Presented by Phyllis Reader
Nancy Morris introduced our speaker this evening. Phyllis reader has been married to Ron Reader for 50 years. They have lived in Westwood, St. James for 43 years. They have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren. A daughter and her family live in Bangkok, Thailand and 2 sons live in Winnipeg.
Phyllis has been a nurse for over 40 years in the operating room (OR) in Long Beach, California, Vancouver, Regina and St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. She has travelled on 16 surgical, cataract eye teams around the world.
The concept of recycling medical, surgical supplies and equipment was borne in 1997 after doing a general surgical mission in Ecuador, South America. Then in 2001 International HOPE Canada was created. Phyllis is also involved with the White Rose Group that sponsored refugees to Winnipeg through Immigration Canada.
Phyllis advised that her first mission trip was to Ecuador in 1997. She was appalled when she saw the OR that they were to work in. The supplies that were present were also a great shock. The needles were dull, bent and rusted. When she asked what was available to suture with, she was given a spool of cotton thread.
At St. Boniface Hospital when staff open a package of supplies for a procedure, the unused materials are thrown out. She asked her colleagues and husband about the concept of recycling medical materials. They all were of the opinion that this recycling has not occurred due to the perceived risk factors. This was uncharted territory, but she did have the support of her colleagues. International HOPE Canada Inc. was created (HOPE = Health, Overseas, Project, Education). Other organizations have similar objectives and names, these are operating with paid staff and operating budgets. I.H.C. is run by volunteers and has no operating budget.
Phyllis advised that at St. Boniface Hospital when they set up an OR for an open-heart procedure, sometimes the case is cancelled on short notice. The materials set out for the procedure deemed disposable are thrown out…never used! This happens in all hospitals and during Home Care visits. If a package has an expiry date on it, that item is disposed of at that date…never used!
In Africa they work with no gloves on. If they happen to be lucky enough to actually have gloves, the gloves get washed over and over until they fall apart. Here the glove boxes are thrown away if the expiry date is passed.
Phyllis thought that she would face a lot more backlash from health departments and government. As time has passed, all parties involved have slowly begun to believe in the concept of recycling medical supplies and equipment. I.H.C. has recycled 1000 tons of medical / surgical supplies and equipment to 50 countries around the world.
As our hospitals have upgrades the beds on wards, the old mechanical beds have been recycled. They were worth $30/ ton as scrap metal. I.H.C. has sent 4,000 beds so far to other countries in shipping containers.
I.H.C. has been audited by Revenue Canada. They looked at the books and statements. They asked about GST payments…none due as no paid staff. They asked about the warehouse…a donation in kind. They asked about the printed paper products that they used…a donation in kind. The only expenses that I.H.C. has are for items like the website and postal box. Revenue Canada gave a clean bill of health and advised that they are running a multi-million-dollar business. There are about 100 volunteers in the community that make I.H.C. function.
The warehouse benefactor has been supporting the concept for 17 years. This would have a value of ~ $2.4 million on the open market regarding rent. The organization is looking for a new warehouse space at this time.
Phyllis discussed a couple stories from the formative years. The movie industry uses items from their warehouse stock. Some of the items in storage can no longer be found elsewhere. There have been families of Mennonite doctors that have not wanted to throw away their old doctor bags, these have been collected as well. Some of this material has ended up on movie sets. The industry has made honorarium payments for these materials.
When the Regional Health Authorities amalgamated hospitals were closed down. The beds, OR lights and equipment was given to I.H.C. if it could not be repurposed.
Laparoscopic surgery has been taking over during the past 20 to 30 years in North America leaving all the invasive open surgery equipment as obsolete. Africa can use these instruments as they do not have the staff trained to use laparoscopic techniques.
I.H.C. has sent 16 containers to the Ukraine. When a container arrived in the Philippines, Phyllis was there to see individuals cry when the container was opened, and they saw the abundant supplies inside. She heard someone say, “this is what Canada calls garbage?”. There is $800,000 to $1,000,000 of value in equipment and supplies in one shipping container. It costs the receiving country $8,000 to $20,000 to have the container shipped to them.
The Yemen Ambassador in Ottawa asked if a container could be put together for shipping to his country. The government of Yemen would pay for the shipping costs. An assistant to the Ambassador came to Winnipeg from Ottawa to supervise the loading of the container. When he saw the items that the volunteers were putting into the container, he was dumbfounded. He was also shocked that volunteers were working to fill the container. This is not what he was used to in his country. There are 61 million refugees on the move in the world right now. With our standard of living in Canada, this is the least we can do.
A dental unit from Lions Manor was donated and now is used to provide dental services to a catchment area of 6 million people. In Burma / Myanmar there is a great demand for cataract surgery. There are only 3 ophthalmologists for 60 million people. Their cataracts can become so hardened that they are like a cherry pit. They can start getting cataracts around 30 years of age. When Phyllis was there, her team treated 255 people. A great story was a mother and daughter came into the clinic. The mother had one eye treated. The next day when the bandages were removed, the mom could see after 25 years of blindness. The woman beside her talked and the mother turned her head to look at them…it was her daughter, the first time she had seen her daughter in 25 years. The daughter was only 10 years old the last time her mom saw her, she is now a 35-year-old woman.
Q/A
1.- Ed Thompson wondered how much material comes from the community.
A.- Home Care must throw away any material that leaves its warehouse control ie. can not be returned to stock. This material is donated to I.H.C.
2.- Do you work with ‘Doctors without Borders’?
A.- No, She has only been in troubled areas, not war zones.
3.-Nancy Morris asked who pays for the associated costs?
A.- The country receiving the goods pays the associated costs for shipping. Some community groups raise funds to help others receive shipments. The country receiving the goods must also do all the required paperwork for shipping, export / import.
Of note is that Kevin Stuart is now the President of I.H.C.
Jack Wilson thanked Phyllis for her impressive presentation. It is especially impressive that all this is happening right here in Winnipeg. President Mandy also thanked Phyllis for the presentation and stated that she was just in awe of what Phyllis and the volunteers are doing.
