July 20, 2024 • 30 mins
Walter Ulrich CEO of Medical Bridges (and a US Marine) and Akinyi Adoyo is their marketing manager. Medical Bridges collects medical equipment donations and redistributes them to healthcare workers across nations. They have a new operation in San Antonio and they also work with Texas A&M students who build them several mobile medical exam rooms that also get shipped all over the world.
Go to www.medicalbridges.org to find out more about this extraordinary organization and go meet these people during their 2024 “One People, One World” Gala presented by Chevron. It’s on Thursday, October 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel and they will honor Ms. Paula Harris, the executive director of the Astros Foundation.
Go to www.medicalbridges.org to find out more about this extraordinary organization and go meet these people during their 2024 “One People, One World” Gala presented by Chevron. It’s on Thursday, October 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel and they will honor Ms. Paula Harris, the executive director of the Astros Foundation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expresson this show do not necessarily reflect those
hell by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, for any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurent I am theTexan from France and the proud host
(00:27):
of Houston, PA, especially ona day when I welcome back Medical Bridges,
an extraordinary organization that has been foundedby a couple of women many years
ago to find a way how torecycle the medical wastes coming out of hospital.
Now, I'm not talking about thetubes that they use for dialysis that
get full of biomatter and all that. They throw all that stuff away.
(00:50):
But what we don't realize is thatwhen you go in for hernia operation,
for instance, which is a routineoperation they may only take thirty minutes.
They set up all the medical instrumentsthey need for that particular operation. They
also set up the medical instruments theymay need if something goes wrong. And
once all those pliers and scalpels areunwrapped and sitting next to your gurney,
(01:14):
they can't be put back in thebox. For use for the next operation,
they obviously have to be sanitized again, and so hospitals just throw that
stuff away. And the reason iscomplicated, but it basically amounts to the
fact that if you wanted to recyclethese these materials, you would need a
separate building, separate administration, andthe cost is just too much. And
so they used to throw this stuffaway. And a couple of women on
(01:38):
a mission to South America found outthat once they arrived in these poor countries,
they had to use sandwich bags asgloves, and that's an actual example
of what these brave women were doing. And they figured out that maybe it
would be great if they could sendsome gloves to these places and bring some
with them on their next mission.And so they contacted hospitals to see if
(02:00):
there was a way that they couldcollect some of this stuff that was being
thrown away, and they found away to recycle it themselves. So of
course all this stuff is resanitized andgets repackaged. And now the mission of
Medical Bridges is to send all ofthese medical supplies to poor places in the
world, and even out in thiscountry where it is needed. You have
(02:20):
a disaster, medical Bridges can sendyou a mobile clinic. They have the
Texas A and M students that designthem a mobile clinic every year. This
is literally a truck trailer that isempty. They get it on the Texas
A and M campus and they outfitit inside into a little mobile clinic.
They can put a dental chair inthere. They they outfit it with clean
(02:45):
walls, and obviously when you walkinto it, it looks like you're in
a tiny, little medical facility.And it's just one of the most awesome
programs that I've ever heard of,and I feel like it perfectly embodies the
Houston spirit. We found a wayto do something good out of something that
was inconvenient. All these products thatwere being thrown away, old machines that
(03:06):
are being deprecated only because they areobsolete or sent to medical bridges, and
they refurbish them. They got abunch of geniuses on their staff. One
of them is a guy who literallylearns how to work these machines by reading
the instruction manuals, which makes mefeel smart because I read the instructural manuals
too, But this guy actually figuresout how to make them work again,
(03:27):
and then they'll send them out towar torn places. For instance, My
guests are Walter Ulrich. He isthe CEO of Medical Bridges and a US
Marine and with him is Akinyi Adoyo, marketing manager and owner of one of
the coolest names in Houston. It'sa pleasure to see you again, Walter.
(03:49):
I hear you have a new operationin San Antonio. First around,
let me tell you how delighted Kennyand I are to be back with you.
Yeah, it's good to see you. This is great to see you.
