Just weeks before the New Year, the more than three-year journey of a project among Rotary clubs in Arizona and Sonora to provide hospital equipment and supplies to five General Hospitals in the State of Sonora successfully culminated with the final delivery of material to Puerto Peñasco’s Integral Hospital on Dec. 21st.
The ambitious project, spearheaded by The Rotary Club of Scottsdale and the Puerto Peñasco Rotary Club (CR Mar de Peñasco, AC), was initially conceived in 2017 by Dale Gray of the Scottsdale club in an effort to send medical equipment to Scottsdale’s Sister City of Álamos in the southern part of Sonora. Gray soon came across the tremendous work of Project C.U.R.E., which, as their website states, is “the world’s largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies to resource-limited communities across the globe.” Each semi-load container (in the case of this project, two 57’ semi-load containers) of donated medical equipment and supplies is valued at between $350,000 to $400,000 USD.
Through Rotary International’s Global Grant programs, Gray began to envision a larger project that would encompass more than just one hospital, though needed an international partner in Sonora to make that happen – in stepped the partner club from Puerto Peñasco. With the two clubs joining forces on either side of the border, the project’s reach soon expanded to include Puerto Peñasco, along with the Genera Hospitals of Navojoa, Ciudad Obregón, and San Luis Río Colorado. The latter three selected by the Sonora Ministry of Health when the evaluation part of the project began in 2018.
The grant application process, which required meticulous clarification and revisions as most grants do, was finally accepted and approved by the Rotary Foundation in 2020. Yes, you guessed it – right about the time Covid-19 lockdowns, border restrictions, and stepped up health protocols went into effect. While parts of the delivery process had to be modified, due precisely to the impact of Covid, by late June of 2020 the first semi-trailer of medical supplies and goods made it from the Project C.U.R.E warehouse in Phoenix to the Ministry of Health storage facility in Hermosillo for distribution to participating hospitals. Of note, this container held numerous hospital beds for each site along with wheelchairs, crutches, and general supplies.
Once material from the 1st C.U.R.E. container made it to Mexico, the Puerto Peñasco Rotary Club sustained constant communication with C.U.R.E and its Mexican counterpart Curando México, A.C., as well as Rotary clubs within the District – specifically in Navojoa, Cd. Obregón, and San Luis Rio Colorado – to assist with delivery and receipt of the supplies for each hospital. Despite numerous challenges including highway road blocks, Rotary members from Puerto Peñasco restricted from traveling to delivery sites, and increasing Covid-19 protocols, Rotary clubs in each city mobilized to efficiently assist with delivery of the much appreciated donated equipment and supplies. By mid-August, 2020, the hospital equipment and supplies from the first C.U.R.E. container of the immense project had been successfully delivered.
Jump forward more than a year, and over various bureaucratic obstacles, permits, and approvals later, in early December the 2nd container of medical supplies was finally loaded into a 57’ semi-trailer at the C.U.R.E warehouse in Arizona and brought to Sonora. In fact, after the semi’s arrival in Hermosillo in the early hours of December 7th, the first three distributions went out to the hospitals of Cd. Obregón, Álamos, and San Luis Río Colorado just about 24 hours later. As a welcome early Christmas present, the final two distributions of hospital equipment and supplies made their way to the General Hospitals of Navojoa and Puerto Peñasco on December 21, 2021.
Tremendous gratitude to all involved! Happiest of New Year’s to you!
Global Grants of The Rotary Foundation
Global grants support large international activities with sustainable, measurable outcomes in Rotary’s areas of focus. By working together to respond to real community needs, clubs and districts strengthen their global partnerships.
Puerto Peñasco Rotary Club – Mar de Peñasco, AC
The local Rotary Club in Puerto Peñasco meets Wednedays 9 a.m. at The Friendly Dolphin restaurant. You may contact them via email: clubrotariopuertopenasco@gmail.com or via messenger on Facebook: Club Rotario Mar de Peñasco, A.C.
