Large Donation of Medicines and Supplies Helps People of Panay Island

The list might read like a foreign language to anyone outside of a medical context: Trospium Chloride, Clarithromycin, Mesalamine, sphygmomanometers…  But these lifesaving medicines and tools are part of a nearly million dollar in-kind shipment delivered to Panay Island, Philippines this week by Project HOPE.

Volunteer logistics coordinator George Young worked with HOPE staffers to ensure the supplies made it to the small town of Tapaz, where it was stored overnight in the open air civic center and guarded by a group of Philippine army soldiers specially assigned to help with typhoon recovery efforts.

That evening, HOPE volunteers Tomoko Kurokawa, a family and emergency room doctor, and Leola Valmarida, a general practice doctor licensed in the Philipppines, prepped the space, numbered and lined up boxes in neat rows, using emergency tape on the concrete floor to create three large squares representing the local hospital, clinic and the upcoming medical outreaches.

The next morning, as the team began to shuttle the supplies to the appropriate squares, HOPE volunteer Mateo Rodriguez, a surgeon, manned a computer to keep track of their movement.

The Philippine army soldiers helped move sphygmomanometers (which are blood pressure cuffs), defibrillators, stethoscopes, knee braces, syringes, gauze bandages, exam gloves, thousands of doses of medications, and more, from the squares to waiting  trucks and hand dollies and directly to the medical facilities, where they were gratefully received.