Friday, March 9, 2012

 March 9, 2012

"Recover. Redistribute. Save Lives."

This is the motto that encapsulates the efforts of Advocates of World Health (AWH), a non-profit organization that recovers surplus medical supplies and distributes them to relief agencies in developing nations. The founders of AWH, graduates of the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, established the organization in March of 2009. During a trip to Guatemala in 2008, the students visited a hospital just south of Guatemala City. The hospital was providing free health-care for local villagers, but at the same time it was facing a substantial decline in funds. The students were inspired by the generosity of the hospital, and felt the desire to help.

AWH is funded by relief agencies to ship individualized containers of excess medical supplies overseas. AWH is also affiliated with Advocates of USF, a student chapter at the University of South Florida that recruits student volunteers who help with sorting the medical supplies. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. health-care industry generates over 8.1 million pounds of waste each year, much of which is usable medical product. Since April of 2010, AWH has recovered an estimated 94,500 lbs of medical product from donors in Central Florida. AWH has also distributed $1.6 million worth of medical product to undeserved health care providers in Haiti and Guatemala.

Furthermore, AWH provides volunteer and internship opportunities for the students at University of South Florida, as well as individuals in the local community. Luther Fleury, an undergraduate student at USF, is majoring in Biomedical Sciences and has recently joined AWH. Luther has decided to volunteer as an office assistant. He is responsible for writing press releases and articles, editing AWH video footage, and promoting AWH via social networking sites. "I enjoy working for an organization that is reaching out a helping a hand to those in other countries, and I can't wait to start shipping off medical supplies that I have picked up and sorted myself!," Luther says. Volunteers have the opportunity to work in the office, pick up and sort medical supplies, develop inventories, fund-raise, and more. For volunteers that are particularly passionate about the cause, internships are available in which the individuals are given the responsibility to coordinate their own AWH project.

By December of 2017, AWH plans to recover an astounding 1.1 million lbs of medical supplies and expand their organization nationwide. Ryan Kania, the Executive Director of AWH, has high hopes for the organization: "The vision is to provide a low cost solution to improving healthcare access in developing countries. Within the next two years, we plan to send over 100 shipments overseas, launch over 50 student chapters across the U.S., and coordinate over 10 humanitarian aid trips," With more support, Advocates of World Health can accomplish extraordinary things and can potentially impact millions of lives.

Writer: Luther Fleury