Inside Duke Medicine
Duke Medicine sends supplies to China quake zone
posted June 30th, 2008By Bill Stagg
Duke University Health System has donated a truckload of medical supplies to help hospitals and health centers in China in their ongoing efforts to treat earthquake victims. Hundreds of thousands of people were injured or developed illnesses as a result of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province. The equipment and supplies, gathered through Duke’s Global Health PLUS (Placement of Life-changing Usable Surplus) program, include a portable operating table, anesthesia machines, patient monitors, dialysis machines, ECG monitors, exam tables and thousands of isolation gowns, latex gloves and face masks.
The outreach effort was coordinated through the Chinese Embassy in Washington, which provided Duke with a list of the most-needed medical supplies at this stage of the crisis. Armstrong Relocation, Duke’s contracted relocation company, is donating its services to transport the equipment to a central distribution point. The equipment then will be shipped to China through Gifts in Kind International, which has partnered with UPS to deliver relief donations from many corporations to China. “The earthquakes in China present a real humanitarian crisis for all of us,” said Michael Merson, M.D., director of the Duke Global Health Institute. “Global Health PLUS allows us to respond to the urgent needs of our colleagues overseas in a way that will help strengthen the country’s health system long after another disaster captures the world’s attention.”
The Duke Global Health PLUS program makes surplus medical equipment and supplies from DUHS available to educational, research and service projects overseas sponsored by Duke faculty members. Individuals can make financial do- nations at http://www.studentaffairs. duke.edu/earthquake/index.html.