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A few weeks ago some 12,625 pounds of surplus medical supplies from Monongahela Valley Hospital that otherwise would almost certainly have been headed to the waste heap or recycling bin instead began a journey to medical centers in third world nations. Every couple of weeks the effort from the hospital
will continue. In just two months of donations, gurneys, hospital beds, bookcases, office furniture, blood-pressure units, scales, intravenous poles, even surgical and nursing supplies that are opened but unused were included, according to William Filipponi, Director of Central Sterile and the man overseeing the hospital’s effort. “Often we have sutures or bandages in an opened outer packaging, but remain in unopened sterile inner packaging,” he explained. “Like other hospitals, we are not able to use the leftover but still usable goods. Now we can send them to where they can be of value.” Monongahela Valley Hospital has teamed up with Global Links, a Pittsburgh-based organization that collects unused items from several hospitals in Western Pennsylvania and ships them to hospitals and clinics in Bolivia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, and Nicaragua. Kathleen Hower, who co-founded Global Links, says the imbalance between the medical haves and have-nots is profound. She realized that in poor nations, “most hospitals don’t have crutches, walkers, wheelchairs and nebulizers.” She added that, as an example, these hospitals “never have enough new gloves,” and are often reduced to washing and reusing them. In one year alone, the group sent 423 mattresses and 295 hospital beds to countries in need. When a hurricane struck the Caribbean in 2004, Global Links moved quickly and was able to ship refrigerators to the Dominican Republic for blood storage. Launched 20 years ago, Global Links operates on a $1.5 million annual budget, and is supported by volunteers who typically log thousands of hours of effort each year. The funding is from small and large grants from foundations and groups, many of them local, according to Haley Doering, Outreach Manager at Global Links. Collecting from area hospitals, trucks from the organization take the donated material to a warehouse in Lawrenceville, where it is sorted and, if necessary, refurbished. Those who receive the discarded material find the quality high. One of those, Dr. Mariela Salomon of the Pan American Health Organization, had high praise for the material her organization received from Global Links. “They are so committed to not allowing all their effort to turn into a dumping of materials or equipment that it is borderline,” Dr. Salomon added. This is due in large part to the volunteers who help Global Links. Currently about 1,000 volunteers sort and refurbish medical items for Global Links. A visit to the warehouses will find volunteers refurbishing furniture, repairing beds and wheelchairs with slight defects, cleaning and painting IV poles, folding sheets and sorting supplies. The result is that everything appears and functions as if brand new. Global Links started out with three Pittsburgh women chatting at a kitchen sink. Kathleen Hower, who had worked in clerical and clinical positions at University of Pittsburgh Medical School and elsewhere, realized that hospitals were sending tons of material to landfills, while hospitals in poorer nations often had none of the items we take as routine in our nation. Emily Solomon and Brenda Smith shared the view, and the three decided to do something about it. At first, they had to store donations in their homes. Soon, with grants and donations, they expanded to a warehouse and the organization has grown from there. Reaching the goal of Global Links is not all that easy. Specialists travel to developing countries before any shipment goes out to these areas. These specialists must assess the needs, meet with local medical authorities to obtain their wish lists, and figure out how to transport supplies to remote towns and locations. They even make certain there are doctors and nurses who can use the supplies once they arrive, and adequate electricity so the equipment requiring it will work. Officials at Global Links point out that it is not
just hospitals that have material to donate. Even though the hospitals that donate are mostly from the western area of the state, Global Links is ever expanding. Hospitals like Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, is currently donating. “We now gather material from hospitals in
New York, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio, as well as more locally,”
Doering said. Many other groups around the nation gather hospital
discards, but Global Links is very unique in the size of operations
and the elaborate system of gathering and distribution material,
she added. |
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