FOCCUS Sends Shipment of Medical Supplies to Korosten
FOCCUS has just completed the shipment of a 40 foot container filled with medical supplies to the Korosten City Hospital. The shipment, which has a value of well over $150,000, consisted of a wide range of medical consumable supplies such as dressings, bandages, gloves, and various other equipment, including orthopedic equipment, blood pressure cuffs, catheters, stethoscopes, colonoscopes, endoscopy handpieces, IV sets, IV poles, various kinds of procedure packs, hospital linens including scrubs, scalpels, syringes, needles and sutures - many, many different kinds of sutures. We shipped 10 hospital beds, 6 cribs, 4 exam tables, 6 wheelchairs and 6 walkers, x-ray view boxes, and many other items. There were a total of 950 boxes and about 30 loose items weighing over 12,000 lbs.
Both the Korosten Community Center that FOCCUS supports and the Korosten City Hospital serve a large territory with a population of over 100,000. This territory still has high levels of contamination and is officially designated as Zone 3 of the Chernobyl-affected territory. The hospital is over 100 years old and, like many of the hospitals in Ukraine, is a remnant of the Soviet days and requires major renovation and repair. The current 21% decline in Ukraine’s economic situation results in minimal renovations and support to the country’s health care system. To compound the hospital problem, many medical personnel deserted Chernobyl towns and regions immediately following the disaster and have not returned.
This project was born almost two years ago when Halyna Traversa, a FOCCUS Board Member, traveled to Ukraine to visit the Community Centers supported by FOCCUS. While there, she visited a local hospital and observed a dire need for some of the most basic medical equipment and supplies. Halyna was very moved by what she witnessed and when she returned Madison, Wisconsin, she looked for potential partners to help bring the medical supplies to the Korosten City Hospital.
To obtain the medical supplies, FOCCUS teamed up with Mission Outreach in Springfield, IL. Mission Outreach is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization focused on the recovery and responsible redistribution of healthcare equipment and supplies to developing countries. FOCCUS also successfully obtained funding for the transportation costs from Counterpart International’s Small/Medium Transportation Program (SMTP). SMTP is funded by the United States Department of State Office of the Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia (EUR/ACE) under its Operation Provide Hope program.
FOCCUS is very excited to be able to provide such a huge benefit to the citizens of the Korosten region. The only cost that FOCCUS incurred to be able to send this shipment was a small $5,000 administrative fee that was paid to Mission Outreach and about $1,000 in other expenses. What a huge return on our investment to be able to send over $150,000 of actual equipment and supplies to Korosten. We were able to raise money to cover all of our costs from generous contributors, and we thank all of you who supported this project and made it possible.
The State Department has approved FOCCUS to send a second shipment to Ukraine so FOCCUS is hard at work puting together another shipment. We are very pleased to again be working with the Korosten Central City Hospital.
If you are interested in supporting this 2nd shipment, please go to our Donate page or send a check to FOCCUS, P.O. Box 5342, Madison, WI 53705.
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