A self-contained portable medical clinic will be sent to Haiti this August. The non-profit organization Hospitals of Hope began the program Clinic In A Can in 2005 to serve those without access to basic medical care.
Ten shipping containers have been converted to these portable mini-hospitals and have been sent to places such as New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, West Africa and Sudan.
Clinics are constructed using high quality fiberglass materials and steel studs to meet the United States construction standards. Assistant Director Daniel White says the units are painted a reflective color such as white.
“If you take a standard shipping container it’s made out of steel and if you just set it out in the Sun it basically becomes an oven ‘cause it’s all made out of metal. We do everything we can to keep the heat transfer down,” White said.
White says that once onsite, the clinics can be up and running within two hours, complete with a generator and water capabilities.
The standard set-up consists of two exam rooms and a dual-purpose laboratory and pharmacy.
Clinics shipped to southern Sudan have included surgical, radiology, and dental facilities.
“Really, the possibilities of these clinics are fairly endless,” White said. “We can put just about any sort of medical facility here in the States into something like this, scale it down and make it accessible for people in the developing world.”
The clinic headed to Haiti in August will be the first with a solar-powered roof. And it is available now to tour at Hospitals of Hope in North Wichita.
For more information, visit the Clinic In A Can website.