Old medical equipment is getting a new lease on life—and hopefully also saving lives.
Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. here is donating out-of-use medical equipment to Medical Equipment Modernization Opportunity Cuba (MEMO Cuba), which aims to help Cuban hospitals in need.

“The basic concept is that . . . Cuba has a great medical system as far as people because they have one doctor for every 175 people in the country,” said Merle Burkholder, a volunteer with the Sioux Lookout chapter of the program which is assembling the container to which Riverside has donated equipment.
“They have more doctors per capita than any country in the world except for Italy, and their doctors get great training—they have been trained to use all the latest equipment when they go through medical school.”
“But then when they get out to the rural areas, they often don’t have access to all the equipment,” Burkholder noted.
“When [equipment] arrives there, the [Cuban] doctors say that ‘Yeah, we’ve been trained to use that equipment, we just don’t have access to it.’
“So it doesn’t take a lot of time to get them set up, get the equipment set up, and they can take it from there.”
This is different from sending equipment to Third World countries, such as in Africa or Asia, because many doctors there wouldn’t have had training on the equipment so it just wouldn’t get used, Burkholder explained.
“So it’s a great opportunity,” he stressed.
“For the hospital, it’s huge to be able to give these to somebody,” said Joan-Ann Lockhart, materials management manager for Riverside.
Drawn from their different facilities across the district, Riverside donated almost a cube van full of equipment, including such things as walkers, stretchers, a portable blood pressure machine, ventilator, pediatric wheelchair, and more.
They are items Riverside has replaced over the years due to technological changes, updates in codes and standards, and other surplus items they’re no longer able to use, Lockhart explained.
In the past, Riverside has donated these types of items to other community groups when needed, she noted.
“We’re continually trying to find any service clubs that would be interested in anything we do have,” Lockhart added. “So when we came across MEMO Cuba, it was very exciting to be able to donate all of that equipment and just know that there’s a need for that.”
While equipment may be out of service here, it still can do a lot of good for people who don’t have anything, Burkholder stressed.
“There are things being taken out of service here that can be utilized there, and really make a difference in people’s lives and the quality of health care that people receive,” he explained.
“And it keeps it out of the landfill here,” he added. “It’s almost like a recycling project, as well.”
MEMO Cuba first began when the hospitals in Thunder Bay amalgamated. The Sioux Lookout chapter was formed in light of the new hospital being built there.
“So we’re kind of doing a container as a practice run before the hospitals amalgamate,” said Burkholder. “So we have room for things from other communities, as well, in this one.
“We were glad for the things from Fort Frances to be able to sent along with the container.”
Equipment donated to the program will be going to the rural hospitals in the Villa Clara province of the country, noted Burkholder, where the biggest problem is poor facilities as well as limited access to medical equipment and medication.
The distribution of the equipment also is overseen by the Cuban department of health, he added.
While the organization just about filled its container with medical equipment, it also is raising the money needed to ship the container to Cuba.
“We need in total about $10,000 to ship the container and we have a matching grant for $5,000,” Burkholder explained. “So we need $5,000 in donations.
“And the great thing is that every donation between now and the end of August, up to $5,000 will be matched by a matching grant. So that’s a great opportunity for people to get involved in giving.”
Donations can be sent to MEMO Cuba-Sioux Lookout, P.O. Box 954, Sioux Lookout, Ont., P8T 1B3.