MedShare Spring Open House Showcases Impact and Innovation
Special thanks to everyone who attended our Spring Open House event on April 25th and 26th!
MEDSHARE VOLUNTEERS STEP UP (AGAIN) TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL OPEN HOUSE
What better way to illustrate MedShare’s impact than to see our beloved volunteers not only help us prepare to welcome the community-at-large to our campus, but to watch them share how the work they do while at MedShare helps improve the lives of those we serve? Our volunteers truly are like family to us, and it was easy to see how passionate they are about our mission.
We were also honored to have our legacy partners BD, represented by Jennifer Himmelhoch, and athenahealth‘s Iz Conroy (accompanied by an energetic team of Athenistas) address the crowd. Mario Lopez-Rodriguez of mission delivery partner, Our House, also spoke to attendees about the impact MedShare continues to make in the day-to-day operation of the organization’s health clinic.
We were so happy to see the smiling faces of several other mission delivery partners, including staff from many local Georgia clinics who learned more about how MedShare can support their work.
Attendees enjoyed a peek behind-the-scenes, as MedShare volunteers and staff demonstrated new innovative technological and programmatic solutions designed to help make MedShare even more accessible for our partners, volunteers and supporters.
The event also marked the one-year anniversary of our former COO, Stacey Koehnke, being named as MedShare’s new CEO/Executive Director. Needless the say, the cake didn’t last long!
ENHANCING ORDERING EXPERIENCE FOR FREE & CHARITABLE CLINICS, MISSION TEAMS
Through MedShare’s work with our country’s network of free and charitable clinics, we understand the incredibly valuable role community healthcare providers play in public health. Every dollar we can help them save on the essential medical supplies and equipment they need to save lives can help them bridge gaps in funding for direct patient care.
To better serve our charitable healthcare providers, MedShare provided our partners access to our robust inventory management system two years ago to enable them to place their medical supply orders online. While it was a good first effort, the ordering process was a little more complicated than we would have liked. So today, thanks to generous donations by cherished MedShare partner, Buckhead Church, and renowned digital marketing agency Terra, MedShare will soon launch a new, streamlined ordering interface that will provide for an incredibly enhanced, user-friendly online experience for all of our partners.
TARGETED HEALTH SOLUTION DESIGNED TO IMPROVE MATERNAL & CHILD HEALTH
Sadly, an inordinate number of maternal deaths globally are the result of infections that could have been prevented with education and access to basic sterile medical supplies. But most women in the developing world give birth in their homes or in remote community clinics where such supplies are not readily available.
To help reduce infection and the rates of maternal and infant mortality, MedShare volunteers assemble and distribute Clean Birthing Kits, which contain critical supplies needed to create a clean, sanitary birth environment, to medically underserved communities around the world — in fact, the CBKs assembled by our Open House attendees are destined for Uganda. MedShare has distributed over 80,000 of these small, easy to carry kits, which also include step-by-step safe birthing practices and danger signs to be aware of for mother and baby.
AI-POWERED APP A KEY NEW SORTING INNOVATION TO ENHANCE ACCURACY
Hospitals, private practices and manufacturers donate thousands of perfectly usable surgical and medical instruments to MedShare each year. Given that there are literally hundreds of varieties of these instruments, each designed for specific tasks and procedures, it presents a huge challenge for our volunteers who do not have medical expertise to sort these items accurately. This can often innocently lead to misclassification and overall inefficiency.
But now, thanks to long-time MedShare supporters Daya and Anjali Menon, MedShare has a fast, accurate and efficient solution for sorting our surgical steel items. Interfacing with an AI-powered 4-million-item surgical instrument directory, volunteers can now scan, identify, and categorize instruments instantly – significantly reducing human error, expediting the sorting process, and enhancing the volunteer experience all at the same time.
BIOMEDICAL SERVICES KEY TO PARTNER SUSTAINABILITY
Through a very generous donation from our long-time partner, BD, MedShare recently delivered 92 new portable ultrasound machines to free and charitable clinics in 30 states across the U.S. This donation will dramatically enhance access to vital diagnostic imaging services for underserved populations, particularly in rural and low-income communities.
In addition, MedShare’s Biomedical Services team is currently in the process of providing essential technical training to clinic staff on proper installation, use, and ongoing maintenance of the ultrasound machines. This training is a critical sustainability measure, ensuring that clinics—many of which lack the resources and technical expertise to care for biomedical equipment—can fully integrate these tools into their healthcare offerings.
We sincerely appreciate the support of everyone who was able to attend. Our help is needed now more than ever, and we can’t do it without you!
