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August 11, 2021

Partners for World Health will double medical supply shipments this year

4 people with boxes Courtesy / Partners for World Health Volunteers last week loaded a shipping container with 22,000 pounds of equipment and supplies bound for Uganda.
By Laurie Schreiber

Portland nonprofit Partners for World Health is on track to double its charitable shipments of medical supplies this year in response to the pandemic and other international health crises. 

“We have a lot of boxes to seal in the next few weeks as we ready our next 11 containers,” PWH recently posted on its Facebook page. 

Founded in 2009, the group collects and organizes medical supplies and equipment that would otherwise have been discarded from medical facilities, then ships the goods to health care providers in developing countries. In response to the pandemic, PWH has been making its resources available to health care facilities and first responders in New England communities.

medical equipment
Courtesy / Partners for World Health
The July 26 shipment for India, with donations from Northern Light Health, included items such as N95 masks, goggles, face shields, oxygen concentrators and IV poles.

The nonprofit operated throughout 2020 and shipped one container per month.

During the first half of 2021, PWH shipped two per month. As of this month, it’s now shipping three per month, founder and President Elizabeth McLellan told Mainebiz.

Partners for World Health has sent containers to Honduras, Jamaica, Mongolia, Liberia, Guatemala, India, Uganda and two to Syria. It was recently preparing containers for Armenia, Kenya, South Sudan, as well as three for Mali, two more for Syria and Uganda, and three more for India.

McLellan was a Mainebiz 2020 Women to Watch honoree.

Saved from the dump

“Each container hold 22,000 to 25,000 pounds of medical consumables and equipment, all saved from the dump,” said McLellan.

person with clipboard
File PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
Elizabeth McLellan is surrounded by some of the medical supplies in the distribution center at the Partners for World Health facility in Portland.

Teams of about a dozen staff and volunteers load 40-foot-long shipping containers with donated medical equipment and supplies. 

“We have a lot of new volunteers — college-age kids this summer, and a lot of older volunteers who found out about us on the website or searching for volunteer opportunities,” said McLellan. “We have 20 to 30 people in here every day.”

Donations sometimes come through unusual avenues. For example, Chris Lyons, the co-founder of Cops Helping Cops, recently dropped by from Long Island, N.Y., with a few friends to drop off 20 pallets of medical supplies that will be heading to Uganda, Mali, Armenia and India in the next few weeks, according to another Facebook post.

Partners also posted an appeal for zip lock bags, good boxes, tape guns and tape.

“When you pack a container full of 25-pound boxes — that's a lot of tape and good quality tape guns are essential!” the post says.

Throughout 2020, PWH continued to receive donations and retooled for safe operations, with staff working double time to process and ship materials and to work with clients around the world.

“It was a lot of work,” McLellan said.

truck with boxes
Courtesy / Partners for World Health
The first of four scheduled containers for India was loaded and shipped out July 26.

“By the end of this year, we should have shipped out at least 24 containers,” she said.

India response

PWH is currently sending four shipments, valued at over $1 million, to India. This year is the first time the nonprofit has provided donations to that country.

In April, in response to the dire surge in COVID-19 there, PWH announced an appeal to raise $20,000 in 20 days for a first shipment there. The goal was reached in nine days and PWH has since raised $40,000 for the appeal. 

In addition, the nonprofit has partners around the U.S. that committed to supporting additional containers for India.

In early May, PWH received substantial donations of equipment and supplies from Northern Light Health, an effort spearheaded by Dr. Navneet Marwaha, vice president and chief quality officer at Northern Light Health. The effort was facilitated by a team of Northern Light Health volunteers pulled together by its CEO, Tim Dentry, and vice president of materials, Mike Whelan. Donations included N95 masks, goggles, face shields, and medical devices such as oxygen concentrators and bag valve masks, which are devices used to assist people in breathing.

PWH is also partnering with other U.S.-based organizations, such as the Tana Foundation and Flexport.org, which are working with PWH to expedite equipment donations.

One container has been shipped to Amara Hospital in Andhra Pradesh, a state in India's southeastern coastal region. Container No. 2 will go to a hospital in the northeast; No. 3 to a village outside of Mumbai, on the west coast; and No. 4 to Hyderabad, in central India. 

“All are going to government hospitals in need,” McClellan noted.

U.S. response

Partners for World Health is now shifting its focus to New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, she said. 

“Our aim is to ensure that, as supplies are drawn down, we can help to replenish stocks needed for COVID-19 treatments and protocols and that our partners have a sustainable source of necessary equipment and supplies in the months ahead,” she wrote in the bulletin.

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