People around the globe receiving healthcare will breathe a little easier thanks to the hard work of six of our Mission Outreach volunteers. Over the past two months Rita Mehlick, Jerry Orban, Rosalie Polite, Pam McClelland, Lisa Wright, and Marion Richter have donated a collective 162.5 hours at Mission Outreach to sort and prepare eight gaylords (48" x 40" x 36" cardboard boxes) of respiratory inventory that will be used to save lives and soothe patients in Africa, Central/South America, and Ukraine.
The volunteers meticulously sorted a variety of items, including:
- Tracheostomy tubes and masks
- Oxygen masks and tubing
- Anesthesia masks
- Hyperinflation and breathing bags
- Breathing circuits and tubing
- Endotracheal tubes
- Nebulizer supplies
Respiratory items are vital for clinical healthcare and are in high-demand both for container and hand-carry partners. From treating asthma to administering anesthetic during surgery, it’s unimaginable that even basic clinical care is possible without these supplies.
And yet, we know many hospitals in low-resource areas of the world cannot procure this basic surgical resource – forcing them to re-use oxygen masks or use adult masks for little children.
Pediatric respiratory items are especially needed and tend to be rarely donated by U.S. hospitals and clinics. Purchasing such items is possible – especially for global hospitals that have no respiratory supplies at all – and funds from Mission Outreach financial donors can make it happen.
Helping children recover from surgery
Coincidence is God’s way of being anonymous – according to Springfield Dominican Sister Marilyn Jean Runkel, O.P. – and so it was especially meaningful that on the same day it was announced our Mission Outreach volunteers had completed the monster Respiratory and Anesthesia sort, we received photos of these exact items in use from our partner Sharing Resources Worldwide.
At the beginning of this month, 31 children in Honduras received orthopedic surgeries thanks to the medical mission work of Sharing Resources Worldwide.
Mission Outreach provided many of the medical supplies for this care – including pediatric oxygen masks. The three photos of healing you see were made possible by the surgeons and medical teams who volunteer with Sharing Resources.
But they also wouldn’t have happened without the contributions of Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, especially our volunteers.
Spending 162.5 hours sorting respiratory and anesthesia supplies is hard work -- just ask Rita, Jerry, Rosalie, Pam, Lisa, and Marion. We are deeply grateful to them for giving so generously of their time, knowledge, and expertise.
And for the children who received orthopedic surgeries they needed, with the respiratory care that managed their pain and will help them heal faster, this effort from Mission Outreach volunteers has made all the difference in the world.
Bottom photo: (left to right) Rita Mehlick, Marion Richter, Michaela Szpulak (volunteer specialist), and Jerry Orban work on respiratory sorting.
Written by Erica Smith, executive director, with information provided by Michaela Szpulak, volunteer specialist