And yes, we recruited a verytalented woman to open our facilities and
begin our work in San Antonio.You know, the Houston has the largest
(04:12):
medical center in the world, butSan Antonio. Houstonian's don't always realize that
San Antonio is one of the tenlargest cities in the country that have a
huge medical center as well, anda lot of their surplus medical equipment has
no place to go, So whyshould that material go to waste? So
Sarah Chandy Are, a managing directorfor San Antonio, has been begun collecting
(04:35):
that building relationships with people in SanAntono. She's already established an advisory board
and we've gotten several forty foot containersfilled with quality medical equipment thanks to her
work in San Antonio and South Texas. So you're a franchise now. In
a way, it's a fantastic program. I described it fairly accurately, right,
(04:59):
you nailed it. Yeah, Ithought I was going to have to
do that. Kenny's better at itthan I in but you beat the both
of us. I just thought it'ssuch a fantastic program, and you were
nice enough to welcome me to yourfacility, so I actually saw it work.
I saw your warehouse. It's literallya couple of buildings or three that
are all adjacent to each other,and you've got it. You just have
a huge warehouse stacked up to theceiling with boxes of medical supplies that you
(05:25):
put in containers. So, likeyou said, you fill a container and
you ship it anywhere in the worldthat it is needed, but you do
it in such a way that whenit gets there, the materials are distributed
and used by people who know howto do that. Can you explain to
us how that works, because it'snot like giving money away to people who
are going to embezzle it. Thisstuff actually gets used and you go,
(05:46):
you know, absolutely, we oweit to the hospitals and the doctors who
have doctors' offices who make the donationsof equipment that if you put to good
use, that it goes someplace wherethey have this skill to take advantage of
the material and use it effectively.You know, the old fashioned way Lorent
would be somebody like me would flyout to Kenya or would fly out to
(06:14):
Ukraine, walk around with a clipboard, make some notes, come back and
send crap. Right, that doesn'twork. We're in one hundred and four
countries. You can't possibly know andrespect the culture in one hundred and four
countries. So in every country wework, we find people natives of that
country, resident in the country thatare NGOs or in ministries of health that
(06:39):
we can trust and trust us,and then we work with them and the
physicians in the hospitals. Our globalhealth leader is doctor Taddia Diallo from the
Republic of Guinea. She's an MD, and so she can talk the medical
language with the people in each ofthose institutions. So every single item in
(07:00):
the container is something we know theycan use and something they've told us they
want. And is this still correctto say that texas A and M delivers
you a mobile examination room every year. This is absolutely amazing. Yes,
it inspires me. Also, theyyou typically send us four or five okay,
(07:23):
so it's a lot more than whatI said. Four or five clinics
complete with generator, air conditioning,ceiling fans, cabinetry, something you rarely
see in the developing world, curtainsfor patient privacy. And then we equip
it with the appropriate material for whereit's going, and it'll go someplace where
there's not even a building, placeswhere hospitals have been damaged. For example,
(07:48):
you'll see one of these Texas Aand M medical clinics with medical bridges
materials treating patients today. Do y'allhave the logos on the outside of it.
It depends on the country because againculture matters, but quite but it
will almost always have a medical bridge'slogo. And then the donors who donate
(08:09):
to the students the caventry and stufflike that, the woodworking, their logos
will be on it as well.I just, you know, to make
sure that the audience understands. Theseare exactly the same containers you see being
hoisted onto giant ships. These arereally really big steel containers, which of
course are not livable unless you buildthem out or in. But that's what
(08:33):
they do. They you have nowclean walls instead of corrugated steel, right,
and everything is a septicized and easyto clean. And then they literally
put it on a truck. Theydrive it to medical bridges. You guys
install the chairs, the beds andput in all the medical supplies and then
(08:54):
you take then that truck takes itback to the Port of Houston. Oh,
we forget where the fourth largest portin this kind. But that's one
of the reasons why this works.Absolutely we have a large medical sense.
