PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Partners for World Health, a Portland-based nonprofit that helps save unused medical supplies from going to waste, recently brought New Year’s stocking stuffers with personal care goods for the Sister Mary O’Donnell Emergency Homeless Shelter.
“I wanted to make sure that we got as far north as Presque Isle, because we collect a lot of unused medical supplies from here,” said Elizabeth McLellan, founder of Partners for World Health.
Partners for World Health collect unused medical supplies and older, but still working equipment that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills from health care facilities around Maine and northern New England.
The group then sends those supplies to developing countries where some communities lack basic medical equipment, while also organizing medical missions with clinicians travelling to those countries, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
This winter, Partners for Word Health have also been distributing 1,000 stocking stuffers of personal care products to homeless shelters around Maine.
“We take medical supplies health facilities and from private homes, and we have a storage center in Presque Isle,” McLellan said.
She said that the group accepts everything from used medical imaging equipment from hospitals to home medical equipment such as walkers. Individuals interested in donating their used equipment can learn more at PartnersforWorldHealth.org.
