“Seeing that video, it pulls are your heartstrings,” said Andres Perez-Charneco, director of operations at MedWish International. “You want to make a difference.”
Cleveland-based MedWish International collects thousands of unused medical supplies–like syringes, saline, gauze and even machines.
The non-profit organization has recovered nearly 2.2 millions pounds of medical surplus from about 40 hospitals in northeast Ohio.
“We get donations from all over,” said Jessica Neeson, volunteer coordinator for MedWish. “It’s usually just a big jumble in a box, so we have go through and sort it down into big categories.”
In 2010 alone, MedWish saved 900,000 pounds of medical suppies from disposal, keeping it out of landfills, giving tools a new life and new purpose.
Though most of the countries the organization works with are developing nations, it does reach out when major disasters strike.
“Castrophe such as what’s happened in Japan or in Haiti, the need is raised to a critical level,” said Tish Dahlbi, executive director of MedWish. “They’re in dire strains. They’re in desperate need of supplies to save lives.”
As the death toll continues to climb in Japan, Dahlbi said she hopes these shipments help prevent more from being lost.
“A doctor has limited supplies,” she said. “He has to look at the patient and decide if this patient is sick enough that I need to use the supplies or is this patient too sick that I don’t want to waste these supplies?”
One box at a time, they’re a group of Clevelanders touching lives of people around the world.
“So we’re planting the seeds for these physicians to empower others in their community,” Dahlbi said, “and that’s what keeps us going every day.”
For more information about donating or volunteering at MedWish, click here.