HPIC at Work

Volunteers in Mississauga help send medicine to Haiti

When disaster strikes and emergency medical aid is a priority, the Physician Travel Pack from HPIC is in hot demand. Extra help is needed to prepare the packs and get them out the door quickly.

Each PTP consists of two boxes for a total weight of 50 lbs., containing a wide range of primary care medicine and medical supplies, enough to treat hundreds of people. The PTP is prepared as a mobile medical kit, complete with plastic carrying handles. It is convenient, portable, and - for healthcare professionals heading out to do emergency medical work - extremely popular.

Along with the regular roster of hundreds of Canadians who use PTPs overseas every year, the earthquake in Haiti created an immediate and major spike in demand.

Thankfully, the generosity and activism that has motivated so many medical teams to offer their services in the beleaguered country has also prompted groups of volunteers to step up and offer to prepare the requested packs.

In the last two weeks of January, 120 PTPs were especially prepared for Haiti by three teams of volunteers: a regular group that handles HPIC's standard requests, a group from Ontario Power Generation and a team from pharmaceutical company Bayer Inc.

Other volunteer groups from the pharmaceutical industry to be packing PTPs for Haiti include Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline.

For the companies involved, this is a great team-building opportunity, while contributing to a cause they believe in. For the people who come to pack, the impact is tangible and direct.

One participant remarked: "We pack these medicines in the morning and in the afternoon they're on their way to Haiti."

Another volunteer put it this way: "It is important causes like this that bring people together."