Before they left the hospital, a surgeon who had heard about Andy’s connection to Roper asked him for help because their orthopedic drill was no longer working.
When they got back to Roper for Renee’s surgery, Andy met Swanson outside her hospital room and told her about the drill request, which he really wanted to fulfill.
Swanson replied, “Why send them a drill when we can send a 40-foot container” full of supplies?
The nonprofit Partners had already shipped similar containers of medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in Nicaragua and is working to help rebuild a hospital that burned down in Honduras. Grenada became the next country on its list.
Volunteers with Partners 4 Global Health Chris Kendall (front) and Ali Swanson (left) help to clear a beach on Grenada after Hurricane Beryl tore through the island country.
Andy Lyons/Provided
But the storm nearly disrupted those plans. Beryl slammed into Carriacou and Petite Martinique on July 1 as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane with 140-mph winds and a storm surge of 6 to 9 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center. The impact was horrific.
“Those two islands were, as the Prime Minister (Dickon A.T. Mitchell) said, flattened, devastated, Armageddon-like,” Lyons said.
The main island of Grenada to the south was less damaged, and its health care system and hotels are now back up and running.
If their shipment had taken a direct route, it would have been coming through a week earlier and potentially faced the storm.
“As that storm barreled through, it sat safely in the port of Trinidad and Tobago,” Swanson said. “It looks like a blessing in disguise that it sat there safely.”
Now those supplies have added importance.
“The equipment that was already needed is now more needed than ever,” Lyons said.
For instance, it contains 20 wheelchairs refurbished by another charity and orthopedic supplies like splints that “will come in handy right now,” Swanson said.
With the nonprofit volunteers and new friends, the container was unloaded July 10 and then hauled up the steep hill from the port to the main hospital in St. George’s. But that is just the beginning, Lyons and Swanson said.
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Publish date : 2024-07-11 13:00:00
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