Yeah, so it's sufficient to getthe materials. Houston is a philanthropic community
because obviously there are certainly colusts associatedwith running our small lean nonprofit. And
(09:15):
we have this port which by somemeasures has the greatest international shipping of the
ports in the US. And thankfullywe don't have all the union problems they
have in Los Angeles. Yeah,so it keeps working, which is why
you keep getting coffee. This iswhere all the coffee from South America and
in Africa comes in. I don'tknow, it's one of the cool things
to know. Most of the coffeedistributed in America comes into Houston, So
(09:39):
they roasted in Seattle maybe, butfirst it comes here green before it just
it is. It's an awesome cityand it's part of the reason why it
works. And I guess now you'regoing to get trucks come in from San
Antonio. Absolutely. In fact,we have a partnership with a group in
San Antonio called Project Mend that isone of the largest distributors of wheelchairs to
(10:03):
the poor in San Antonio. Sowhen we get wheelchairs that we can't use
that are broken, we ship themthe projectmn They have a repair facility and
they distributed them to the poor inthe South Texas area. When they get
medical supplies, as they're picking upwheelchairs for their mission, our truck then
picks them up and brings them back. Plus hospitals are now donating to us
(10:26):
also, and then the truck,just like I said, goes to the
port, the medical facility on atruck gets lifted off, the truck puts
on a ship and it can beanywhere in the world where it'll be again
trucked into sometimes very remote areas.It's hard to measure the impact that something
like that can have, especially overdecades. Well, here's a great example,
(10:50):
we two were delivered to South Sudanbecause of their culture. We needed
to send two because if we onlysent one, it could only be used
by the men, and we wantto be able to serve both men and
women. When we delivered them andthey were finally delivered, you could see
the picture of hundreds of women linedup to get medical care in this desolate
(11:13):
part of South Sudan. When themen was delivered, you can see the
men driving around in pickup trucks andjeeps shooting off AK forty seven's in celebration.
Now think of this a forty goodlord, but a forty foot clinic
in a box with just basic medicalstuff creates a celebration in that part of
(11:35):
Sudan that's bigger than our Fourth ofJuly celebration. That's what Houston Generosity accomplishes
in one hundred and four countries aroundthe world. You know, I just
won't say that the shooting guns inthe air is extremely dangerous because those bullets
come back down and kill people.Think about that. We have a problem
with celebratory gunfire in Houston now.People shooting in the air that comes down
(11:58):
somewhere locks and well, actually neighborhoodsaway and can literally hurt people. Just
it's ironic that they might celebrate thearrival of a mobile clinic considering they might
need it. Ten minutes later,you are listening to Houston PA, Houston's
Public Affairs Show. My name isLaurent. My guests are akin Ye Adoyo.
She is the marketing manager for MedicalBridges, and Walter Ulrich is their
(12:22):
CEO. And he's a Marine Corps. He's a marine. He's a marine.
So I like to say that becauseoh, and you drove a nineteen
sixty four Mustang and I think,I mean, this guy is basically Steve
McQueen, except that for the forreal. Akenye, you come from Kenya,
which means that you get to appreciateHouston culture from the outside a little
(12:45):
bit like I do. I'm continuallysurprised that this happ this sort of thing
happens in this town. It's veryunique. We don't have anything like this
in France. I think things willgetting better as far as volunteering, but
the culture is very different here.People. What do you think of this
Houstonian tradition of helping each other andthen being so prosperous that you can just
(13:11):
help people on the other side ofthe planet literally, And now the Texans
have a big hut and there's beenit's easy to find volunteers and in Houston,
so we don't have a problem gettingvolunteers to help us supplies in the
supply room. And so the cultureof helping in Houston is amazing. I
(13:35):
just I am continually surprised by it. And I mentioned earlier you have a
resident genius who repairs medical machines likedialysis machines. This is the machine.
A dialysis is when they have toliterally remove all your blood and replace it
for you. So let's say,if your kidneys are failing and they're not
filtering your blood, they'll have amachine do it for you. So these
are often on wheels, they're portablemachines. They stick a needle in your
(13:58):
arm, your blood comes out,goes into the machine which filters your blood
for you, and then it isbrought back into your other arm. So
it's a it's not a vacuum cleaner, although there are some similarities. There's
a but the thing is is thatthis is a complicated machine. And I'm
calling this, this young man aresident genius. Because my understanding is that
(14:20):
he did not go to college.He doesn't have any actual training in any
kind of mechanics. He's just asuper smart guy. He's a smart he
he actually worked for NASA before.Oh so I'm wrong, before he came
to Medical Bridges. So Brian Williamsand Walter called him, calls him the
(14:41):
real Brian Williams because oh yeah,nothing leaves Medical Bridges unless he puts a
label on it and makes sure thatevery equipment works. But he's self taught
in a lot of this stuff.It's self tauting a lot of it,
and he does a lot of researchwhen it comes to, you know,
making sure that each equipment is ingood working I was just very impressed by
this young man when I met him. I was just like, I just
(15:03):
couldn't believe it. I just Ican't even build a cabinet. And I
know it's a matter of experience,of course I can learn, but still
to get into this job and towant to do that, that's a special
kind of vocation. I think it'sextraordinary. Tell us a little bit about
your gala coming up in September OctoberOctober, Yeah, so on October seventeenth,
(15:28):
we have our gala and we arehonoring Miss Paula Harris of the Astros
and we hope that everyone will beable to can show up in support medical
Bridges in our efforts to breach thehealthcare gap worldwide. Paula Harris is the
(15:48):
executive director of the Astros Foundation.How do they help you like that?
