Valley hospital sends nearly $500k in medical supplies to Sierra Leone
Dec 5, 2014, 7:00 AM | Updated: 7:00 am
PHOENIX — Nearly half a million dollars in medical supplies left Arizona on Friday, bound for an Ebola hot zone.
The supplies were packed into a 40-foot shipping container on Thursday by volunteers from Dignity Health and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix and are on their way to Sierra Leone.
The $450,000-worth of supplies will go a long way toward helping save lives in the West African country that has been ravaged by Ebola, said Marisue Garganta, director of community health integration at Dignity Health.
“We have mattresses, we have syringes, gloves, disinfectant — all kinds of things that you and I take for granted, gauze and cotton balls and alcohol swabs and things that are going to assist them in treating Ebola,” she said.
Garganta said the container was packed to the brim with the supplies and expects they will have an impact in reducing the spread of the disease and help in the treatment of those affected.
“This is a way for us to be able to help and to work beyond our borders, but to really make some really sincere impact where the disease is really occurring,” Garganta said.
The container will take about a week to reach Sierra Leone and then the supplies will be distributed.
