Nurse of the Week: Nursing School Donates Medical Supplies to Mission of Hope

Our Nurse of the Week is the nursing program at North Country Community College (NCCC) in Saranac Lake, NY, which donated unused medical supplies and equipment to North Country Mission of Hope. North Country Mission of Hope is in its 19th year providing health care, community development, ecological sustainability, and education programs to the people of Nicaragua.

Lori Bennett, registered nurse and NCCC’s nursing program clinical coordinator, spearheaded the donation of supplies after hearing about Mission of Hope’s supply drive. Bennett tells AdirondackDailyEnterprise.com:

“In our lab, we have a storage room in the nursing department, and we have all these supplies. We have things that have been given to us that we wouldn’t use or are expired: boxes of gauze, vials of sterile water, plus crutches and a commode. So I called the Mission of Hope, and they said they would take it all.”

Nursing students from NCCC volunteered to drop off several boxes of supplies and a carload of medical equipment to Saranac Lake Hospital where the drive was being held. One of the students, Adriania Fanelli, says, “These are things we might take for granted but people in Third World countries can really use. And we’re spreading education, too, so these people can lead healthier lives.”

North Country Mission of Hope’s objective is to create a better balance between the US where we have an abundance of medical supplies, and poorer countries like Nicaragua, which have a shortage.

Last year, North Country Mission of Hope shipped seven containers of medical equipment, education supplies, and food valued at over $500,000 to Nicaragua. Their program fed more than 6,500 children in 23 schools and sponsored more than 850 children in its education and orphan support programs.