It just doesn't seem like a connectionthat is easy to make in my head
sports medical. I know that obviouslyathletes are seeing doctors all the time,
but what is the connection. Well, the Astros Foundation three times a week
will come to Medical Bridges and helpus sort of supplies three times a week.
(16:12):
Yes, so they've done this fora couple of years now and it's
made a significant difference when it comesto putting supplies together before it's staged.
And who are these people that arevolunteering? Is it the players because obviously
Astros is a huge organization, it'snot just players, but who is doing
that. We have had players comein to help, but it's mostly the
(16:34):
Astros Foundation employees, so it's adifferent end. This is a different organization.
You know, the Astros do sucha great job of engaging their fans
in so many different ways. Andone of the ways they do is they
put together volunteer opportunities and we areone of the leading places where the volunteers
choose to spend their time and inreturn, the Astros their hours and if
(17:00):
they get so many hours, theyget a ticket to a game, or
they get a T shirt, niceor something else, so they actually get
a reward. And you know,when you come. We love it when
someone comes for three or four hoursonce in a while, but when someone
is coming every week, they getreally, really efficient. They're really good
at it. When COVID hit andfor a while we didn't have volunteers,
(17:25):
the first groups of volunteers came thatcame were Team Rubicon. I'm a veteran,
as you mentioned, and the othergroup was the Astros Foundation. Because
we're out of business if we don'thave volunteers. Who is Team Rubicon.
Team Rubicon is a is a groupninety percent are all veterans, and they're
usually out when there's a flood ora disaster of some kind. They're the
(17:48):
ones that are going to people's homesand they'll replace sheet rock and do physical
labor. But with COVID, theneed for us was so great they made
an exception and actually worked in oursort room. We're very great. So
Ruby Khanas and you've crossed the RubyKhana and gone into an actual catastrophe and
you need a special help. That'sa cool name. We do think about
(18:08):
the Roman Empire all the time.So one of the things that I noticed
to the Gala, which is inOctober October seventeenth, it's presented by Chevron,
which means that you've got these bigguns behind you, and we want
to encourage for profit or corporations todo this because it matters a great deal.
(18:34):
We're talking about a significant amount ofmoney to put on these galas,
and they help you keep the lightson, which means that that money that
you're not spending to keep the lightson is money you can use to send
another truck full of supplies to theother side of the planet. How do
you develop these relationships. Chevron hasbeen with Medical Bridges for a while.
(18:55):
They have not only supported what wedo here in Houston, but they've also
sponsored some some of the shipments inAfrica as well. So they've been a
great partner in our main sponsor atthe galle means. Recently, about a
year ago, they sponsored enough forus to send five forty foot containers of
(19:18):
medical equipment to Kabinda Province in Angola. The death rate of mothers and children
at birth are just dramatic, andthey heart of Chevron was they wanted to
help keep mommies and babies alive forfour weeks, just four weeks. So
they made a huge commitment which wewere able to partner with them and delivered
(19:41):
to the poorest part of the countryof Angola. Yeah, we forget that.
Back in the Middle Ages, thesurvival rate of a mother giving birth
was like flipping a coin. Itwas around fifty percent, and it changed
only recently and only in the developedworld. So we were very quick to
forget how strong and powerful women arein that area and how important that is.
