I recently had the opportunity to attend a fundraising dinner for the Medical Equipment Modernization Opportunity, or MEMO for short, in Thunder Bay.

Since 2004, MEMO has shipped 100 containers to Cuba, El Salvador, Liberia, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, totalling millions of dollars in equipment and saving countless lives along the way. Every container holds 10 tonnes of medical equipment and supplies that are redundant according to Canadian health standards but remain useful and continue to save lives in developing countries. The organization is completely run by volunteers so that every dollar donated goes entirely to support the work.

I want to recognize Dr. and Mrs. Jerome Harvey, whose dream began 18 years ago while looking outside their kitchen window at the soon-to-be-closed 250-bed Port Arthur General Hospital. He wondered what was going to happen to all the medical equipment left behind in this hospital, as well as the other old hospital to be closed, the 375-bed McKellar hospital.

He discovered that because of Thunder Bay’s isolation, the cost of removing and shipping made the contents of the two old hospitals valueless. Reluctantly, the hospital administration admitted that most of the equipment would be sold to a scrap dealer for $180 a tonne. This led to a meeting with a Cuban doctor and Cuban ministry of health officials that assured him that anything MEMO could send would be helpful, as Cuba had an adequate supply of well-trained doctors but was woefully inadequate in medical equipment and supplies. Thus, MEMO was formed under the auspices of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada.

I commend Dr. Harvey for his initiative and leadership in this venture that is making a difference in the lives of residents in developing countries.