About HPIC

Providing health and spreading hope...

This is the mission of Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), a Canadian humanitarian organization that sent its first shipment of medical aid in 1990. HPIC has shipped more than $210 million (wholesale value) in donated medicines, vaccines, medical supplies and devices since 1990.

We partner with Canadian companies and individuals from across the country to provide medical aid. Together we are improving the health and lives of children and adults in the developing world.

How we do it

We work closely with companies from various sectors of Canada's health-care industry who generously donate the most needed, appropriate and highest quality in-date medical products. And we tap into a growing national network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian agencies, medical professionals, faith-based organizations and churches, community groups, and transportation service providers to ensure that vital medicines are expedited quickly to aid workers for efficient distribution. Thanks to these dedicated people, HPIC medicines have been distributed to more than 100 countries.

HPIC also works in tandem with several key Canadian government departments, such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which is committed to providing aid on behalf of all Canadians.

We count on the financial support of individual donors, foundations and corporations. HPIC, a registered charity, offers wonderful leverage for your donation. Historically, every donated dollar has helped Canadians deliver at least $10 in medical aid to the most vulnerable.

HPIC's head office is located in the Pointe-Claire district of Montreal, Quebec, and the distribution centre is located close to Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario. These two locations place us close to our health-care industry partners.

Distribution Systems

HPIC's distribution centre, which we moved into in December 2004, is a highly efficient 26,000 square-foot facility that enables millions of dollars in donated medical products to be received; safely, accurately and quickly sorted; re-packed and inventoried before being shipped to our on-the-ground partners all over the world. The facility is equipped with a computerized inventory system, and is safely monitored 24 hours a day by a surveillance system.

Once medical aid donations arrive at our distribution centre, products are quickly sorted, counted and precisely entered into the computer inventory tracking system by our staff. From there, donations are loaded into secure overseas shipping containers. Donated products that are used for the Physician Travel Packs (PTP) are re-packed into portable individual boxes, ideal for safe transport. In all cases, our shipments are clearly marked for international customs identification.

Our dedicated and well-trained personnel are passionate about ensuring that all medical aid donated to us is handled in an appropriate and timely way. We treat donated medicines, medical supplies and vaccines with the same care and professionalism they have received from the manufacturer.

Accountability

Even before donations arrive at our distribution centre, staff members are already fielding and carefully screening requests for them. There is a great deal of effort made to ensure that all medical aid travels safely to its appointed destination. We carefully screen all partners prior to sending medical aid for distribution overseas, ensuring proper logistics and distribution strategies have been set in place.

We are promptly advised of the safe arrival of the shipment at its final destination. A written report is submitted to HPIC, detailing the usage and usefulness of that particular donation. HPIC reserves the right to conduct random audits of all donations. Periodically HPIC representatives travel to countries where our medicine is being distributed.

In the case of a product recall, HPIC is able to track each donated item and quickly issue a recall order for the product in question, whether it is awaiting shipment or is already overseas.

For more information contact:
Margaret Buchanan
Manager, Media Relations
Toll-free: 1-800-627-1787
Tel: 514-695-0007, ext. 117
email: mbuchanan@hpicanada.ca