Have passport, will travel to make global health care better
Not Just Tourists Toronto collects and packs medical supplies destined for developing countries
“Is this a saline flush?”
I’m wearing examination gloves and holding up a package I can’t identify.
“No . . . that should go into IV supplies,” instructs registered nurse Jodi Bernstein, looking over at the IV catheter in my hands.
“This would be landfill (here), but for a developing country, this is practically gold,” she says.
Bernstein, who works in a private clinic, donates her time and medical expertise to Not Just Tourists Toronto, a volunteer-driven organization that enlists travellers to take medical supplies to developing countries. It’s an easy way for tourists to do some good when they’re headed out on a luxurious, sunny holiday. And if a vacation isn’t in the near future, those wishing to help can pack a suitcase for someone else to take abroad.
Tonight, I’m volunteering alongside 16 other people in the basement of the Emmanuel Howard Park Church on Roncesvalles Ave. It’s a crash course in knowing my angiocaths (catheters) from my cannulas (insertion tubes), as we sort boxes of jumbled medical supplies and pack them into suitcases.
Many of the donations — from IV kits to urinary supplies and syringes — are leftover from home-care situations after family members have passed away.
“Even in mourning, families are always grateful the supplies will get to help someone in need instead of getting thrown out,” says Avi D’Souza, co-ordinator of Not Just Tourists Toronto.
The organization also receives a great deal of support from the Princess Margaret Hospital’s environmental team, which donates medical supplies to the organization.
Once I’m able to identify the various medical supplies, I fall into a rhythm of sorting while chatting to the other volunteers. Not surprisingly, the main topic of conversation is travel.
Fellow participant Liz Godfrey started volunteering with Not Just Tourists Toronto in June, after learning about the organization through Volunteer Toronto. She also loves to travel and spent time in South Asia.
Marc Kajouji, an account manager with Bookings.com, and five other staff members are here as part of the company’s corporate volunteer program. In fact, we’d both learned about Not Just Tourists at the same travel-blogging meet-up.
“I travel a lot, but I’ve never heard of anything like this that connects locals with travellers,” Kajouji says. Next time his father goes back to Morocco, Kajouji will encourage him to take a suitcase of medical supplies.
Once the supplies are sorted, we stop for a break and slice of pizza, then it’s time to distribute the supplies between 10 well-loved, handme-down suitcases.
I’ll admit, when it comes to packing a suitcase for a holiday, I’m usually trying to squeeze in as many pairs of shoes in as possible. It’s strange to think of packing life-saving equipment instead. Trish Symons, a project manager from North York, is taking the suitcase I’m filling to the island of Roatan in Honduras. She drops by the church hall to pick up as I am loading it with syringes, bandages, catheters and two ECG machines, worth more than $1,000 each.
Symons and her husband built a second home in Honduras in 2012. She tells me she first heard about Not Just Tourists Toronto through Facebook. This will be the fifth suitcase she’ll take to Roatan. “I’m going there anyway and I see a need. We have these free supplies that can make a difference,” she says.
My suitcase is destined for Clinica Esperanza, a free medical clinic started by U.S. nurse Peggy Stranges on Roatan. I’ve folded a letter (in English, French and Spanish) inside advising customs officials the traveller is transporting humanitarian aid medical supplies to a medical facility as a gift from the Canadian people.
The system may be grassroots, but it works. Once the supplies are in the hands of Clinica Esperanza, Symons will return a signed copy of the letter as proof of delivery.
By the end of the night, we’ve packed 10 suitcases, including the one destined for Honduras. While many of Not Just Tourists’ suitcases are carried to the Caribbean — typically where Canadians travel — suit- cases have been delivered as far as Indonesia, China and Ethiopia.
It’s been fun to connect with other travellers and share tips on where to stay and what to see. It seems like I haven’t really done much work in the last two hours. Then I think back to what Bernstein said while holding a syringe earlier that evening: “Before getting our supplies, a clinic in Cuba told us they’d been using the same needle for three months.”