Twelve clinics and hospitals in Panama will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of life-saving equipment and medical supplies thanks to a handful of Edina and Minnesota organizations.
The equipment is going to clinics that serve children and the elderly in the poorest areas of Panama—clinics that tend to hundreds of patients a day, where doctors are forced to make diagnoses relying mainly on what they can feel and observe about a patient.
“The equipment in these clinics is very poor and sometimes antiquated,” says Mary Brindle, president-elect of the Edina Morningside Rotary Club.
Her organization spearheaded the effort to raise $40,000, enough money to ship four 40-foot containers of gently used equipment to Panama over the course of the next few months. The first container, holding equipment with a wholesale value of $250,000 to $300,000, left for Panama in November. The subsequent containers are set to ship in February, May and August.
The equipment comes from Hope for the City, a nonprofit organization with a warehouse in St. Louis Park that collects corporate surplus from companies, as well as gently used medical equipment from local hospitals and clinics that are upgrading.
The containers headed for Panama include not only ultrasound and EKG equipment, but infusion pumps, pediatric cardiac monitors, pediatric pulse oximeters and prosthetic equipment, as well as basic items such as exam tables. They also contained a high-end exhaust hood and enough specialized equipment to set up an entire epidemiology lab.
Megan Doyle, who co-founded Hope for the City with her husband, Dennis, explains that the equipment will have a profound impact on the area. “This piece of equipment will transform infectious disease diagnosis for the whole country,” Doyle says.
Currently, Panama doctors have to send specimens to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for processing; they have to wait three to five days to receive an infectious disease diagnosis—valuable time for patients with potentially treatable ailments.
The shipment of containers was made possible through the leadership of the Edina Morningside Rotary Club, with help from the Rotary Club of Edina (Noon), the Bloomington (Noon) Rotary Club and the South Metro Minneapolis Evenings Rotary Club. The clubs collectively raised $11,500, which was matched at the regional Rotary level and again at the international level, providing enough to cover the shipping. However, the Rotary Club networking doesn’t end there. The Minnesota clubs and Hope for the City are working with members of a Rotary Club in Panama. Those Panama volunteers will receive the container shipments and ensure that the equipment is delivered and properly set up in the designated clinics.
This year’s theme for Rotary International is peace through service, says Brindle: “Reaching across and reaching out internationally helps you spread that feeling of peace to new areas.”
Although plans aren’t final, Brindle adds that members of her Rotary Club plan to visit Panama for a celebration once the containers arrive.
For Doyle, this particular international partnership allows her to expand humanitarian aid efforts to an area she normally couldn’t help. Typically, she says, a 40-foot container would be too large to ship for the benefit of just one small location, but this equipment is destined for many smaller locations. The partnerships were also part of the reason that regional and international Rotary grant funds were available for the project.
Tim Murphy is a member of the Rotary Club of Edina (Noon) and currently serves as the grants subcommittee chair for the district that covers Edina and 60 other Minnesota clubs. The local clubs raised the initial funds which were matched dollar for dollar by the district and matched again by Rotary International.
“It’s an opportunity for Rotarians to be involved and give back to not only their local community, but communities across the world,” says Murphy.
(Breakout box): Get involved
Hope for the City is always looking for shipping partners. To get involved, contact Jennifer McGee at 952.897.7717
