DECATUR, Georgia – MedShare was founded in 1998 when two men realized that a large amount of discarded medical supplies and equipment available could be used for the critical healthcare needs of medically underserved populations. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Medical Surplus Recovery Organization (MSRO) that now serves people in more than 100 countries worldwide.
MedShare works with “hospitals, distributors, and manufacturers to collect and redistribute medical products to qualified healthcare facilities in medically underserved communities.”
In its 20 years of operation, MedShare has collected and distributed more than $207 million of medical supplies and equipment to help more than 19 million patients in locations where such help has been desperately needed but otherwise unavailable.
MedShare shipped its first container load of medical supplies and equipment to Costa Rica in its first year of operation.
By 2001, the organization had shipped a total of 15 40-foot containers to countries and qualified organizations around the globe. Fifteen more containers shipped in 2002 doubled MedShare’s total to-date throughput.
In 2004, MedShare began a project to train recipients in host countries in the proper operation, maintenance, and repair of the equipment it had donated.
By 2006, the company had delivered $35 million of supplies and equipment globally.
In 2009, just 11 years after its founding, MedShare shipped its 500th 40-foot container. This particular container was delivered to the Santa Rosa Maternity Hospital in Ecuador. The following year, 2010, marked the first time MedShare delivered more than 100 container loads in a single year. Twenty-eight of those containers were delivered to outfit more than 80 medical missions teams in the wake of the Haiti earthquake.
By 2014, MedShare had implemented a successful projected that diverted 2.3 million cubic feet of reusable medical materials destined for landfills. It also shipped its 1,000th container – this one to the Donka Hospital in Guinea.
MedShare begins its 20th year having delivered more than $207 million worth of medical supplies and equipment in more than 1,400 container loads to more than 100 countries. More than 22,000 volunteers have assisted in sorting and packing over 6,000 tons of medical supplies and equipment to prepare them for shipment.
MedShare has been cited as a “Four-Star Charity for 13 consecutive years by Charity Navigator.
Sources:
- MedShare
- Global Atlanta, MedShare’s Most Recent Container Bound for the Congo
- Huffington Post, Bridging Surplus with Need: Improving Healthcare in the Developing World