Allyson Morris

Posted on: January 10, 2014Pittsburgh

What do you do at your site to improve the health and lives of people in developing countries?


I serve at Global Links, an organization that collects sterile, usable medical waste—that would otherwise go into a landfill—from Pittsburgh area hospitals and sends them to developing countries, where medical supplies are scarce. Due to hospital regulations in the U.S., medical supplies can sometimes become unusable. For instance, if a patient so much as enters the room, none of the supplies in the room can be used for any other patient, even if they remain in their sterile packaging. In order to provide developing countries with the medical supplies that they need in an efficient manner, I serve as a volunteer supervisor here, educating and helping volunteers as they sort and pack the medical donations.