On Saturday, the Minnesota National Guard loaded medical supplies & equipment destined for Danli, Honduras at the MSP airport. These supplies started at Mano a Mano’s warehouse in St. Paul in May. The supplies were transported to Charleston, South Carolina, and the flight from Charleston to Honduras is scheduled for June 26th.
Here’s a clip from KSTP earlier this week:
Recent Shipment For Centro Rehabilitacion Gabriela Alvarado in Danli, Honduras
Mano a Mano rents some of our warehouse space to David O’Brien and Interfaith Service in Latin America (ISLA). ISLA’s mission is to “help improve the quality of life for the communities in which we serve.”
The Centro Rehabilitacion Gabriela Alvarado is a large rehabilitation facility in Danli, Honduras. The center has a staff of eight therapists. Diagnoses are various and similar to those at the Nicaraguan organization supported by ISLA, (autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, down syndrome, and brain injury). There are separate adult and pediatric clinics, and a special needs school. The shipment of thirty pallets David and Ray took from Mano a Mano to the Air National Guard at MSP in May (and shown in the KSTP video being loaded for shipment last week) is for the center. The shipment is mostly comprised of pediatric rehabilitation equipment: specialty wheelchairs and strollers; regular wheelchairs; reverse walkers; standers; gait trainers.
Here are a few photos from the loading at Mano a Mano on unloading at MSP in mid-May 2020:
First Shipment to Honduras in 2020
In January 2020, Mano a Mano loaded 30 gaylords of mobility equipment at our St. Paul warehouse to take to MSP airport, where they began their journey to Honduras. Those supplies were primarily adult mobility equipment, sent to the Danli Regional Hospital. That equipment will be used at the hospital and at nearby clinics. The shipment was delivered to the hospital just as COVID-19 precautions were being put into place. That equipment is currently being kept in storage at the hospital; the distribution plan will be restarted as soon as the COVID-19 quarantine is lifted.
Current Shipment to Bolivia – June 2020
Our first shipment of the year to Bolivia is also currently underway. Over the weekend, Mano a Mano volunteers loaded 2 containers with 46,000 pounds of medical supplies and mobility equipment. We also have 2 more containers planned for this week; in all about 100,000 pounds of supplies are being shipped from Minnesota to Bolivia this month. We have been trying to ship since March, and this is the first time we have been able to find a shipper during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Distributing Supplies in Bolivia
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mano a Mano has been distributing PPE, medical supplies, and mobility equipment to dozens of organizations throughout Bolivia. The majority of these supplies were from our last shipment of 90,000 pounds from Minnesota to Bolivia in late 2019. Many of the recent distributions were flying supplies to different parts of the department of Beni – the second-hardest hit region of Bolivia by number of COVID-19 cases. Learn more about these flights here.
