Petersburg Pilot

Volunteers load excess supplies,

equipment to ship to Haiti

February 4, 2010

Exam gloves, gauze and a gurney were among the supplies and equipment loaded onto a container van for eventual shipment to Haiti last Saturday.

Father Pat Casey and Terry Welch led the two-pronged effort to rid the Petersburg Medical Center of excess equipment and supplies and to provide for the needs of injured Haitian earthquake survivors.

Prior to the earthquake, Welch and Casey had planned to send the equipment and surplus supplies to Mexico. “Drug wars along the Mexican border prevented the shipment,” explained Welch.

Welch said the hospital administrator had urged her and Casey to rid the basement of the material to make way for the eventual expansion of the Joy Janssen Medical Clinic. As medical equipment is upgraded by the hospital, equipment and expired medical supplies are still usable by non-profit organizations providing relief needs.

It only took an hour for approximately 23 volunteers of all ages to load a 20-foot container. Volunteers came from the Church of Latter Day Saints, Rotary Club, Petersburg Medical Center staff and Trident Seafoods, Welch noted. Trident also volunteered the use of their forklift to load the supplies.

Alaska Marine Lines donated the container and cost of shipping to Seattle. In Seattle the container will be either shipped to Hands of Hope Northwest in Nampa, Idaho or to another similar agency on the west coast, which can transport the goods to Haiti, according to Welch. She added that the load might be segmented to allow the medical supplies to ship more quickly, with the larger equipment arriving later.

Welch noted that Hands of Hope is a non-profit Christian organization that ships one container a month to destinations all over the world in need of relief supplies or goods.