What started as an idea for a team bonding experience quickly turned into a powerful experience for five nurses from PPMC’s Cupp 4 South unit, as well as one OR nurse from HUP.
Bethany Atkinson, BSN, RN, was planning a social event for her colleagues when she came upon the opportunity to volunteer with Project C.U.R.E. The organization recovers surplus medical supplies and equipment ranging from tubing and syringes, to incubators and ventilators, then distributes these items to communities with severely-limited medical resources. Providing health care professionals around the world with the tools they need allows them to more effectively treat illnesses and injuries, administer essential vaccines, and perform life-saving surgeries, and prevents patients from being turned away.
In May, the group followed Atkinson to the organization’s distribution building — a former Dansko shoe facility — in southern Chester County. Project C.U.R.E. relies on volunteers to sort through donated supplies and to test pieces of biomedical equipment to ensure they’re sending high-quality items, making health care professionals the perfect candidates. For two hours, the six nurses worked together to audit the supplies to check that they were properly marked and packaged. The group also received a tour and learned more about the organization’s mission. They were also invited to hop across the street and visit the current Dansko building; the neighboring companies have become unlikely, but supportive partners!
“The whole day was a really meaningful experience for all of us. It was an opportunity for us to get out of our normal environment and bond while still helping others,” Atkinson said. “It’s easy to just dispose of unused supplies or equipment we don’t need, but that’s because we have access to so much. There are nurses in developing countries who are trying to do the same work we are, but they don’t have half of the tools they need. I hope that we’ll be able to establish a relationship with Project C.U.R.E. and that we can become a great source of donations and volunteers for them.”
And it wasn’t just the group members who were appreciative of the opportunity. As they celebrated with a post-volunteer lunch, they shared their experience with a woman who was intrigued by their matching Penn Medicine shirts. Later, they were told this fellow diner had paid for all of their meals.