Medical Supplies

Isaac Schwartz here, checking in from the Medications and Supplies Committee.  It has been a remarkable experience thus far, and we've come a long way.  In fact, we're pretty close to being all set with the supplies for this incredible excursion!  Our supplies are all gathered in a basement of a generous helper, and they'll be packed into our bags next weekend.  Our medications order has been submitted to our partner in Peru.  Here's how we did it:

1) What on Earth do we need?

This is my first time participating in an international medical mission like this, and my knowledge of what is needed to supply this trip was essentially nil at the beginning.  Stage One was information gathering.  I emailed, called, met with, and otherwise hassled past student leaders, physicians, and pharmacists who had good ideas and knowledge about what this trip needs.  I pored over packing lists and receipts from last year, and along with my physician Supplies Committee leader, Dr. Rachna Rai, created a list of supplies and medications that we will take with us this year.  It was a long part of the process - Every time we reviewed the list, new questions arose.  Our amazing physicians took great care and time to help us with these issues.

2) How on Earth do we find it?

A finalized "wish list" in hand, now it was left to find our supplies.  Lots of things were easy to find from our participants.  We received IV kits, wound care items, and syringes from a home-care pharmacist who had lots of leftover equipment.  From Planned Parenthood we received a large donation of equipment needed to provide OB/GYN and women's health care.  There were still a lot of items, however, that were eluding us.  It turns out that Cleveland, OH is the best possible location to have this dilemma!  Our amazing partner, MedWish, makes this part easy.  MedWish is a Cleveland-based organization who collects usable waste from hospitals all over the region, repurposes and repackages it and sends it to partners in developing countries who use it to save and improve lives.  One email and one trip to the MedWish warehouse and for just a small packing fee we were basically finished stocking our trip's supplies!

Medications were another issue.  What medications we have determines to a large extent the care we can provide, and it was important to determine what we need and what we don't need, so that we can be efficient and effective.  Last year a bulk of our medications came from donor organizations.  I learned from looking at records from last year that we were left with a lot of unused medications and of some meds we had an insufficient supply.  This year we decided to be as directed as possible, and to look for a way to purchase the medications we will use.  Through our partner, Dr. Francisco Morales from Pisac, Peru, we were directed to a Regional Pharmacy in Peru that supplies public health clinics in the Sacred Valley region, and we were able to find almost everything we need at an incredible low price.  We will purchase just about all the medications we need for the whole month for ~ $800!

With those big questions out of the way, we still have a ways to go.  Right now we're gearing up for packing day, when we'll need to distribute our equipment amongst the travelers, and we still need to work out a system to keep track of what we use in Peru, both for real-time inventory management and for record-keeping to help next year's leaders be as efficient as possible.  It's a big job, and so far I've learned a ton from helping to coordinate this!  It's a big team job - we've needed help and input from all of the other committees who are working hard to provide good services in Peru, and from our physicians who have great knowledge of what we need and what we can do.  I'm personally grateful to Erika Lundrgin and Ilka Decker who have picked up a ton of slack as I've moved into some busy clinical rotations.  Without everyone's help, no part of this project would work!