The Cuban Medical Experience, a team of UM medical students, brought COA supplies down to Cuba over their past Spring Break. From everything we’ve heard, it sounds like the supplies were extremely well-received and will be put to immediate use. Fortunately, the group was also able to provide us with information on which supplies were particularly helpful. This information is especially valuable because we are constantly seeking ways to maximize the benefit we bring to the hospitals and clinics to which we ship supplies. Thank you Cuban Medical Experience!

Highlight from wonderful letter we received:

On behalf of the entire Cuban Medical Experience, I would like to sincerely thank Children of Abraham for providing us with medical supplies to donate in Cuba.  I strongly believe the supplies will aid the Cuban physicians in providing for their patients.  Our trip would not have been the success it was without Children of Abraham’s generous support.  Thank you very much!

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Feel free to read the entire letter:

Children of Abraham:

The Cuban Medical Experience is a group of first year University of Michigan Medical School students who, with the support of the University of Michigan Medical School Global REACH program, travel to Cuba over spring break for an educational and humanitarian experience.  The goal of the trip is twofold: learn firsthand about the Cuban health care system by visiting local physicians and institutions at various levels of the system and also provide humanitarian aid in the form of medicines and medical supplies to the institutions visited.

Although the Cuban government supplies much medical equipment and machinery, there are still shortages in Cuba and donations are of assistance.  For example, on our visit to the Instituto Pedro Kouri de Medicina Tropical, the top tiered hospital in Cuba specializing in tropical medicine and infectious disease, we learned that most of the equipment in the operating room was donated by such groups as the Global Fund and Caribbean Medical Transport.

We were fortunate enough to work with Children of Abraham in acquiring medical supplies to donate to the various institutions we visited in Cuba. Part of the challenge of donating medical supplies is matching the donations to the needs of the community.  Children of Abraham played a key role in facilitating this by generously opening their doors to us.  We were allowed to enter their warehouse and chose supplies tailored to the needs of Cuba, which we had determined to the best of our ability through email contact with several Cuban physicians we would be visiting as well as through the guidance of our faculty advisor who had previously visited many of the institutions we would tour in Cuba.

In Cuba, the donated medical supplies were met with much gratitude from the physicians and coordinators of public health programs.  We often heard responses such as we will “put them to use every day” and “they will be put to good use”.  The best received medical supplies were the items that could be reused on multiple patients.  These included sphygmomanometers, surgical tools, and stethoscopes to name a few.  These types of reusable medical supplies fulfill the needs of a far greater number of people than onetime use items and the physicians’ appreciation for them reflected that.  Other supplies that were well received included Foley catheters, sterile gloves, and other commonly used medical supplies.

Since the supplies were donated to the institutions we visited, we have a good idea of the types of patients they will benefit.  In fact, we met some of the patients on our tours.  The Hogar Materno Infantil is an inpatient maternity hospital for women with high-risk pregnancies due to diabetes and hypertension as well as for pregnant teenage women.  There are no procedures or births at this hospital and therefore monitoring equipment such as sphygmomanometers and stethoscopes were most graciously received.  The Instituto Pedro Kouri de Medicina Tropical specializes in treating infectious diseases, most commonly AIDS and Tuberculosis.  There is only one surgeon in Cuba who operates on AIDS patients and he was appreciative of the sphygmomanometer, surgical gloves, and surgical tools we donated.  The Hospital Pediatrico Universitario “Pedro Borras Astorga” was an outpatient pediatric hospital with an extensive array of specialties including cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, and more.  The medical supplies, especially the sphygmomanometer, were greatly appreciated.  Other institutions we visited and donated supplies to serve the elderly, patients with chronic pain conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, and HIV positive individuals.

Interestingly, some physicians felt comfortable receiving the donations in front of our entire group of eleven students while others preferred a smaller group of four to five students.  Whatever their preference, every physician was deeply appreciative of the supplies.

During our visits, we obtained email addresses of physicians for future contact as well as performed basic needs assessments to better assist future trips in providing the types of medical supplies that could deliver the greatest impact.  With the continued help of Children of Abraham, we hope those supplies can be acquired and delivered.

On behalf of the entire Cuban Medical Experience, I would like to sincerely thank Children of Abraham for providing us with medical supplies to donate in Cuba.  I strongly believe the supplies will aid the Cuban physicians in providing for their patients.  Our trip would not have been the success it was without Children of Abraham’s generous support.  Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Matthew Modes

Co-Director of Cuban Medical Experience 2009 Trip

Filed under: Humanitarian Aid, Shipments