(20:07):
But you're right, what you're ableto do there, if you can
help them stay healthy for four weeks, you can practically guarantee that there are
essentially they they have the same survivalrate, both the mother and the child
as we do. Yeah, theirsurvivability goes way. Yeah, you got
to get through those first four weeksand many thanks to Chevron. Yeah,
(20:29):
that's so for identifying that that needthat seems almost a science fiction ish and
how alien it is to our theway we live well, and it's especially
true for other of our corporate sponsors, especially that do business in parts of
the world. Yeah, it's it'svery easy for us, in partnership with
(20:52):
them to deliver two or two hundredthousand or four hundred thousand dollars worth of
high quality medical equipment supplies for verylittle money. And think of the impact
it has on the communities where they'reworking overseas and the goodwill that it generates.
It's not money that goes into somebureaucracy. It's actually something visible that
(21:15):
people can see and touch, improvehealth and saves lives. And obviously I
hadn't thought of this, but they'vedeveloped these relationships with the community over decades
and decades, so they know exactlywho to give this material to to make
sure that it gets to the rightpeople. Yes, it's really clever,
Yes, and all these people arejust volunteering their time to do this.
(21:36):
You are listening to Houston, PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name
is Laurent. My guest are Akinyia Dooyo. She is the marketing manager
for Medical Bridges and Walter Ulrich istheir CEO. I should have said their
online at medical bridges dot org.Medical bridges dot org you can find out
about their gala on October seventeenth andalso donate. Will provide enough material for
(22:03):
healthcare heroes in the poorest part ofthe world to treat forty people. A
quarter provides enough philanthropy for us todeliver enough material for a treatment. Twenty
five cents treats one person, sofor ten bucks you're actually you're directly helping
forty people. That puts a perspectiveon it. So you have a new
operation in San Antonio. We alsohave a huge medical center that is developing
(22:27):
in Austin and Dallas. Fort Worthis an area that is not too shabby
when it comes to hospitals. Areyou working to expand your operations up there
or do they have their own operationswe Medical Bridges is the only organization in
the state of Texas accredited by themed Surplus Alliance for international shipments. We're
(22:48):
doing San Antonio because it's close andits manageable. Sarah's being really successful.
We're using that as the model andfrom there we'll probably go to Dallas,
and then we may look at NewOrleans, which has a port. But
yeah, you know, you knowthe thing about nonprofits is you have to
(23:08):
use your head alongside your heart.Heart's got to come first. But you
don't want to jump into a bigcity like Dallas without having had the experience
of being successful and learning from ourmistakes in San Antonio and then leveraging that
to Dallas and then going to NewOrleans. There of course, there's Austin,
(23:30):
there's Oklahoma City. There's lots ofplaces in Texas and the surrounding states
that have good medical centers that stuffshouldn't go into landfills. Yeah, and
I'm actually having a port nearby isreally important. Yeah. Really, that's
really a really good model for particularlyNew Orleans. But then so that means
that this model can be replicated inMiami, Los Angeles. I mean,
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basically, anybody with the motivation couldgive you a call or go to Medical
Bridges dot org and send you anemail. We have actually talked to some
people on the West coast and tohelp them get started, we'll share our
plans. In the city of Atlanta, there is a sister organization, no
(24:15):
formal relationship. But like us,there are accredited They behave very much like
we do. They get support fromCoca Cola and the Atlanta organizations. And
Atlanta is also near a port,so in the US we're the only ones
in this part of the country,but there are a handful of other good
ones on the East coast. Butit feels like this could be an industry,
(24:38):
so to speak, that could explode, which would mean that the help
would be multiplied. You're also callingfor doctors who often have to replace their
machines, for instance, when theyget become obsolete, you bet, or
doctors retiring. Yeah, there's anentire office, right, Dennis retiring.
