A Call for Help: Medical Books, Journals, and Supplies Needed in Afghanistan

A Call for Help: Medical Books, Journals, and Supplies Needed in Afghanistan

From Medscape Nurses

Susan B. Yox, RN, EdD

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/430320?srcmp=nurs-032202

Will you help provide medical facilities in Afghanistan with needed medical books, journals, and supplies? We believe that Medscape readers will offer assistance.

The Public Health Team of the Coalition Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force, headed by Lt. Col. James Gardon, an Army Reserve Officer (Army Nurse Corps) from San Antonio, Texas, is assisting in rebuilding the healthcare system for the people of Afghanistan. They need books, journals, and medical equipment. Here is how you can help the most:

Donate medical, dental, nursing, veterinary, and biomedical repair books and journals, published any time within the last 10 years.

Send books and journals that are basic in focus. Subspecialty publications cannot be used at this time, as the healthcare system in Afghanistan does not have resources such as invasive cardiology or specialized radiology.

Books and journals published in English are welcome, as many healthcare professionals know English. Others are willing to translate materials into Dari and Pashto.

Medical supplies, from personal to institutional, are also needed. For example, Lt. Col. Gardon's recent assessment of a 200-bed hospital in Kabul indicated that there were 2 manual blood pressure cuffs and 6 stethoscopes for the whole hospital! Laboratories, radiology departments, and pharmacies are woefully lacking in even basic supplies as well.

Will you help? Please send donations to Lt. Col. James Gardon at the APO address below. (Donors must pay postage.) All donations will be equitably distributed and donors will be acknowledged to recipients.

We plan to publish follow-up reports on Medscape to let readers know the success of this effort.

Please send donations to:

Afghanistan

Operation Enduring Freedom

Public Health Team

c/o James Gardon

C/JCMOTF-K

APO AE 09356

Susan B. Yox, RN, EdD is the editor and program director of Medscape Nurses.