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This blog was originally posted on January 28, 2011 at http://helpnicaraguachildren.blogspot.com/. Please note, Dr Robson is not accepting donations at this time. However, he would greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions in support of his efforts.
Every day I see 2 new children and 6 children who have returned for follow up. I send a consultative note to the referring physician for each visit and every day 8 letters are faxed back to these doctors within 24 hours of the child's visit.
Two weeks ago I started to send a request for donations of medical supplies with each of these letters. Almost every physician receives samples of various medications from pharmaceutical companies. Many of these samples are used and many are thrown away on the expiry date. My letter requested that my colleagues consider setting aside desirable medications for me to take to Nicaragua.
I did this before I left for Haiti last spring, but this time I started earlier and I will reach out farther into the Calgary medical community. Michele Holstbaum, my assistant, will pick up the medications on specified days, once in February, and a second time in early March.
We will take all the medications out of the packages, sort them into categories (antibiotic, pain, asthma, etc), sort them again by specific medication, and sort them again by expiry date. When the medications arrive in Nicaragua they will be ready to use in the most efficient way possible. This is considerably better than the jumble of meds I took to Haiti in two duffle bags.
Last week we received donations or promises of donations from
Dr. Susan Kinnie,
Dr. Michael Guiffre,
Dr. Ashref Jeeva,
Dr. Patricia Bryden,
Dr. Marilyn Lee, and
Dr. Aravind Subramanian.
Many thanks to these colleagues for their help and for their gift to the children of Nicaragua.
