Courtesy / Partners for World Health
Within days of launching an appeal in late February for medical equipment and supplies to send to Ukraine, Partners for World Health had its first shipment on its way.
September 28, 2022
Partners for World Health shipped $2.5M in medical supplies to Ukraine since March
Courtesy / Razom, Partners for World Health
Supplies are unloaded and distributed near Kiev by Partners for World Health’s Ukrainian partner Razom.
Within days of launching an appeal in late February for medical equipment and supplies to be sent to Ukraine, Partners for World Health had its first shipment on its way.
The Portland nonprofit reclaims and organizes medical supplies and equipment from medical facilities to redistribute to facilities in need around the world, including Maine.
Since March, PWH has shipped more than $2.5 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine.
“We are preparing to ship two more shipments before the year end which should bring our total to more than $3 million or nine shipments via air and sea,” Paul Golding, the organization’s director of development and communications, told Mainebiz.
Partners for World Health maintains its headquarters in Portland and additional storage spaces in Portland, Presque Isle and Bangor. The organization’s founder and president, Elizabeth McLellan, is a 2020 Mainebiz Women to Watch honoree.
Ukrainian effort
A New York City-based nonprofit, Razom Inc., has been coordinating the distribution of the shipments. "Razom" means together in Ukraine, according to the organization's website.
“Your large donation was distributed between dozens of hospitals,” Razom’s medical donations coordinator, Iryna Kit, said in a note to PWH.
In a letter sent earlier this summer, Kit said that partner, Ukraine Zdorovi, has been distributing PWH’s supplies to regions in Ukraine that are closest to conflict areas.
She wrote, “as such, only the very brave drivers go there to deliver your donations.”
Razom sent PWH photos “from old phones that were sent to us not in the best quality. Times of war reportage can be difficult."
The materials, especially surgical packs, have been used in operating rooms and post anesthesia care units.
PWH supplies have been picked up from a UPS warehouse in Poland by a private trucking company that takes them by the palette into Ukraine, Kit wrote.
Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, PWH launched an appeal to send a 40-foot container of medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine.
Since March, the organization has sent seven shipments via air and sea. Additional shipments are planned in 2023.
Air shipments are more costly but allow the organization to get supplies on the ground more quickly, according to PWH’s recent newsletter. Sea shipments allow it to send heavier medical equipment.
“Our capacity to respond quickly and efficiently mean that supplies and equipment were on the ground within days rather than weeks or months,” said the newsletter.
Partners for World Health has also donated supplies to nurses, doctors and other volunteers traveling to Ukraine or other countries that are supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Courtesy / Razom, Partners for World Health
Supplies have been shipped by land and sea to Ukraine from Portland.
And PWH sent letters of support from Maine students to show solidarity.
The nonprofit has been busy on other fronts as well. Last year was a record year for the organizations and 2022 is looking likely to beat 2021, with containers of equipment and supplies sent to Puerto Rico, Liberia, India, Sudan and Syria.
It also resumed its medical missions. In March, PWH traveled to Bangladesh for the first time since 2019, followed by trips to Nepal and Senegal. It plans to return to Bangladesh and Nepal this fall.
The organization is conducting a strategic planning review to look at how it will grow and change in the coming years.
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