Cornelius, OR, January 27th, 2010 – Dan Sheldon, president of Sheldon Manufacturing, Inc., is establishing a cooperative of Laboratory Product Manufacturers to donate vital lab equipment, such as freezers and incubators, to re-establish labs in Haiti in the aftermath.
As the emergency recovery period continues in Haiti following the recent earthquake disaster, looming large in its wake is the Long-term reconstruction and rebuilding of an entire country. According to Mark L. Schneider, former Peace Corps director in the Clinton administration, “Long-term reconstruction will last more than a decade and involve billions of dollars in aid.” In the front and center of the reconstruction period is the glaringly obvious need to build essential structures like schools, government buildings, and hospitals. But with a disaster of this magnitude – the worse national disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere- Its hard to imagine every aspect of what will be needed to get a third world country like Haiti at least back to where it was as a nation.
One necessity is in the Clinical Laboratory arena. Laboratory equipment is essential for blood banking, vaccine storage, infectious disease control, waste water treatment and testing, diagnostics and treatment. All things that are extremely sensitive, both socially and relative to time, when most of the population is living close to each other in tents with little or no sanitation. Dan Sheldon and his Laboratory Manufacturing company, Sheldon Manufacturing, are leveraging industry contacts to collect donations of capital equipment, lab consumables and technical expertise for the Haiti relief efforts.
“We are working with teams on the ground to identify the state of the current infrastructure and supply any immediate need for equipment and supplies. As the recovery efforts move to rebuilding projects, we hope to work hand-in-hand with government and the private sector to supply state of the art equipment and supplies to the people of Haiti. Initial response from my industry contacts has been very receptive and I am optimistic that we can fully outfit a number of labs over the next 12-18 months.”
It is estimated that outfitting a laboratory with supplies and equipment can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000. Knowing that there is pledged support for new labs during this chaotic time that will directly result in treatment and prevention of infectious disease is just one small step of many that will be required to help rebuild Haiti. But for now, even small steps are huge.
