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First-year medical students Chuck Vrasich and
George Hanson prepare medical supplies in
Chicago for shipment to MedShare.
“Wow, this is a lot of surplus! Does MedShare exist in other cities?”
MedShare staff members hear this question frequently, as wide-eyed visitors view the overwhelming amount of surplus medical supplies and equipment at MedShare’s distribution center in Atlanta. It’s natural to wonder – if this much can be recovered in the Atlanta metro area alone, how much surplus must exist nationally? As MedShare continues to grow (we’ll soon open MedShare Western Region in California), we come into contact with employees at health care facilities around the country who wish they could donate their surplus to an organization like MedShare.
Sometimes, the wish becomes more than just a whimsy. When a group of medical students at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago decided they wanted to start collecting surplus supplies, they found MedShare on the Internet and decided to take action. After contacting MedShare to propose forming a relationship, the students created the Rush Remedy* group and developed a collection process based on MedShare’s needs. The hospital’s unused surplus from operating rooms gets redirected to a warehouse, where the students sort and label the product before packing and shipping it to MedShare about once a month.
“Our partnership with MedShare has allowed us to redirect supplies from Rush to countries in need. Without MedShare, our program would be suffering from a shortage of end users for our recovered supplies and we would be forced to throw these materials away,” said Mike Majewski, one of the group’s founders.
The amount of useable surplus that can be
recovered from even a single hospital in a
short amount of time can be astounding.
Rush Remedy is still in its first year of existence and has already sent twelve pallets of assorted medical supplies to MedShare. The student-driven program also aims to build its awareness within the hospital community and spread the concept to other schools and hospitals in the area.
MedShare receives product donations from various partnerships around the country, and commends those who take the initiative to reduce their waste while improving the health care of others.
For more information about such relationships, as well as other ways you can get involved with MedShare, please visit our web site.
*Rush Remedy was originally supported with an in-service teaching packet from REMEDY, a non-profit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut. REMEDY is committed to teaching and promoting the recovery of surplus OR supplies in U.S. hospitals.
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