Rensselaer County is providing much needed medical supplies to Ukraine thanks to an effort by the county Health Department, county officials announced today.
The supplies are surplus, and include face masks, syringes, syringes with needles, alcohol prep pads, disposable gloves and other items. The donation will help Ukraine deal with a reported shortage of medical supplies, said county officials.
“This donation is sadly needed because of unwarranted aggression by Russia into Ukraine. We hope these supplies provide aid and comfort to those Ukrainians caught up in the combat,” said McLaughlin.
The donation of the surplus medical supplies was organized by School Testing Coordinator Kathleen Lill last week. Members of the Health Department worked on organizing the surplus supplies and coordinating delivery overseas over a few days last week.
“Our Health Department has done outstanding work during the pandemic and provided care and assistance to county residents during two difficult and challenging years. This donation shows our Health Department is always looking for ways to provide help when and wherever needed, and I commend Kathleen Lill for her work and work by the entire department on this project,” said McLaughlin.
“These supplies are surplus, and collected during the pandemic from various official sources. The county has enough supplies on hand to meet an emergency or incident. Kathleen had the idea to donate the surplus supplies and help those dealing with a terrible and dangerous situation,” added Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas.
The supplies are being delivered to Ukraine through the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Church, and delivery to the church was made last week. There was a total of approximately 45,000 supplies packaged for delivery to those standing up to oppression in Ukraine.
County Executive Steve McLaughlin commended Kathleen Lill for organizing the delivery of needed medical supplies to Ukraine, along with Nicole Pollay and Hannah Jacobs, among others, at the county Health Department.
The county has been participating in other efforts to support Ukraine in their fight against invaders. The county was recently collecting clothes, tape and non-perishable food for shipment overseas.
Organizers of the collection effort have stated there is no current need for more clothing donations, and are instead asking for donations of medicine and funds to defray costs of shipping materials to Ukraine. The county is participating in the effort to collect medicine and raise funds.