Langley charity sending hospital beds to Liberia
Posted October 19, 2014 6:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LANGLEY (NEWS1130) – People in the Lower Mainland are being asked to pitch in to help the fight against Ebola in West Africa.
A Langley organization is aiming to send one thousand hospital beds to Liberia, but it needs help paying for the costly container shipping fees.
“Besides needing gowns, gloves, masks, and those kinds of things, patients are on the floor and in the dirt,” says Marj Ratel, of the Korle Bu Neuroscience Centre, describing the situation in the deeply impoverished nation.
She says they’ve so far secured 200 beds and stretchers from as far away as Saskatoon.
The task, though, is to pay for the expensive container shipping fees. It costs about $6,000 to send a container to West Africa and the organization would like to send three containers.
Ratel points out local companies are chipping in.
“Seaspan has donated all of its barge costs, which cuts our expenses down substantially. And Diamond Delivery will pick up all of our beds and stretchers and deliver them to our loading docks for free.”
Because the foundation, which specializes in sending local medical experts to West Africa and training foreign doctors here, is a registered charity, donations are tax deductible.
