaVita Village Trust (DVT), an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving kidney health, primary health and chronic kidney disease (CKD) awareness, today announced the completion of a weeklong surgical mission in Jamaica that included one record-breaking day of surgeries for a local hospital.

In October, four vascular surgeons and an ultrasound technician traveled to Jamaica to perform 63 fistula placement surgeries for dialysis patients at three hospitals through the Bridge of Life program of DVT.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Greta Walker

303-618-4004

greta.walker@bolteam.org

STRENGTHEN HEALTHCARE GLOBALLY!