(25:00):
Right. The idea of somehow tryingto sell it in the secondary market you
end up putting in this enormous amountof effort, you get almost no return
and lots of complaints. Go tomedical bridges dot org will pick it up
at your convenience, at our cost. Seriously, seriously. That's because,
yeah, you're right. I wouldimagine that used medical supplies would engender a
(25:22):
lot of complaints. It needs tobe refurbished, it needs to be looked
at and fixed up. And thissounds like an awesome alternative is the word
getting out. A key is themarketing director and she's she's smiling. Yeah,
you're getting the word out. I'mgetting the word out. But this
is helpful. I'm We're grateful thatwe're able to tell more people that we
(25:48):
we can pick up medical equipment atyour convenience. And we have a box
truck that goes out every day.Are you serious? Every day? So
this is a this is an ongoingsuccess. The Box one of the supporters
of one of the box trucks.We actually have two. The smaller one
was the Spirit Golf Association in KirbyRobertson the other one, while they don't
(26:14):
let us put their logo on thevan, actually the Sisters of Charity the
Incarnate Word recognized what we were doingand helped us so we could have a
larger truck to make trips to SanAntonio. And they're donating anonymously because they're
not in it for any other reason. They don't want. They're doing it
because it's their mission to make theworld a better place, and so they
(26:38):
don't want. So please don't thankyour friends at your sisters at the Incarnate
Word, because they are doing it. Anonymously, but we're so grateful they
Literally, when I think about everythingwe touch in the supply chain, at
some point, the sisters have touchedevery item last year. That means they've
(27:00):
touched two hundred and sixty five tonsof material that's been shipped to fifteen countries
around the world. That's extraordinary.We should be thankful of them, We
should thank them. Well, Ibelieve me, I do thank them personally.
Yeah, there's some It's extraordinary howsome people are completely selfless, out
of nature. It's a vocation.They do it. They do it for
(27:22):
no other reason that they actually believethat's the right thing to do. It's
immovable, it's a great faith.Amen, exactly exactly, Folks. You
can help them keep the lights on, which means that not that the lights
are going to turn off. Youunderstand, what I'm saying is that if
you can help them pay for thelight bill and the AC bill, then
(27:44):
more of the money that they getfrom Chevron, for instance, goes straight
to helping people directly. And aswe've already discussed, if you donate small
amounts five ten dollars, it makesan enormous different. So there shouldn't be
any shame and no thoughts should includeall I can't donate one thousand dollars.
Therefore, it's not worth going tomedical Bridges dot organ even clicking on the
(28:07):
link. On the contrary, it'sgo ahead, Walter. One pair of
gloves matters. One pair of glovesmeans someone is going to get an operation,
diagnosis or procedure and not have therisk of infection, which in some
parts of the world has dire consequences. That's eleven cents. Yeah, and
(28:29):
you've already mentioned that ten dollars literallyis helpful to up to forty people,
which is an enormous return on yourinvestment. That's the if only we could
find odds like that for money inthe market. Right, So go to
medical Bridges dot org. You maywant to volunteer. It's a really great
group of people. You can meetthem by going to their gala on October
(28:52):
seventeenth. Chevron is sponsoring it,which means there's going to be a bunch
of good food. Well, that'swhat that means to the client. And
you're honoring Paula Harris, who isthe executive director of the Astros Foundation.
And I'm going to have to havethem on the show one day, because
every time I hear about these people, they're doing something else that surprises me,
and it's good. They're like anarmy of do gooders that are quite
(29:17):
visible and at the same time invisible. You would love having one of Paula's
colleagues on this show. They doso much in so many different ways.
I guess they're overshadowed by the Astros, which is a very media oriented organization,
especially when they play good baseball,but which they've done recently. They've
done recently I hear. I'm gonnahave to start following more closely. But
(29:41):
what I love is that there againthere's that Houston entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit.
You've got an enormous driver, amulti billion dollar organization that is driving literally
thousands of people to do a bunchof good stuff, and they've got a
huge budget because of it. It'sreally the right way of making things work.
So go to medical Bridges dot orgmedical bridges dot org for more information.
(30:04):
And if you have any questions relatedto Houston, PA any of the
guests that I have on this show, you can send me an email.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. All one word Texan from France at
gmail dot com and I want tothank you ladies and gentlemen for listening and
caring about all the issues that puton this show. My name is Laurent
(30:26):
I am the Texan from France andI'll see you next week. At the
same time, this has been HoustonPA, Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong.
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expresson this show do not necessarily reflect those
hell by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, for any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurent I am theTexan from France and the proud host
(00:27):
of Houston, PA, especially ona day when I welcome back Medical Bridges,
an extraordinary organization that has been foundedby a couple of women many years
ago to find a way how torecycle the medical wastes coming out of hospital.
