REMEDY at Duke

February: Ukraine

Seven pallets of medical supplies and 2 wheelchairs were donated to Ukraine. This was accomplished with the ongoing support of the NC non-profit Ukrainians in the Carolinas https://www.ukrainiansinthecarolinas.org/ who coordinate the transport and distribution of these much needed supplies. This organization has been collecting and shipping medical supplies to Ukraine to help help refugees, wounded warriors and civilians impacted by the war in their country since 2014.

March: Durham Rescue Mission

Six cartons of personal hygiene and maternal and baby care items were donated locally to the Durham Rescue Mission’s Women’s Shelter for distribution to their residents. Duke medical students also volunteer regularly at the Men’s Shelter to help provide hygiene items and assist with meal service. The Durham Rescue Mission is the areas oldest and largest long-term homeless shelter, providing food, clothing, permanent supportive housing, vocational training, counseling,  job placement, education, accountability and much more to men, women and children in need https://durhamrescuemission.org/

January – Dept of Surgery Teaching Labs

Several cartons of expired and/or specialized surplus items that were not suitable for global health donation were repurposed for teaching procedures to our medical professional students, residents and fellows. These donations help reduce waste while also reducing purchasing costs for our teaching labs.

February – Philippines

A donation of 6 shipping totes of miscellaneous medical and surgical supplies was made to Mercy House of the Philippines with the help of Brianna Lareau, and EMT who has volunteered for several years with this organization that provides medical outreach to children living on the streets of Manila.

March – Turkey

With the help of Duke Engineering graduate student, Mert Gokduman, we organized 4 pallets of medical supplies for donation to his home country of Turkey following the devastating earthquake that occurred on February 6. Three pallets were distributed by the Turkish Ministries of Health and the fourth by medical faculty at Inonu University.

April – Guatemala

For several years, Duke Nursing School students have brought supplies to maternal care facilities in the mountains of Guatemala with the cooperation of Curamericas Global. In partnership with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health, Curamericas supports five community-operated or owned Casas Maternas (birthing homes), which are open 24-hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the rural highlands of northwestern Guatemala. Curamericas’ Casa Maternas are culturally-adapted birthing facilities that provide Mayan women with medical care and support during their pregnancy, delivery and after the birth. https://giving.dukehealth.org/why-give/meet-medical-nursing-students/duke-nursing-students-make-a-difference-in-guatemala

May – Sierra Leone

KDU North Carolina is a chapter of Krio Descendants Union, which was founded to unite the Creole people and the Oku people of Sierra Leone during the decolonization era. The NC Chapter has been active for several years to provide medical supplies to Connaught hospital in the capital, Freetown. This year we donated 45 cartons of surplus medical, surgical and orthopedic supplies, coordinated with help of Duke nurse, Edna Taylor.

May – Durham, NC

Several first-year Duke medical students began volunteering to provide hygiene kits to one of Durham’s homeless shelters and are working with our REMEDY program to help supply toiletries and other personal care items to stock these kits.

August – Guatemala

We provided 3 cartons of supplies for another Duke School of Nursing student learning and service trip to Huehhuetenango, Guatemala in conjunction with Curamericas.

September – Ukraine

Six shipping pallets (about 120 boxes), 2 wheelchairs and 3 pairs of crutches were donated to Ukrainians in the Carolinas, a non-profit group who has been working for several years to assist with the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

October – Gaza, Palestine

Duke medical student, Anna Gnaedinger, with the help of classmates and friends, flew 6 extra-large bags of medical supplies to Cairo, Egypt for distribution to victims of the war in Gaza. Anna was able to coordinate this donation through the non-profit MedGlobal and the Egyptian Red Crescent.

December 2, 2023 – Durham Rescue Mission

Duke Medical and PA students volunteered to serve meals and offered free toiletry items at the Durham Rescue Mission’s shelter for men.

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2023 : 226

February and April: Ukraine

Since 2014, REMEDY at Duke has collaborated with Ukrainians in the Carolinas, a non-profit based in Raleigh, NC that has provided medical assistance to soldiers and other victims of the ongoing conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine through the program Revived Soldiers Ukraine ( https://www.rsukraine.org ) When the Russian invasion accelerated in February 2022, the need for medical support for both soldiers and civilians increased dramatically.

REMEDY has so far coordinated two donations of medical/surgical supplies totaling approximately 60 cartons, including PPE, respiratory, urinary, IV, wound care supplies, toiletries and personal care items.

