Westchester Children's Hospital Donating Medical Equipment To Haiti
WESTCHESTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Old medical gear at New York area hospitals will no longer gather dust in basement storage rooms.
Cribs and wheelchairs from the Blythedale Children's Hospital in Westchester are being shipped to Haiti with help from the Afya Foundation.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reports
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"The need for the frail and the disabled continues to actually grow in time, and their biggest challenge is finding places where they can access the products and the care that they need," foundation founder Danielle Butin told WCBS 880's Paul Murnane.
Butin said many handicapped and injured children in Haiti currently use over-sized adult wheelchairs and at other times baby strollers.
Workshops in Haiti will fashion inserts that are needed to customize the donated chairs so children can eat or simply sit up straight.
"This will enable the therapists down in Haiti to properly position a child so that they can use their arms, so they can explore the world," Dr. Joelle Mast said.
Mast is planning on holding training sessions with caregivers in Haiti over Skype.
The gear will be packed into shipping containers and arrive in Haiti in a few weeks.
