Patt Dobson, Director of Hospital Services at Community Blood Services, overseeing packaging and shipping of donations.

Dozens of individuals and community organizations rallied when asked by Community Blood Services to collect and donate secondary medical supplies to help in the relief efforts for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Following the Jan. 12th earthquake, Community Blood Services, headquartered in Oradell, New Jersey, began working with Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc. in Miami, Florida to provide Haiti with the much-needed medical supplies. Project Medishare is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing its human and technical resources with its Haitian partners in the quest to achieve quality healthcare and development services for all.

Community Blood Services asked its employees, blood donors and area organizations and community groups to drop off secondary medical supplies, which included such supplies as bandaids, neosporin and aspirin, at its donor centers in New Jersey and New York through January 31st.

As a result of the overwhelming response, the blood center extended its collections through the first week in February. Three shipments of supplies were sent to Haiti with the help of Angel Flight America (AFA), which is operated by a group of volunteer pilots throughout the U.S. who use their private planes to provide free flights at times of national crisis or whenever there is a compelling human need.

“We received everything from peroxide, aspirin and water purifiers to several pairs of crutches and a cane. People were so generous,” said Patt Dobson, director of hospital services at Community Blood Services, who oversaw the packing and delivery of the supplies to Teterboro Airport (NJ) and Republic Airport in L.I., NY. From there, Dobson said, AFA transported the supplies to Medishare in Florida which, in turn, transported them to Haiti

“More than 1800 pounds of supplies in all were packed and shipped,” Dobson said.

Dozens of individuals donated, while many community groups and organizations mounted collection drives of their own, including RiverDell, Park Ridge and Glen Rock high schools; Oradell’s public schools, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts; the Wayne Jr. Women’s Club; Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh, NY; and St. Mary’s Rutherford Youth Ministry, according to Karen Ferriday, director of community affairs at Community Blood Services.

“We are so thankful to everyone who found it in their hearts to take time out of their busy schedules to collect supplies and bring them to our donor center to help those affected by the tragedy in Haiti,” Ferriday said.

“We were particularly grateful to be partnering with Project Medishare, which had doctors and nurses working in makeshift hospitals on the front lines in Haiti, and that AFA was willing to fly our supplies for free to Project Medishare and add an extra flight to its schedule to accommodate the overflow of supplies,” Ferriday added.

Community Blood Services is a non-profit organization that supplies blood and blood products to more than 30 hospitals in New Jersey and New York and is home to The HLA bone marrow Registry and public New Jersey Cord Blood Bank. It operates donor centers and mobile blood drives throughout northern New Jersey and southern New York.

You can learn more about Community Blood Services’ lifesaving programs and services at www.communitybloodservices.com.