It’s a staggering fact that 400 million people around the world have no access to basic health care and every two seconds, an adult dies from a noncommunicable disease. Without lifesaving equipment found routinely in most hospitals in the U.S., these diseases often go without detection and end in mortality.
That’s where Colorado-based nonprofit Project C.U.R.E. steps in. Project C.U.R.E. is the largest distributor of donated medical equipment to communities in 135 countries, including underserved hospitals in the U.S. In the wake of poverty, natural disasters, war and violence and other environments that foster health care inequality, Project C.U.R.E. shows up to provide life-saving medical equipment to ensure doctors have the resources they need to properly treat the patients they see.
Much of the equipment Project C.U.R.E. ultimately sends on to hospitals comes in as donated, second-hand devices that need repairs. Trained technicians are needed to breathe life back into this highly technical medical equipment.
Earlier this month, a group of Crothall Healthcare Technology Solutions (HTS) technicians were onsite at Project C.U.R.E.’s Woodbridge, Ill. warehouse, volunteering their time to repair the donated equipment. Using their own tools and testing equipment, the Crothall HTS team repaired 150 medical devices – including EKGs, ECGs, patient monitors, defibrillators, infant warmers, infant scales, anesthesia machines and ventilators.
“Some of the donated equipment had been on-site for months, awaiting repair. The Crothall HTS team was able to get the equipment into peak working order so that it can be used at its next destination to save lives,” said Tajwar Khan, regional director of operations for Crothall HTS. “This volunteer opportunity is a natural extension of what we as HTS technicians have committed our professional lives to do – support the cause of saving lives.”
The volunteers consisted of HTS associates who work at Methodist Hospitals in Gary and Merrillville, Indiana; Marion General Hospital, Marion, Indiana, and Lurie Children’s Hospital and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.
A group of 14 Crothall HTS technicians also volunteered last year with Project C.U.R.E. in lieu of doing a usual holiday dinner. At that time, 50 medical devices were serviced. The volunteer event so successful, that the team has decided to make it an annual opportunity. Crothall HTS also works with its partner hospitals to donate their unused medical equipment to Project C.U.R.E.
