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Help this org collect desperately needed medical supplies for Venezuela this weekend

Venezuela is in the midst of a public health crisis. June 23, 2016 Category: EventFeaturedPurposeShort

Disclosures

Full disclosure: Roberto Torres, lead reporter at Generocity.org’s sister site, Technical.ly Philly, is the secretary of Casa de Venezuela.

Updates

Update: The medicine drive will now take place in the Municipal Services Building, 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd., rather than the north side of City Hall as previously reported.
Venezuela is in the midst of a devastating public health crisis, but you probably haven’t heard too much about it.

For Venezuelans and Venezuelan Americans living outside the country, though, it’s impossible to turn away.

That’s why nonprofit Casa de Venezuela Philadelphia has partnered with Florida-based Programa de Ayuda Humanitaria para Venezuela (Humanitarian Help for Venezuela Program) to launch an urgent medicine drive this Sunday.

Casa de Venezuela founding member Emilio Buitrago said the organization operates to provide guidance to the Philadelphia area’s fast-growing Venezuelan community by connecting them with local resources such as legal support, ESL classes and housing assistance.

According to Buitrago, sick Venezuelans are often forced to buy medicine through black markets, where they pay up to 50 times the original price.

“The economic crisis in the country has exploded into a public health emergency, claiming the lives of untold numbers of Venezuelans,” Buitrago wrote us.

In Venezuelan hospitals and clinics, basic medical supplies like gloves and soap are as sparse as live-saving medications.

“It is just heartbreaking,” Buitrago wrote. “Newborn babies, the elderly, people with critical conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and Parkinson’s disease are dying due to the lack of proper medicine and medical attention.”

Requested donations for Sunday’s medicine drive are organized into six campaigns:

  1. Over-the-counter pain relief medications to treat Chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses
  2. Supplies for orphanages and nursing homes (adult and child diapers, bed protectors)
  3. Basic first aid items to treat accidents
  4. Prescription medications that have not expired
  5. Vitamins (vitamins D, C, B, Omega 3, Omega 6, multivitamins, iron and folic acid pills)
  6. Formula (including premature and anti-allergic varieties) for children of all ages

Buitrago says supplies collected at Sunday’s medicine drive will be shipped to Florida and then distributed to health institutions operated by religious congregations, university firefighters, indigenous communities, nursing homes, orphanages and other organizations that aren’t dependent on the state.

From our Partners

In order to help offset the costs and logistics of shipping the donated supplies, Casa de Venezuela is currently looking for a shipping partner willing to donate their services or provide a discounted rate.

Those who want to help but are unable to attend Sunday’s medicine drive can donate directly to Programa de Ayuda Humanitaria para Venezuela online.

The Casa de Venezuela medicine drive will run from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, in the Municipal Services Building, 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd.

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