Shipping container clinic

Last updated

A shipping container clinic is a type of shipping container architecture using intermodal containers (shipping containers) as the structural element of a medical clinic that can be easily deployed to remote regions of the world. Shipping containers are ideal because of their inherent strength, wide availability and relatively low cost. In addition, and most relevant, shipping containers can be deployed anywhere in the world with the clinic already assembled within the container. This means pop-up clinics can be operational within days after deployment.

History

Transport truck of the Swiss Army with field hospital in container. San Hist WELASYS - Schweizer Armee - Steel Parade 2006.jpg
Transport truck of the Swiss Army with field hospital in container.

Several organizations have developed the concept of shipping container clinics.

In 2005, Hospitals of Hope produced a "Clinic In A Can" in a 45-foot trailer that was sent to Les Cayes, Haiti to provide medical relief. [1] The 45 foot trailer is converted into five medical rooms, with each one being approximately 70 square feet. The container has since helped Hospitals of Hope provide care to over 30,000 residents of Haiti. In 2006, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Laurie Garrett, worked with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to create a prototype "Doc In A Box" based on Garrett's conceptual framework. [2] [3]

In June 2010, Hospitals of Hope sent two "Clinic In A Cans" to Haiti in partnership with Heart to Heart International in response to an earthquake. [4] The containers were both 40 feet long and cost around $12,000 to build. In November 2010, Containers 2 Clinics sent a prototype clinic to be used on site at Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. [5] [6]

In April 2011, a three-unit Clinic In A Can was shipped to Haiti in partnership with Aslan Youth Ministries. [7] This small hospital will be operated by Aslan Youth Ministries, an organization working in the north-east of Haiti. With a fault line running under where they work, steel shipping containers are safer than a concrete structure.

In August 2012, Clinics4All established its Global Clinic Donation Program (GCDP) to provide medical clinics free of charge to third-world governments through their respective departments or Ministries of Health as a means of improving access to healthcare in medically under-served and remote areas, particularly for children and women.[ citation needed ]

In March 2013, Clinic In A Can shipped a solar powered clinic to Mirebalais, Haiti in partnership with Global Vision Citadelle Ministries, as well as a radiology Clinic In A Can to Freetown, Sierra Leone. [8] [9] In July 2013, Arkitainer opened its doors as a UK based company specialising in the use of shipping containers for various community based projects. A recent proposal for a residential community complete with clinics, schooling and vocational training for Cape Town is currently underway.[ citation needed ]

Since 2017, Cipla, one of South Africa's largest pharmaceutical companies, has deployed moveable clinics to deprived areas to help with South Africa's COVID-19 vaccination program. As part of the Cipla Foundation's Sha’p Left project, these containers have been used as Centralised Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) points across South Africa, with the bulk of the projects in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayo Clinic</span> American academic medical center

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 7,300 physicians and scientists, along with another 66,000 administrative and allied health staff, across three major campuses: Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona. The practice specializes in treating difficult cases through tertiary care and destination medicine. It is home to the top-15 ranked Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in addition to many of the highest regarded residency education programs in the United States. It spends over $660 million a year on research and has more than 3,000 full-time research personnel.

USNS <i>Comfort</i> Hospital ship of the United States Navy

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is a Mercy-class hospital ship of the United States Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partners In Health</span> Non-profit health care organization

Partners In Health (PIH) is an international nonprofit public health organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Jim Yong Kim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercy Ships</span> International charitable organization

Mercy Ships is an international charity based on Christian values that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing hope and healing in Africa through surgical care and surgical education, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Its headquarters are in Garden Valley, Texas.

MV <i>Africa Mercy</i>

The MV Africa Mercy is a 152 m, 16,572 GT hospital ship belonging to the humanitarian organization Mercy Ships. Converted from the rail ferry MS Dronning Ingrid in 2007, she is currently the world's second largest non-governmental floating hospital, following the organization's newest and largest ship, the MV Global Mercy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Direct Relief</span> Charitable organization

Direct Relief is a nonprofit humanitarian organization whose mission is to improve the lives of people in poverty or emergency situations by providing the appropriate medical resources. The charity provides emergency medical assistance and disaster relief in the United States and internationally. The organization is headed by an independent board of directors and its president and CEO, Thomas Tighe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenMRS</span>

OpenMRS is a collaborative open-source project to develop software to support the delivery of health care in developing countries.

