by
Nancy Ryerson, Staff Writer | January 31, 2014
From the January 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The solution: MedWish International collects unwanted medical equipment and consumables and sends it to needy countries around the world. The organization currently has the greatest need for sturdy items like hospital beds, wheelchairs and IV poles to help furnish clinics and hospitals. Though the organization accepts equipment such as older X-ray systems, the real need is more for the small details. MedWish was founded after Dr. Lee Ponsky traveled to Nigeria and saw a woman die because the clinic lacked a small tube that would have connected her to a respirator. The organization was founded in 1993, and now has 40,000 square feet of space for medical equipment from all around Ohio.
More advice: MedWish mainly collects in the Ohio area — getting supplies from much farther away would start to cancel out the carbon footprint benefit — but the organization is happy to connect interested facilities with other medical surplus recovery organizations. MedShare International for example, is one of the largest organization that collects supplies. Karousis recommends visiting Medsurplusalliance.org to find more resources.
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