CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Kansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention took some time off from politics Wednesday to help sick people half a world away.
For their share of the Democrats’ 50-delegation public service project, they sorted medical equipment and packed shipping cartons for Project Cure, a nonprofit group that collects surplus health supplies and sends them to developing countries where such items are badly needed.
Although the primary purpose of the two-hour event was to showcase the party’s commitment to public service, Michael Young, the operations manager for the Denver chapter of Project Cure, said the delegates’ efforts were more than a publicity stunt.
“Over there, they filled up a load for Uganda that has to go out today,” Young said. “We can use all the help we can get.”
The charity maintains a warehouse in Centennial, a Denver suburb. It moves out one 40-foot-long shipping container of supplies a week, Young said.
The supplies come mainly from manufacturer overruns and hospital overstock, Young said. The group especially is looking for specialized equipment such as x-ray and anesthesia machines that are rendered surplus when hospitals and doctors renovate or upgrade their offices.
While the equipment may not be state of the art by U.S. standards, it’s still usable and better than what many third-world health-care providers have or can afford.
“If Project Cure didn’t exist, most of this would end up in a landfill,” Young said.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius dropped in to work on the project for a little less than a half-hour. She sorted through a confusing array of small medical supply items.
Looking at the stuffed shelves of the 70,000-square-foot warehouse, she said one of the reasons medical costs are so high is that so much gets thrown away. She said she talked with Project Cure officials about starting a similar program in Kansas.
The state took an initial step in this year’s legislative session with a law that allows nursing homes to pass unused supplies along to community clinics, she said.
Young said there’s no reason to wait. Kansans who know of surplus supplies and equipment can donate them to the Colorado group for shipping overseas, he said. Project Cure can be contacted through its Web site, www.projectcure.org.
The group has distribution centers in Houston, Nashville and Tempe, Ariz. It also has satellite collection centers in eight other cities.
Delegate Shala Mills, of Hays, worked in tandem with Topeka state Sen. Anthony Hensley to fill shipping crates.
Mills said she had planned to attend a meeting of the convention’s health-care caucus, but skipped it to work at Project Cure.
“It came down to either putting my hands to work doing something for health care, or listening to people talk about it,” she said.
“I decided to roll up my sleeves — not that I’m wearing any,” added Mills, who was dressed in a tank top.