May: Moldova

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Following its independence from the Soviet Union, the North Carolina Department of State established a diplomatic partnership with the government of Moldova to foster economic, social and educational exchange and provide financial and material support to its institutions https://www.sosnc.gov/divisions/moldova_partnership . Since 2010, REMEDY at Duke has participated in this partnership by donating medical supplies, shipped with the cooperation of the NC Guard.  This recent donation amounted to 10 pallets of PPE and other items. Although it is difficult to assess the value of surplus items, the estimated cost of these supplies if purchased new would have been approximately $50,000.

August: Honduras and Guatemala

Two groups of Duke School of Nursing students and faculty traveled to sites in Guatemala and Honduras as part of clinical immersion brigades providing primary care and basic health services to local communities. REMEDY provided a variety of medical supplies to fill 4 large duffle bags for these trips.

October: Duke teaching labs

Frequently we receive surplus items that are not suitable for donation to global health projects either because they are technologically inappropriate or past expiration dates. However, many of these items can be repurposed for demonstration or practice in our student teaching labs. This month we donated 3 boxes of misc. supplies to the Duke School of Medicine and School of Nursing for this purpose.

November: local veterinary practices

We had 6 large cartons of in-date Vacutainer phlebotomy supplies (needles and sleeves) slated for disposal from discontinued Duke clinical research trials and we were able to repurpose these to a local veterinary hospital in Durham.

November: Ukraine

An additional donation of 20 boxes of medical supplies (including bandage and dressing supplies, syringes, IV supplies, surgical instruments, and crutches, wheelchairs) was made to Ukrainians of the Carolinas for delivery to war impacted areas of Ukraine.

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2022: 117

November: Sierra Leone

Requests for supplies continued to be limited for most of 2021 due to the cancellation of many global health projects during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, in November 2021 we were able to donate 126 boxes of medical/surgical supplies and 18 pieces of durable medical equipment to Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

This donation was organized by Edna Taylor, a cardiology nurse at Duke and member of Krio Descendants Union (KDU) of North Carolina, a non-profit group whose mission is “to provide a forum for cultural expression, a conduit for channeling Krio concerns and participation in the general affairs of Sierra Leoneans at home and in the diaspora.”

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2021: 136

March: Madagascar

James Herrera, researcher with SAVA Conservation and the Duke Lemur Center, delivered medical supplies to clinics in Sambava, Madascar.  SAVA supports education, health and sustainable practices among the local communities to protect the forests and biodiversity in this region, including Marojejy National Park.

March: Liberia

Fourteen pallets of medical supplies were shipped to hospitals in Liberia with the help of Amanda Thomas, RN, nurse manager at Duke Primary Care and The Liberian Community Organization of the Triangle, in Raleigh, NC

March: Ukraine

A truckload of supplies were donated to the Ukranian Association of North Carolina for delivery to war-stressed hospitals in the Ukraine.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of  most travel from Spring 2020- Spring 2021, no further donations were made overseas during this time. However, REMEDY was able to donate toiletries and other personal care items to the Durham Rescue Mission in December 2020.

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2020: 88

June: Kenya

Donald Ellis, MD worked with Beacon of Hope, an NGO based in Kenya that provides free medical and dental care to underserved communities.

July-August: Kenya

Duke School of Nursing students partnered with Curamericas Global to observe and assist with maternal and child care in Kisli, Kenya.

October: Haiti

Shelia Rittgers, Pediatric Clinical Social Worker at Duke organized supplies for a birthing center in Haiti.

November: East Africa

Nateefa Wade, pediatric RN at UNC partnered with Compassion for Africa and her local church to deliver supplies to an orphanage in Uganda and a birthing center in Kenya.

December: Kenya

Barbara Hotelling, RN and clinical nurse educator at Duke School of Nursing assembled home birthing kits and other medical supplies for a nursing student project in Kenya.

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2019: 52

April: HONDURAS

Duke University School of Nursing, student trip

May: TANZANIA

Duke University School of Nursing, student trip

May: ETHIOPIA

Henoch Asoye, Duke student and Kenan Summer Fellow.  Henoch is the founder of Oasis Medical Relief, a non-profit whose goal is to distribute medical supplies to different hospitals in Ethiopia to help promote the medical conditions of struggling neighborhoods throughout the country.

