Back in 1991, before “Go Green” was the trend, Helen French’s operating room manager asked her to take on “a little project.”

“Our nineteen operating rooms are generating too much clean waste…good stuff we haven’t used…and it’s very expensive to incinerate.  With your twenty years in the OR, you have the knowledge and experience to figure out what to do with it all. ”

So for a year, Helen collected clean medical “waste” from all the operating rooms and donated them to missions.  She researched the issue of RMW (regulated medical waste) and spoke to every expert she could find on this issue.  She was appalled to learn that over 2.4 million tons of hospital waste is generated in the United States annually, with the operating rooms being the largest contributors.  Helen worked four ten-hour days in the operating room, then spent countless hours networking with people on behalf of missions. Before she could say, “How did I get myself into this,” she had formed MERCI, Medical Equipment Recovery of Clean Inventory.

MERCI began receiving wish lists from many small mission groups.  For years, Helen sorted materials after work every day and on weekends.  In July of 1995, she was given one day a week for her “little project.”  By 1997, MERCI had a steady stream of volunteers helping to sort and the results went beyond their wildest expectations.

Since she started this “little project,” MERCI captured and diverted over 350 tons of clean medical supplies valued at 75 million dollars and sent them all over the world.  Another 50 plus tons have been donated to the University of Virginia research labs and to surgeons' mission trips.

They collected 6,000 pounds of supplies for a hospital in Lithuania, and another hospital came up with 80,000 more pounds for them!  Helen networked with a mission who paid to ship all 86,000 pounds. Soon after, another contact donated $200,000 worth to a Russian endeavor and even shipped it all there.  One day, a medical supply company called and said, "We have 10,000 pounds of supplies for you!”

When she heard a clinic in Haiti needed a sterilizer, Helen wrote for nine months to a supplier who finally generously donated one.

Christian Relief, Advancing the Nations, Helping Hands, Operation Smile, Crosslinks, and Equipping the Saints, are only a few of the many missions that have received medical goods.

A nurse who helped Helen sort and pack since 1997 saw a need for a hospital in Bolivia. MERCI donated thousands of pounds to this effort.  Eventually, with the help of donations, the nurse bought a hospital in Bolivia and had the grand opening in July, 2002.

Helen recently retired but she is still on a mission—to get every hospital in the United States to adopt a MERCI program.  I encourage, okay, beg you, to establish a MERCI program in your hospital.  Lives are depending on it.  For further information see http://www.merci-medicalsupplies.com or visit the University of Virginia Health System web site.

About the Author: LeAnn Thieman LPN, CSP, CPAE is in the Speaker Hall of Fame and coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, Second Dose. She is an expert in nurse recruitment and retention. To learn more about her books or presentations, visit  www.NurseRecruitmentandRetention.com

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