Giving Children Hope (GCHope), founded in 1993 by John Ditty and Juliana Reasor, is a faith-based non-profit organization that works to alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally, through disaster relief, health and community development, vocational training and advocacy. The organization is currently headed by Executive Director Sean Lawrence and the Chairman of the Board Bill Barta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Medical Equipment Collaborative</span> Nonprofit organization

International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides medical equipment to doctors and nurses working hospitals and clinics in impoverished areas worldwide. IMEC is in North Andover, Massachusetts, United States, where volunteers sort, repair, package and ship donated medical supplies and equipment to international medical personnel. Through partnerships with various humanitarian organizations IMEC has been delivering medical supplies for 14 years. IMEC is known for providing medical supplies that doctors request for their patients.

CURE International, based in Grand Rapids, MI, is a Christian nonprofit organization that owns and operates eight charitable children's hospitals around the world. CURE provides medical care to pediatric patients with orthopedic, reconstructive plastic, and neurological conditions. The organization's stated mission is to "heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God." The organization currently operates hospitals in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, the Philippines, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

PROJECT C.U.R.E. is the registered trademark of the Benevolent Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, humanitarian relief organization based in Denver, Colorado. It is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the world that delivers medical supplies and equipment to developing countries. Its main purpose is to collect and sort donated medical supplies and equipment from manufacturers, hospitals, and surpluses and then distribute the supplies and equipment to developing countries based on a needs assessment of the local hospitals and clinics in those countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital</span> Hospital in Government of Argentina, Argentina

The Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital is a field hospital operated by the Argentine Air Force. Established on August 21, 1981, it is one of three health centres of its kind worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian response by non-governmental organizations to the 2010 Haiti earthquake</span>

The humanitarian responses by non-governmental organizations to the 2010 Haiti earthquake included many organisations, such as international, religious, and regionally based NGOs, which immediately pledged support in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Besides a large multi-contingency contribution by national governments, NGOs contributed significantly to both on-the-ground rescue efforts and external solicitation of aid for the rescue efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afya Foundation</span>

Afya Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Yonkers, New York. It was founded in 2007 by Danielle Butin, MPH, OTR after a trip to Tanzania, where she encountered the dire circumstances and severely limited medical resources of their medical clinics. Afya, which means "good health" in Swahili seeks to spread "Good Health Through Giving," and does so by providing medical supplies, consumables, sustainable equipment, and community outreach supplies to international health clinics.

MedShare is a national non-profit organization that recovers surplus medical supplies and equipment from U.S. hospitals and manufacturers and redistributes them to needy hospitals in developing countries. They process these donated materials and make them available to under-served hospitals and clinics in two ways: direct shipments to international applicant institutions and supplying medical mission teams with commonly needed medical items.

Doc to Dock is a Brooklyn, New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that sends donated medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics in Africa and Haiti. It was founded in 2005 by cardiologist and medical professor Bruce Charash.

NetHope, Inc. is a global consortium of nearly 60 global nonprofit organizations that specializes in improving IT connectivity among humanitarian organizations in developing countries and areas affected by disaster. The organization has partnerships with Accenture, Amazon, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Oracle NetSuite and more than 60 leading technology companies. Its humanitarian development, emergency response, and conservation programs are in place in 180 countries. It was founded in 2001.

Hospitals of Hope is a 501(c)(3) Christian medical missions organization that aims to improve the healthcare of the under-served, both locally and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watsi</span> Nonprofit healthcare crowdsourcing platform

Watsi, legally Watsi, Inc., is a nonprofit healthcare crowdsourcing platform that enables individual donors to directly fund medical care for individuals in developing countries without access to affordable medical care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Medical Mission Board</span>

The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is an international, faith-based NGO, providing long-term, co-operative medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and healthcare issues. It was established in 1912 and officially registered in 1928. CMMB is headquartered in New York City, USA, and currently has country offices in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia.

References

  1. "International Humanitarian of the Year" (PDF). Hospitalsofhope.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  2. "Doc-in-a-Box Project". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  3. "Doc in a box". Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  4. Gruver, Deb (26 January 2010). "Hospitals for Hope converts shipping containers into clinics". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  5. "The Power of Partnership: Working Together to Restore Maternal and Pediatric Health in Haiti" (PDF). Containers2clinics.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  6. "Care 2 Communities" . Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  7. "Container Clinic Headed for Haiti!". Clinic In A Can. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  8. "Local nonprofit to send 2 'Clinic in a Can' facilities overseas". The Wichita Eagle . Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. "Wichita nonprofit shipping two portable medical clinics overseas". Wichita Business Journal. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  10. Daniel, Luke (28 January 2021). "Clinics in containers may be used to bring vaccines to rural South Africans". Business Insider . Retrieved 31 May 2021.