Jun, 2023
Anera Supplies Safety Gear for Nurses and Patients in Chemotherapy
Preparing and administering chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients requires special protective gear for both nurses and patients. In Lebanon, procuring safety gowns has become a great financial burden on health centers as the country’s economy continues to suffer. Public hospitals now find it a real challenge to provide the supplies needed to treat their patients, including Lebanese citizens and refugees who flooded the country during the Syrian war.
Thanks to a generous donation from the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), Anera’s medical donations team helped distribute more than 9,100 safety gowns and accessories to public hospitals across Lebanon, including Baalbek Governmental Hospital.
Nurses wear the safety gowns while they prepare chemotherapy medications in a designated “clean” room. The medicines are extremely toxic and dangerous to handle without specialized equipment and personal protective equipment. After nurses double check and label each designated dose, the drugs are administered to cancer patients with care and precision, adhering to safety measures for both the handling and disposal of the medications.
Safety gowns and masks serve as a shield to prevent exposure to dangerous substances and are essential to reduce the possibility of harmful particles being inhaled or absorbed via the skin. Taking these precautions not only saves the nurses' health but also avoids cross-contamination.
The safety gowns were shipped to Lebanon by Airlink, a rapid-response humanitarian relief organization that connects airlines and pre-qualified nonprofits to help communities in crisis. Airlink is a member of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations.
Abbas Chokor, the director of Baalbek Government Hospital, stresses the importance of the safety gear to protect his medical staff.
“The ‘white army,’ as we call our nurses, is on the frontline treating a variety of illnesses as well as pandemics like COVID-19. The nurses were so brave during COVID, it is our humanitarian and professional duty to protect them and take good care of them.”
"The nurses were so brave during COVID, it is our humanitarian and professional duty to protect them and take good care of them.”
Chokor says obtaining the safety supplies to do that is a challenge. “We care deeply about our nurses. Without this generous donation, we would have found it too difficult to purchase [all the needed safety gear]. We are already drowning in debt as an underfunded hospital in an underprivileged area.”
He says the support of generous donors and organizations like Anera, Airlink and CMMB, can truly make a difference in how Lebanon’s hospitals can protect their dedicated medical teams.
Your donation makes it possible for Anera to distribute much-needed medical supplies to underserved and underfunded communities. The support you give today can not only change someone's life, it can save it.
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