May: UGANDA

Duke undergraduates Diana Zabal, Tiff Jiang, Yannet Daniel and Niisoja Torto participated in the Duke Global Health Institute’s Student Research Training Program.  DGHI SRT aims to train undergraduate students in research methods and problem-solving relating to global health. This group focused on cardio-vascular health, improving water quality, preventing helminth infection and collecting information on trends in maternal health.  Surplus medical supplies were donated for a community health fair.

https://globalhealth.duke.edu

June: UGANDA

Brianna Lareau, EMT from Cary who returned to the Philippines to continue her work assisting with providing medical care to underserved populations.

June: TANZANIA

Preeti Manavalan, MD and Julian Hertz, MD, Duke University Medical center/Duke Global Health Institute. Research in Moshi, Tanzania.

July: LIBERIA

Amanda Thomas, Duke RN

August: NIGERIA

Folu Moses (retired Duke employee).  Shipping container to Nigeria via Africa Missions North America, which is a faith based non-profit organized to address the plight of the less privileged in Africa.

August: MOLDOVA

Elonora Sinigur, NC State Department/Moldova World Children’s Fund/U.S. Embassy in Chisinau. Medical supplies to hospitals, orphanage and hospices across Moldova, which is a “sister state” of North Carolina.

October: DUKE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

REMEDY periodically donates expired medical supplies to our teaching labs at Duke to train students and residents in various medical procedures.

October: LIBERIA

Amanda Thomas, Duke RN

October: HAITI

Michael Holland, Duke NP.   STAND (Sustainable Therapy and New Development), The Haiti Project.

Providing medical care to victims of earthquake in Port-De-Paix, Haiti.

http://www.standhaitiproject.org/

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TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS: approximately 90 (some records lost)

April 2017: HAITI

Shelia Rittgers, Duke Pediatric Social Worker

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Durham, NC; outreach in Haiti.

April 2017: HONDURAS

Duke School of Nursing, interdisciplinary course travels to Honduras every year for a cultural immersion experience and medical outreashe providing primary care and health education to rural communities.

April 2017: Huehuetenango, GUATEMALA

Duke School of Nursing, Nursing Without Borders global health interest group partnered with Curamericas Global to provide sustainable health care in medically underserved communities.

April 2017: Ntagacha, TANZANIA

Duke School of Nursing medical mission trip to Teamwork City of Hope orphanage and clinic in Ntagacha, Tanzania.

April 2017: Huehuetenango, GUATEMALA

Curamericas Global, contact: Marianne Drexler

https://www.google.com/search?q=curamericas+global+guatemala&oq=curameric&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0j69i59j69i60j0l2.4433j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

June 2017: Kibera, Nairobi, KENYA

Chapel Hill Bible Church partnered with Beacon of Hope, an organization providing a variety of services to better the lives of residents in the Kware slum outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  This project provided clinical services and rapid impact medical packs to slum residents.

June 2017: Naama, UGANDA

Duke undergraduate students Ahling Zhang, Catherine Yang, Jim Liu and John Bollinger participated in Duke Global Health Institute Student Research Training in a village 2 hours southwest of Kampala.  Their study focused on studying and improving water quality, gathering data on maternal health trends and researching cardiovascular statistics.  They also organized a health fair near their study site at the end of their project.

July 2017: PHILIPPINES

Brianna Lareau, an EMT from Durham, NC is working with Mercy House of the Philippines to establish a medical clinic at a safe house for street boys.

https://www.mercyhouseph.org/

July 2017:  La Romana, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Heather Ebron is an RN at Duke who volunteered with Team Tampa Bay Missions whose goal is to promote medical care and education to underserved communities around the world.

http://www.ttbmissionsinc.org/

July 2017: NEPAL

Bijan Abar is a Duke medical student who volunteered with International Medical Relief to provide mobile medical clinics and sustainable health education in Nepal.

http://www.internationalmedicalrelief.org/

July 2017: Kapsabet, KENYA and Suam, UGANDA

Melissa Smith is a Duke RN who volunteered with Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, NC to provide medical clinics in rural Nandi Hills region of western Kenya and eastern Uganda.

August 2017: TANZANIA

Duke School of Nursing project at Kilema Hospital, Catholic Diocese of Moshi, Tanzania.

August 2017: PHILIPPINES

Rusty Aujero is a retired nurse in Durham, NC who helped organized this an annual medical mission to provide free medical surgical eye and dental services to underserved populations in different regions of the Philippines.  This will be the 24th annual mission, conducted under the auspices of the Philippine American Association of NC-Carolina Medical Mission.

https://www.facebook.com/carolinamedicalmission/

August 2017: UKRAINE

Another donation coordinated by Olena Kozlova-Pates and the Ukrainian Association of NC to benefit orphaned, widowed, displaced and wounded in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.