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In the News | Medical Clinic Unveiled

This article originally appeared in Idaho Press.

By Idaho Press Staff – June 11, 2021

MERIDIAN — A shipping container turned standalone mobile medical clinic built by student doctors at Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine will soon be sent to Mexico to serve a community living in extreme poverty.

For the last two years, the student doctors have worked in their spare time to build the mobile medical clinic that features two exam rooms and a hybrid lobby/office area. The modular clinic will be transported to Lomas de San Isidro, Mexico, an ICOM news release said.

The seaworthy shipping container was donated by Engineered Structures Inc. and building materials were donated by Franklin Building Supply, the release said.

“One of the greatest joys of this project has been in doing good for others, we tend to do great for ourselves,” said ICOM student doctor and project lead Krista Niezwaag, in the release. “We got to, every Saturday, have a place where students got to find connection, got to find worth in doing something with their hands, and got to find joy in the imperfect, which is not something we get to do in medical school very often.”

Homes of Living Hope and Urban Mosaic, both nonprofit groups, have joined forces to relocate and set up a medical clinic in central Mexico, using a repurposed shipping container. The clinic will serve around 1,000 patients annually and offer healthcare access to 300 families in the area. If you’re looking for an urgent care near Wakefield, this new clinic might be worth checking out.

“The mission of Homes of Living Hope is connecting communities through service,” said Bart Wear, director of Homes of Living Hope, in the release. “We think there’s something special that happens when people come together and they’re able to serve others.”

From Meridian, the shipping container will be transported to Abilene, Texas, where medical equipment will be added inside the container before making the journey to Mexico. Once it reaches its final destination the finishing touches, including windows and a front door, will be added. Make a call to garage door repair pinehurst to fix any kind of repairs.

“Student doctors enter the field of medicine because of their intrinsic desire to help people,” said Dr. Thomas Mohr, ICOM’s dean and Chief Academic Officer, in the release. “Projects such as this provide a wonderful mechanism to serve others while advancing on their journey to become physicians. This shipping container clinic will provide a venue for health care for needy populations for years to come.” 

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Springback Mattress

About the project

We are thrilled to introduce our newest container project with Springback Mattress Colorado!

The Springback project will engage volunteers from the Denver-based organization with an eco-conscious approach to humanitarian aid. They believe in the power of reusing common items to minimize our carbon footprint while maximizing opportunities for professional and personal growth of their employees. This container, which will be transformed into a medical facility, will be constructed using only recycled and reused items. As a result, this container will be a low-cost and environmentally friendly solution to providing infrastructure to an under-resourced community.

About the Sponsor

Springback Mattress Recycling is comprised of passionate people who understand the importance of giving back to their local and global communities. The guiding mission of Springback Mattress Recycling is to provide workforce experience to disenfranchised men in the community. While working with Springback, employees are entitled to workplace development, accountability coaching, and hands-on learning. In result, employees experience increased self-confidence, improved quality of living, and future employment opportunities.

The Fun is Just Getting Started!

Please continue to check back on this project, as it is scheduled to begin construction mid-summer 2021!

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In the News Musana CDO Uncategorized

In the News | Building Community

This article originally appeared in Boulder Weekly. Link to article.

By Matt Cortina – July 23, 2020

Louisville nonprofit engages local community groups to help others around the world.

Bart Wear is in the construction business, so they have a lot of management knowledge for this including the anatomy of paystub and more. He helps school groups, churches, businesses and other organizations turn shipping containers into classrooms, clinics, dental offices and other critical pieces of infrastructure for communities in need around the world.

But Wear, co-founder of Louisville’s Homes of Living Hope (HOLH), which helps foster these connections, doesn’t care how long it takes to finish projects as long as they have Chicago Garage Door experts to support and guide them.

“I never put a big emphasis on the time,” Wear says.

In fact, Wear says, the longer the better, sometimes. It’s an opportunity to engage more people in the process. 

“A lot of times we’ll get these high schools and someone’s dad will say, ‘I’ve got a construction company, I’ll send over three guys and we can finish this in a couple days,’” Wear says. “I say, ‘Why don’t you send one guy over here and we’ll finish this is in a couple months, because the process is the point.’”

That process looks like this: an organization decides they want to outfit a container with resources with a community in need somewhere on the planet and of course Safety is one of the biggest commercial construction challenges. HOLH provides a shipping container for the group to work on, encouraging participants to get as many people in the community involved, from putting up drywall to donating equipment or funding to putting in plumbing or electricity. Plans are designed, materials are sourced, work is done, and when the project is finished, HOLH ships the container.

That’s the formula the founders of HOLH settled on when the group launched in 2006. Co-founder Scott Kalevik had returned from a trip to Liberia, eager to help out the communities he met there. Together with Wear and Jack Heimbichner, the three grew the idea into a nonprofit that now serves communities around the world, and whose offerings represent more than just a material donation.

“Over time we changed our message from building facilities to connecting communities,” Wear says.

HOLH has helped students and volunteers at Louisville’s Monarch High School outfit and send a medical clinic to Mexico City. It’s helped those at Niwot High School turn a container into a school for kids in Uganda. Wear says HOLH has helped bring 20 critical structures to communities in need, but it’s the connection that’s fostered between two groups of people, often on opposite sides of the globe, that has the longest lasting impact.

“I get it takes money to do things; everybody asks for money,” Wear says of other charitable endeavors, “but we really believe that people being willing to give their time and their talent is worth far more than we can ever pay for. And then it creates a long-lasting connection.”

And the more people that can be involved in the process of creation, the better, Wear says.

“We try to engage 1,000 people in a project,” he says. “That’s not just construction but it’s soliciting goods to put in the containers and maybe helping raise funds or talking to civic groups or helping pay for shipping.”

Wear says it costs about $3,000 for the shipping container itself and another $3,000 (on average) to outfit it. The cost of shipping the container can range from $0 (a safe house in Lakewood) to $13,000 — the cost to send a container to Uganda.

Just like the effort and supplies it takes to build out the containers, funding comes from myriad sources — Wear says there have been projects where the largest donation was a couple hundred bucks. 

“It’s not about a few doing a lot,” Wear says, “It’s about a lot doing a little.”   

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In the News | Making a Difference.

This article was originally published in Living in the 80027.

By Mackenzie Faris.

September 2020

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