COVID-19 Response
The MedSurplus Alliance Responds
Medical Surplus Recovery Organizations (MSROs) make it possible for doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers to combat disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics by providing the supplies and equipment they need.
When COVID-19 emerged in Asia, MSROs were well prepared to provide millions of masks, gowns, and gloves to combat the initial epidemic.
Today as the virus spreads at home, the MSA and its members have turned their attention to meeting local needs. They provide donations, support supply chain collaborations, and provide warehouse services to donors, hospitals, and health systems, managing the surge of supplies required to treat patients.
How to Help
We encourage donors to include the following considerations in their donation policy and planning process when responding to domestic and international requests during the current shortage.
Donate Cash COVID is a long-term crisis, and cash provides the flexibility that relief organizations flexibility to meet changing needs.
Product and In-Kind Donations
Expressed need. Donate in response to a direct request from a qualified organization.
Confirmed infection. Donate to a qualified organization operating in a domestic or international location with confirmed coronavirus infection.
Vulnerable populations. Consider donating to organizations serving vulnerable populations, including those working in low-resource countries or those serving fragile communities in domestic environments with increased potential for infection.
Probability of timely and secure delivery. Good stewardship may require donors to limit international donations to locations where shipping is prohibited or delayed until there is stable and reliable transport.
MSROs like Dispensary of Hope and Rx Outreach provide essential medications to patients who have lost insurance or income due to COVID-19.
“We know that every order of medication that we deliver belongs to a patient that might otherwise go without,” said Dispensary of Hope CEO Chris Palombo. “So we knew that we had to find a way to protect ourselves and our communities from COVID-19 while also maintaining the stability and continuity of our work, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
All the MSA Accredited MSROs are working daily to support their local communities by donating personal protection supplies, medical devices, and equipment.
"SOS strategically provides medical supplies to those who are in the greatest need, and right now, that’s the people working to fight this pandemic in our own city,” says Denise Sears, president and CEO of SOS. “We’ve been able to move quickly, and without any funding, to address this emergency and meet the needs of our local healthcare workers, emergency responders, police, the homeless, and senior citizens.
