February 2019 e-news
Delivering a World of Health and Hope .
Saving Lives in Uganda
Our second container shipment of the year is on its way to Uganda! Over the years, we have supplied short-term mission teams that work across the country but this month we sent our first 40' ocean-going container to Jinja, Uganda!

The story of this container has been two years in the making. A young boy named Patrick had been suffering from an undiagnosed heart condition in his hometown of Jinja. Whisper's Magical Children's Hospital , the local hospital in Jinja,was not able to provide the necessary medical treatment. The Louisville chapter of the national nonprofit Healing the Children worked with Norton Children's Hospital to have Patrick flown to Louisville for treatment. Unfortunately, the condition had taken its toll on Patrick's small body
Photo courtesy of Whisper's Children Hospital
and he died soon after arriving in Louisville. Rebecca Dixon, Patrick's host mom in Louisville, vowed that no child from Jinja should suffer from a lack of medical care.

Working with Debi McDonald, one of SOS's longtime partners and Executive Director of Louisville's Healing the Children chapter, Rebecca pulled together a coalition of advocates to send supplies and equipment to Whisper's Magical Children's Hospital in Patrick's hometown. As we loaded the container at SOS headquarters, it was a celebration and a recognition that one child's heartbreaking story can lead to the hope of medical treatment for an entire community. Members of the Greater Louisville Medical Society Alliance's mission team and Galen School of Nursing plan to make two medical mission trips to Jinja once the container arrives. We will be sure to update you on the stories of lifesaving treatment these supplies will bring!

SOS would like to thank Mercy Health Anderson, Baptist Health Paducah, Norton Healthcare and Hardin Memorial Hospital for donating the equipment that was included in this container.
Debi McDonald (third from left) and Rebecca Dixon (center) with the SOS team after loading the container.
Update From Mauritania
Last fall we sent out a container bound for the North African country of Mauritania. The supplies reached their final destination just before Thanksgiving and the hospital staff just sent an update to the SOS team!

The supplies and equipment are being used in a neonatal clinic inside the Centre Hospitalier National (pictured). We sent labor and delivery equipment as well as bassinets and infant warmers to ensure safe deliveries for mothers from the surrounding area. We will update you with more stories as the team on the ground puts our shipment to use!
Hospital staff at Centre Hospitalier National.
Supplies are brought from the port to the hospital.
Stories From the SOS Family
January was a busy month for the mission teams we supply around the world. In the first six weeks of 2019, we have already sent supplies 8 countries! Below are highlights from two separate teams that traveled to Honduras.

The first team we supplied is from the First United Methodist Church in Frankfort, Kentucky. During their annual trip to Honduras, the mission team saw over 1,000 patients in 10 days working in the town of Tegucigalpa! Working in the local dental clinic, the team performed routine cleanings, extractions and fillings.
One of the team members reported to us: "The mission team and the Honduran [staff] have been a fantastic group.  They have been loving to one another and most importantly, to the patients we see. [Our work] is not always an easy task without love. We can come down to Honduras or the ends of the Earth and do all sorts of good things, but without love as the basis for what we do - we might as well have stayed at home."
Another team we supplied in Honduras was a group of doctors and nurses from Cincinnati's TriHealth. Hand surgeon specialist Dr. Peter Stern and a team of nurses spent the week at San Felipe Hospital performing a variety of procedures.

One of the nurses on the team visited SOS before the trip to pack suitcases full of dressings, sutures and gloves. Even at an established hospital in a city center, it can still be difficult to find routine items. As our mission video states, hope can be found in something as simple as a box of surgical gloves.
SOS Volunteers
The work you read about every month cannot be accomplished without our volunteers! Every day we have amazing groups of people who give their time and energy to help us accomplish our global mission. If you, your church group, students or friends and colleagues would like to volunteer with SOS, send an email to [email protected] to get more information!
U of L Pre Med students.
Norton Inclusion and Diversity volunteered with SOS on MLK Day.
A team from Humana.
Students from St. Frances of Rome.
Thank You To Elite Home Builders!
Louisville-based Elite Home Builders stopped by SOS headquarters to present a $1,000 check to support our mission! After volunteering at SOS in college Gretchen Fraze, an employee from Elite Home Builders suggested a corporate gift to support our global health initiatives. Thank you to Brad Campbell and Meghan Roppel for you donation!
The Elite Home Builder team presenting a check to SOS President & CEO Denise Sears.

Supplies Over Seas (SOS) is a Louisville, Kentucky-based nonprofit organization that meets critical health care needs in medically impoverished communities around the world by collecting and distributing surplus medical supplies and equipment.

These stories of Health & Hope can not happen without your support.

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