VIDA volunteers load a 40-foot container of medical supplies bound for El Salvador.

"Donations are usable supplies that would otherwise be dumped in U.S. landfills. In Latin America, they can mean the difference between life and death."

Bay Area medical institutions are doing their part in the wake of two of the worst earthquakes in Latin America's recent history.

Volunteers for Inter-American Development Assistance (VIDA) is one of the local organizations collecting medical relief supplies and financial donations for the stricken nations. Bay Area residents are volunteering to sort and ship the needed materials.

In the first three months of 2001, El Salvador received five 40-foot containers of primary medical supplies and hospital beds from VIDA's warehouse in Emeryville. Peru has also received five containers with 50 tons of medical supplies to assist the victims of the June earthquake.

Carlos Mencia, a volunteer from Half Moon Bay, traveled to El Salvador this spring to spend three weeks working on reconstruction is the village of Armenia, one of two Salvadoran cities that received 67 tons of supplies from VIDA. All of the supplies had arrived in good condition and were addressing vital health needs, Mencia reported.

Donations are entirely usable supplies that would otherwise be dumped in U.S. landfills. In Latin America, they can mean the difference between life and death.

Since its inception in 1991, VIDA has shipped $51 million worth of medical aid to Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, and Cuba. VIDA also facilitates training and information exchange among Peruvian, French and Canadian medical professionals, who provide free medical care to communities living in extreme poverty.

For more information, contact Jorge Valle at jorgevalle@vidausa.org, or
510-655-VIDA.