Johnson College Re-Donates Surplus Medical Donations Overseas

Johnson College loads more than 800 pounds of medical supplies to donate to international medical relief efforts. The supplies we’re first donated to Johnson College from VaxServe. The surplus surgical gowns, shoe covers, latex gloves, mobile blood pressure units, bandages and gauze pads we’re re-donated to Samartian’s Purse in North Carolina. There they will be repackaged and shipped overseas to medical facilities where they are needed most.
Johnson College loads more than 800 pounds of medical supplies to donate to international medical relief efforts. The supplies we’re first donated to Johnson College from VaxServe. The surplus surgical gowns, shoe covers, latex gloves, mobile blood pressure units, bandages and gauze pads we’re re-donated to Samartian’s Purse in North Carolina. There they will be repackaged and shipped overseas to medical facilities where they are needed most.

This Thanksgiving more than 800 pounds of medical supplies and equipment are headed to medical relief efforts overseas from Johnson College in Scranton.

The supplies include surgical gowns, shoe covers, latex gloves, mobile blood pressure units and countless bandages and gauze pads. “We put to use all donations we receive, but over the summer we received such an outpouring of generosity from our industry partners that we were overwhelmed,” says Melissa Cencetti, the Department Chair of the Physical Therapist Assistant program at Johnson. The largest part of the donations was valued at nearly $18,000 and came from VaxServe in Scranton, a Sanofi Pasteur company, which is a national healthcare supplier.  The supplies were distributed among Johnson College’s Health Sciences Division including Radiologic Technology, Veterinary Technology, and the Physical Therapist Assistant programs, and are being put to good use. However, there were still hundreds of cases of supplies that the College could not use and decided to donate to another organization that could.

Mr. Tim Robinson, Marketing Manager at the College, made a connection with Samaritan’s Purse in North Carolina, which is an international humanitarian aid organization. Samaritan’s Purse paid to have all the supplies picked up and shipped to their distribution center at their headquarters. There, the supplies will be redistributed to medical clinics and hospitals all around the world wherever there is a need. Their current mission is sending supplies to typhoon victims in the Philippines. Chris Johnston from Samaritan’s Purse says, “Last year more than $10 million of critically needed equipment and supplies were sent to medical facilities in more than 60 nations.”

The surplus supplies filled three pallets, weighed nearly 850 pounds and has a retail value of more than $4,000. “We’re thankful not only for the extreme generosity that we received from our industry partners, but that we could pay it forward,” says Ms. Cencetti, “It’s great to know that every last piece of this generosity will benefit people that truly need it.”

For more information on Samaritan’s Purse visit them at http://www.samaritan.org/