Gloria with Elizabeth McClellan of Partners for World Health
Recently a member of The Atrium at The Cedars retirement community had looked into donating some expensive medications that she had paid for herself but no longer needed, and that had not yet expired. She had asked her physicians – who did not have any suggestions. After contacting Elizabeth McLellan at Partners for World Health, she immediately accepted Gloria’s generous offer and brought them to the warehouse one afternoon in May. Here is a photo of Gloria with Elizabeth, after touring the huge warehouse full of medical equipment and supplies. That day, United Way was there volunteering their time to help sort and pack the supplies.
Did you know that in the United States, we throw away billions of dollars of perfectly good medical supplies every year? Elizabeth McClellan, founder of Partners for World Health in Scarborough, Maine, faced this reality as a nurse in Portland’s largest hospital every time she worked. She explains that medical supplies or medications are ordered by physicians, paid for by insurance companies, and then often never used. These supplies either stayed in the hospital room after the patient went home, or in the medicine cabinet after the medication was no longer needed – and then thrown away. She was concerned about the environmental waste and the fact that developing countries around the world are in desperate need of clean, new medical supplies.
Elizabeth McClellan wanted to do something about this and teamed up with local medical practitioners to form Partners for World Health. Now, those medical supplies are picked up at the hospitals, or donated directly by individuals to the warehouse in Scarborough where they’re sorted and shipped off to third world countries. Join Gloria in gathering your unused medical supplies to help those in need.
If anyone would like more information about making donations or volunteering with Partners for World Health, check out their website at www.partnersforworldhealth.org.