{"id":777,"date":"2025-03-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/?p=777"},"modified":"2025-03-18T11:59:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T11:59:45","slug":"students-and-staff-package-1800-pounds-of-medical-supplies-for-under-resourced-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/17\/students-and-staff-package-1800-pounds-of-medical-supplies-for-under-resourced-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Students and staff package 1,800 pounds of medical supplies for under-resourced countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dozens of students and faculty prepared about 1,800 pounds of discarded medical supplies for dispersal to Ukraine, Ghana and other countries facing humanitarian crises in the Kimmel Center for University Life Thursday afternoon. The session was one of several hosted as part of the \u201cNYU in Dialogue\u201d series, with the university having prepared more than 10,000 pounds of supplies over the past year.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the event, representatives from local nonprofit the Afya Foundation guided attendees through the sorting process \u2014 which entails checking expiration dates and repackaging batches of unused oxygen tubes, gauze and sutures. The foundation then ships the supplies to countries facing humanitarian crises, according to the needs of international medical practitioners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Danielle Butin, CEO and founder of the Afya Foundation, told WSN that she started the organization in 2007 to establish a sustainable practice of health care and support. She said the United States is currently the only country in the world that discards unopened medical supplies solely because they have been in the same room as patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe desperately need all hands on deck, and NYU students and faculty and alumni are eager to find ways to help,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe need their help in order for us to be able to make the impact that we intend to make, and by coming together, it\u2019s a multiplier for us to expedite the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As countries are hit with crises and supply deficiencies, doctors request specific items and the Afya Foundation reviews its inventory before sending the necessary supplies. Butin said the organization works closely with centers in Puerto Rico and South Africa, and over the past several months, <\/span>supplies have also been directed to<\/span><\/a> Israel, Gaza and southern Lebanon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of its \u201cLuggage for Life\u201d initiative, the foundation also works to identify volunteers who will be traveling to a country and can directly deliver the supplies. Kristie Patten, counselor to NYU President Linda Mills and creator of the \u201cNYU in Dialogue\u201d series, told WSN in an interview that the university has been working to take advantage of the university\u2019s 13 study away sites to contribute to this initiative in a more organized way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you support practitioners who are already in impossibly under-resourced circumstances with supplies they need to treat patients, they\u2019re more likely to stay,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe do that by giving them the supplies they need to feel confident and successful in what they can offer their own community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Patten also said the experience offers community support for students, faculty and staff who want to aid in international crises. There have been four events with the Afya Foundation at NYU\u2019s Washington Square and Brooklyn campuses so far this year, with another set for April.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Angie Kamath, dean of the School of Professional Studies, said the event was her second time volunteering with the Afya Foundation, and that events like this make volunteering more accessible to members of the university community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis felt like a really wonderful, positive, action-oriented thing that we can do,\u201d Kamath told WSN. \u201cReading headlines makes one feel helpless, and it\u2019s wonderful to be able to just take an hour out of one\u2019s day and do something that goes into life-saving environments.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Butin said that the most critical supply is wound care because it is critical in countries heavily impacted by war and natural disasters. She recalled a time when she brought bags of medical supplies to East Africa, and a nurse at a clinic told her that if the supplies had arrived an hour ago, it could\u2019ve saved the life of a patient who had just died.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a real daily tragedy for some of these sites that have now lost the funding they need in order to continue to practice care for their communities,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe owe that to people practicing medicine in these circumstances. We owe it to them to show up \u2014 because this is the perfect match for what they did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact Amanda Chen at\u00a0achen@nyunews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story Students and staff package 1,800 pounds of medical supplies for under-resourced countries<\/a> appeared first on Washington Square News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens of students and faculty prepared about 1,800 pounds of discarded medical supplies for dispersal to Ukraine, Ghana and other countries facing humanitarian crises in the Kimmel Center for University Life Thursday afternoon. The session was one of several hosted as part of the \u201cNYU in Dialogue\u201d series, with the university having prepared more than 10,000 pounds of supplies over the past year. At the event, representatives from local nonprofit the Afya Foundation guided attendees through the sorting process \u2014 which entails checking expiration dates and repackaging batches of unused oxygen tubes, gauze and sutures. The foundation then ships the supplies to countries facing humanitarian crises, according to the needs of international medical practitioners.\u00a0 Danielle Butin, CEO and founder of the Afya Foundation, told WSN that she started the organization in 2007 to establish a sustainable practice of health care and support. She said the United States is currently the only country in the world that discards unopened medical supplies solely because they have been in the same room as patients. \u201cWe desperately need all hands on deck, and NYU students and faculty and alumni are eager to find ways to help,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe need their help in order for us to be able to make the impact that we intend to make, and by coming together, it\u2019s a multiplier for us to expedite the process.\u201d As countries are hit with crises and supply deficiencies, doctors request specific items and the Afya Foundation reviews its inventory before sending the necessary supplies. Butin said the organization works closely with centers in Puerto Rico and South Africa, and over the past several months, supplies have also been directed to Israel, Gaza and southern Lebanon.\u00a0 As part of its \u201cLuggage for Life\u201d initiative, the foundation also works to identify volunteers who will be traveling to a country and can directly deliver the supplies. Kristie Patten, counselor to NYU President Linda Mills and creator of the \u201cNYU in Dialogue\u201d series, told WSN in an interview that the university has been working to take advantage of the university\u2019s 13 study away sites to contribute to this initiative in a more organized way.\u00a0 \u201cIf you support practitioners who are already in impossibly under-resourced circumstances with supplies they need to treat patients, they\u2019re more likely to stay,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe do that by giving them the supplies they need to feel confident and successful in what they can offer their own community.\u201d Patten also said the experience offers community support for students, faculty and staff who want to aid in international crises. There have been four events with the Afya Foundation at NYU\u2019s Washington Square and Brooklyn campuses so far this year, with another set for April.\u00a0\u00a0 Angie Kamath, dean of the School of Professional Studies, said the event was her second time volunteering with the Afya Foundation, and that events like this make volunteering more accessible to members of the university community.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThis felt like a really wonderful, positive, action-oriented thing that we can do,\u201d Kamath told WSN. \u201cReading headlines makes one feel helpless, and it\u2019s wonderful to be able to just take an hour out of one\u2019s day and do something that goes into life-saving environments.\u201d Butin said that the most critical supply is wound care because it is critical in countries heavily impacted by war and natural disasters. She recalled a time when she brought bags of medical supplies to East Africa, and a nurse at a clinic told her that if the supplies had arrived an hour ago, it could\u2019ve saved the life of a patient who had just died.\u00a0 \u201cThere is a real daily tragedy for some of these sites that have now lost the funding they need in order to continue to practice care for their communities,\u201d Butin said. \u201cWe owe that to people practicing medicine in these circumstances. We owe it to them to show up \u2014 because this is the perfect match for what they did.\u201d Contact Amanda Chen at\u00a0achen@nyunews.com. This story Students and staff package 1,800 pounds of medical supplies for under-resourced countries appeared first on Washington Square News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}