2010 Spring Newsletter - Direct Relief

The Right Medicines and
Supplies, in the right hands
“Thank you for
helping to fill the
needs of Hospital
Albert Schweitzer.
You have saved
many, many lives
with your timely
efforts.” – John R. Walton,
Hospital Albert Schweitzer
Board Chair
ALISON WRIGHT
$38.5 million in emergency
medical assistance to 40
healthcare providers in
Haiti, including
Fifteen percent of the nine million people who live
in Haiti were displaced by the quake and forced to
live in some sort of makeshift shelter. This population
is extremely vulnerable to the most basic health concerns related to
hygiene and compromised water and sanitation systems. Direct Relief
will continue to support the material needs of healthcare providers and
help strengthen their ability to stave off epidemics.
Immediately following the earthquake, Direct Relief ’s partner
facilities were overwhelmed with hundreds of patients, volunteers,
and unsolicited donations. Direct Relief established an in-country
warehouse to help work around the logistical bottlenecks that would
have otherwise choked the distribution of aid to those healthcare
providers who needed medicines and supplies as quickly as possible.
The warehouse allows Direct Relief staff on the ground in Haiti
to manage our assistance and control the supply chain, taking the
logistical burden off the healthcare facilities, and allowing them to
focus on patient care—not trucking and warehousing.
Within hours of the quake, Direct Relief was in contact with
corporate partners, matching anticipated needs with available supply.
The companies responded with the largest amount of medical product
support for an emergency that Direct Relief has received in its history.
The sheer quantity of donations received warranted the temporary
expansion of warehouse space from 50,000 to 100,000 square feet.
The total wholesale value of healthcare products received for Haiti has
eclipsed $50 million.
Our Top 12 Corporate
Supporters for Haiti
in alphabetical order
Abbott
Amgen Foundation
Baxter International
BD
Covidien
Eli Lilly & Company
FedEx
GlaxoSmithKline
Johnson & Johnson
Family of Companies
Merck & Co., Inc.
P&G
Teva Pharmaceuticals
For the full list of generous
companies, see page 7.
JIM PROSSER
“Baxter was
pleased to work
with Direct
Relief to provide
critical therapies
to the people of
Haiti after the
earthquake. With
Direct Relief's
local partner
network and
Baxter's logistical
expertise, we
were able to get
the much needed
product into the
region quickly.”
– Donna Namath, Baxter
International Senior Manager,
Global Community Relations
Partners in Health
Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital
Christian Aid Ministries Haiti
Hospital Albert Schweitzer
Visitation Hospital
Hospital Justinien
Learn about these and the many
other groups Direct Relief is working
with in Haiti at DirectRelief.org
ALISON WRIGHT
ALISON WRIGHT
WWW.DIRECTRELIEF.ORG SPRING 2010 THIS REPORT WAS PAID FOR BY A GENEROUS BEQUEST 3