Supplies Overseas (SOS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health and the environment through recovery and redistribution of surplus medical supplies, has donated a semester’s worth of medical supplies (including gloves, masks, gowns, catheters, syringes, IV tubing dressings, IV fluids, saline and more) to Indiana University Southeast’s School of Nursing.
The donation (over 1,400 pounds) was just shy of beating SOS’s record for the largest local donation in a single day. The supplies will be used to improve hands-on education for hundreds of nursing students using the school’s state-of-the-art simulation labs.
Since the partnership began in 2017, SOS has provided approximately 9,190 pounds of medical supplies worth more than $100,000 to the IU Southeast School of Nursing.
“We are very grateful to Supplies Overseas for donating medical supplies to our School of Nursing,” said IU Southeast Chancellor Ray Wallace. “These supplies will help our nursing students get the hands-on experience they need to become accomplished medical professionals.”
SOS focuses on mitigating health disparities in underserved communities by providing critically needed medical supplies and health resources. SOS recovers surplus medical supplies and equipment from over 100 hospital partners and redistributes them to address the urgent need for help, whether that be to those affected by disasters, to medically impoverished communities across the globe or to protect and improve lives in Louisville.
“The simulation program and Skills Lab at IU Southeast School of Nursing is beyond grateful for the vast amount of donations given to us by Supplies Overseas,” said Donna Bowles, dean of the School of Nursing. “The faculty make every effort to provide authentic learning scenarios for our students. Donated equipment makes this possible to allow students to refrain from using a syringe or other items repeatedly during a semester, as this would not occur in actual nursing practice.”