Rockleigh—A group of residents recently joined with representatives of the Afya Foundation, a medical supply recovery organization, which collects no longer needed and still usable medical and humanitarian supplies from hospitals, nursing homes, corporations and individuals and ships them in sea cargo containers to places such as the Philippines, Haiti and Africa. Led by Danielle Butin, who started Afya six years ago, JHR residents and staff members, Afya staff members and a group of seventh graders from Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford joined together to repack untouched sterile supplies, including robes, drapes, underpads, diapers, iodine packs, prep trays, gauze, masks, ambu bags to aid in breathing, surgical scrub brushes and sponge sticks into clear plastic bags marked with a sticker noting what’s contained in the bags. These supplies will go to a hospital in Africa or Haiti, said Butin, to be used as birthing kits.
As the session began, Ron Aroesty, a member of the Board of Directors at Jewish Home at Rockleigh, noted that his mother, father and uncle had all been residents at this facility. A few months ago, he realized that JHR had many supplies, including wheelchairs and walkers that were no longer needed by the original residents. When he met Danielle Butin he realized that Afya could make good use of these supplies. The first batch of items including 15 rollator walkers and 10 rolling walkers went to the Philippines a few months ago because many members of the staff at JHR come from that part of the world originally and still have family members living there. In addition, Eric Riguerra, JHR’s director of nursing had just returned from a mission to the Philippines, following the devastating typhoon that took place there late last year.
By the end of the most recent session, the supplies were repacked, clearly marked, and ready to be sent to Afya. Sunni Herman, JHR’s executive vice president/CEO, noted that when you have two organizations committed to a project, the end result is a successful partnership. This is the first time the sorting of items has been done at a site, said Butin. This will be the start of a meaningful intergenerational partnership with Solomon Schecter; the students will help the residents with the sorting in the future. In addition, said Herman, “We are reaching out to area hospitals so that we can receive supplies from them to use for sorting.”
The residents enjoyed working on this project because many are happy to have the opportunity to be productive members of society.
In addition to donating the medical supplies and equipment, the Jewish Home Family raised $13,789, which was contributed to the Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund through the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey to the Joint Distribution Committee.
For further information about the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, please call 201-784-1414.
