SHIPPING CONTAINERS

Two more containers

Two more shipping containers arrived January 2018 and 2019 with donated dehydrated food from the Gleaners, plus medical equipment and supplies for the hospital and NPH orphanage.

Special thanks to

Cambridge Ontario Christian Gleaners for their kind donation of 10 skids of dehydrated vegetable mix and dried beans- many people were fed with your food
The Lion's Recycle for Sight for 1000 pairs of sunglasses and reading glasses
Home Health Oxygen for storing our supplies and helping with the shipping
Stratford General Hospital for the cribs and medical supplies
The Dental Society in Stratford for the toothbrushes and toothpaste
ADIDAS Canada for 361 pair of brand new shoes
and to all of the people who donated clothing, toys, blankets, shoes etc.

Two more Containers

Two more shipping containers arrived at the NPH home September 2016 and April 2017 with much needed supplies. 28 hospital beds for the Nandaime Hospital, 100s of pairs of shoes for the home, 900 kg of dehydrated vegetables, and apples, 10 IV poles and much needed medical instruments etc. for both the hospital and NPH home. We plan to ship another container in the near future with hospital cribs etc.

THE SHIPPING CONTAINER HAS ARRIVED

Many of our helpers were NPH Nicaragua staff, thanks so much for all of your help. Here they unload one of the infant warmers donated by the Chatham hospital. The warmers were shared among 4 hospitals and a maternity house.

NICARAGUA RECEIVES SHIPPING CONTAINER FROM CANADA

Aug. 19, 2015

Finally the container was released from customs

Our team spent many hours unloading, washing, sorting and distributing the container supplies. Just seeing the joy in the people's eyes when they received the much needed medical equipment etc was the most amazing experience for the four of us. The people were so thankful. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated items, their time and money to make this possible.

So excited to share the donations to the hospital in Nandaime. Pictured above are back row left to right, Martha Campos (director of Nandaime hospital), Laura Hawkins RN, a Nicaraguan nurse, Dr. Doug Thompson, Edgar Avila (NPH shipping coordinator) and front row, Janice Rauser RN.

Ten hospital beds, donated by Spruce Lodge in Stratford, Ontario, wait to be brought into the hospital. People have been sleeping on bedsprings, very thin mattress, and broken beds at the Nandaime hospital. These beds were received with lots of joy

The maternity house was excited with their many gifts of bay clothing, an infant warmer, a computer and dishes.
Pictured above is Orlando( who runs the maternity house). COMMIT members Laura Hawkins, Janice Rauser and the clinic RN

Team of doctors and nurses pack container of donated medical supplies to help small rural hospital in Nicaragua

It looked like an outdoor market specifically for doctors and nurses.

The Spruce Lodge parking lot was full of medical equipment including anesthetic machines, infant warmers and hospital beds and mattresses on Saturday morning. The equipment worth about $100,000 was donated from Stratford General and other hospitals, Spruce Lodge and other donors.

It was being loaded up and will be shipped in a 40-foot container to a rural hospital in Nicaragua. A local Canadian Outreach Medical and Mission Team (COMMIT) will go down in January including nurse Janice Rauser who has been to the area several times on medical and humanitarian missions. Some patients in the Nandaime hospital lie on sheets directly on the bed springs because there are no mattresses, she said. As for equipment, there's a severe shortage.

The baby warmers and ultrasound machines are outdated by Canadian standards but they'll make a big difference in a hospital with little or no equipment at all, she stressed.

The COMMIT mandate is to provide long-term care to a community or region.

“Our idea is to leave something behind, not just a band aid that falls off,” Rauser said.

They've already made several medical trips including one in which first aid was taught in the community after a farmer cut himself with a machete. His wife sewed him up with a needle and thread. As a result, Dr. Doug Thompson taught a suturing class.

The team has plans to improve water quality, which will also improve the health of residents, by digging wells in two separate communities. The cost will be about $89,000.

“The long-term goal is they won't need us. We're going to work ourselves out of a job and pick two more villages,” said nurse Pam Murray.

In the meantime, they'll continue to work with people who have illnesses or conditions that are preventable. Rauser recalled seeing a 10-year-old boy with a sore throat who couldn't “open wide” because he was tongue tied. Here that's a simple fix for a new born.

“It's an easy and quick procedure. He had gone 10 years with this problem,” she said. “Here you would never have a 10-year-old with a tongue tie.”

It was no longer a simple fix either. A dentist had to cut through muscle that had developed to free his tongue.

On the last trip, the team also had a physiotherapist join them. They're hoping to have another one step forward as well as a pharmacist who can join them next January when they go back.

In addition to the medical equipment, water filters were donated by the Rotary Club of Stratford and 30 sewing machines were donated to start a sewing cooperative. The cooperative will give people work and the skills and equipment to mend sheets and hospital gowns.

To join the mission or make a donation contact Rauser at janice.rauser@gmail.com

laura.cudworth@sunmedia.ca