Medical supplies are in extremely high demand, especially in some of the world’s most war-torn and poorest countries where men, women and children are regularly faced with infectious diseases, poverty and at times, bloodshed. MedWish International, a Cleveland-based not-for-profit humanitarian organization, helps fill this need by repurposing discarded and unused medical supplies and equipment, providing them as aid to more than 100 countries worldwide.
In 2013, MedWish shipped more than 500,000 pounds of medical supplies and equipment to 45 countries. Those supplies, which impacted about 650,000 people, included everything from bandages and sutures to wheelchairs and gurneys.
One doctor’s vision
In 1991, as an undergraduate student, founder Dr. Lee Ponsky witnessed firsthand the need for medical materials in developing countries. He was working as a surgical assistant on a medical compound in Ogbomosho, Nigeria, and he saw that the doctors there didn’t have the medical supplies necessary to treat every patient.
“We would start our day using fishing line to make sutures,” Ponsky says. “We would collect bread bags from the community for personal protection. Any rubber gloves we would have, we would save to use for surgery.”
Gloves with holes in them were sewn up for reuse.
“They were like gold to us,” he says.
Upon returning to the U.S., Ponsky made it his mission to start collecting supplies that hospitals and other medical facilities were simply throwing away and getting them into the hands of people around the world who need them. He started MedWish in 1993.
Today, MedWish is a large international organization that sends medical supplies out daily. The supplies are sent by hand or shipped via mailing containers.
This year, the group has been shipping 40-foot containers to Syria, Honduras and Pakistan, as well as smaller shipments to Liberia to help with the current Ebola epidemic. A group of Ukrainian doctors recently came into MedWish’s warehouse to hand-carry wound care and other supplies back to their country.
Support comes from community
Donations of medical supplies are the key to MedWish’s success, not to mention the thousands of volunteers who prep the materials for shipment. Various Northeast Ohio medical facilities collect the unused materials that are brought to the organization’s warehouse for sorting and packing. Various medical supply manufacturers also donate supplies.
“All the hospitals and clinics in the region are donors since they are the major source of our supplies and donations,” says Kristen Bihary, CEO of MedWish. “The [Cleveland] Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth and Akron hospitals. We go to Columbus, and we extend out east and west a little bit. That’s the bulk of where our donations come from.”
“We also get donations from individuals,” she says. “If someone had a loved one at home who used various supplies and the person passed away, the family may want to donate those kinds of things to MedWish. The same thing with nursing homes and assisted care facilities.”
In 2013, more than 5,000 people volunteered more than 42,000 hours at MedWish to help sort through the donated supplies.
“We are a resource for our local, regional and national community,” Ponsky says. “We are also in need of help. We encourage people to come out to our warehouse and visit our space. Anyone who wants to donate time and volunteer can. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s rewarding, and everyone leaves feeling as if they contributed and did something significant.”
MedWish also provides vocational opportunities for persons with autism, physical and intellectual disabilities and other barriers. The Building Careers Volunteer Program works with about a dozen local schools and agencies to provide training and experience in a workplace.
Help people and help the planet
Besides helping patients, MedWish is also help saving the planet.
“Last year, we shipped 500,000 pounds of items that were kept out of local landfills,” Bihary says. “The community needs to know that there’s a pretty significant environmental impact to what we do in keeping a half-million pounds out of local landfills.”
But MedWish is looking for sustainability. In order for the organization to provide humanitarian aid to developing countries, it needs donations and monetary support. A single, 40-foot container cost about $15,000 to prepare and assemble. The organization, however, only charges the recipient $7,500. Doctors and nurses packing bags to carry over to another country are charged up to $3 per pound.
Having MedWish locations throughout the world is Ponsky’s longtime dream. This would help provide supplies and equipment more quickly to the areas that have the greatest need.
“As long as there are supplies worldwide that are being thrown away that we can still collect and repurpose for people in need around the world, we’d like to do that,” Ponsky says. “Our goal is to refine the process at our headquarters in Cleveland and expand to cities and countries around the world. Ultimately our long-term goal is to have distribution centers in regions of the world that will distribute supplies locally to the hospitals and clinics that they know on an ongoing basis. “
How to reach: MedWish International, (216) 692-1685 or www.medwish.org