Now, I'm not talking about thetubes that they use for dialysis that
get full of biomatter and all that. They throw all that stuff away.
(00:50):
But what we don't realize is thatwhen you go in for hernia operation,
for instance, which is a routineoperation they may only take thirty minutes.
They set up all the medical instrumentsthey need for that particular operation. They
also set up the medical instruments theymay need if something goes wrong. And
once all those pliers and scalpels areunwrapped and sitting next to your gurney,
(01:14):
they can't be put back in thebox. For use for the next operation,
they obviously have to be sanitized again, and so hospitals just throw that
stuff away. And the reason iscomplicated, but it basically amounts to the
fact that if you wanted to recyclethese these materials, you would need a
separate building, separate administration, andthe cost is just too much. And
so they used to throw this stuffaway. And a couple of women on
(01:38):
a mission to South America found outthat once they arrived in these poor countries,
they had to use sandwich bags asgloves, and that's an actual example
of what these brave women were doing. And they figured out that maybe it
would be great if they could sendsome gloves to these places and bring some
with them on their next mission.And so they contacted hospitals to see if
(02:00):
there was a way that they couldcollect some of this stuff that was being
thrown away, and they found away to recycle it themselves. So of
course all this stuff is resanitized andgets repackaged. And now the mission of
Medical Bridges is to send all ofthese medical supplies to poor places in the
world, and even out in thiscountry where it is needed. You have
(02:20):
a disaster, medical Bridges can sendyou a mobile clinic. They have the
Texas A and M students that designthem a mobile clinic every year. This
is literally a truck trailer that isempty. They get it on the Texas
A and M campus and they outfitit inside into a little mobile clinic.
They can put a dental chair inthere. They they outfit it with clean
(02:45):
walls, and obviously when you walkinto it, it looks like you're in
a tiny, little medical facility.And it's just one of the most awesome
programs that I've ever heard of,and I feel like it perfectly embodies the
Houston spirit. We found a wayto do something good out of something that
was inconvenient. All these products thatwere being thrown away, old machines that
(03:06):
are being deprecated only because they areobsolete or sent to medical bridges, and
they refurbish them. They got abunch of geniuses on their staff. One
of them is a guy who literallylearns how to work these machines by reading
the instruction manuals, which makes mefeel smart because I read the instructural manuals
too, But this guy actually figuresout how to make them work again,
(03:27):
and then they'll send them out towar torn places. For instance, My
guests are Walter Ulrich. He isthe CEO of Medical Bridges and a US
Marine and with him is Akinyi Adoyo, marketing manager and owner of one of
the coolest names in Houston. It'sa pleasure to see you again, Walter.
(03:49):
I hear you have a new operationin San Antonio. First around,
let me tell you how delighted Kennyand I are to be back with you.
Yeah, it's good to see you. This is great to see you.
And yes, we recruited a verytalented woman to open our facilities and
begin our work in San Antonio.You know, the Houston has the largest
(04:12):
medical center in the world, butSan Antonio. Houstonian's don't always realize that
San Antonio is one of the tenlargest cities in the country that have a
huge medical center as well, anda lot of their surplus medical equipment has
no place to go, So whyshould that material go to waste? So
Sarah Chandy Are, a managing directorfor San Antonio, has been begun collecting
(04:35):
that building relationships with people in SanAntono. She's already established an advisory board
and we've gotten several forty foot containersfilled with quality medical equipment thanks to her
work in San Antonio and South Texas. So you're a franchise now. In
a way, it's a fantastic program. I described it fairly accurately, right,
(04:59):
you nailed it. Yeah, Ithought I was going to have to
do that. Kenny's better at itthan I in but you beat the both
of us. I just thought it'ssuch a fantastic program, and you were
nice enough to welcome me to yourfacility, so I actually saw it work.
I saw your warehouse. It's literallya couple of buildings or three that
are all adjacent to each other,and you've got it. You just have
a huge warehouse stacked up to theceiling with boxes of medical supplies that you
(05:25):
put in containers. So, likeyou said, you fill a container and
you ship it anywhere in the worldthat it is needed, but you do
it in such a way that whenit gets there, the materials are distributed
and used by people who know howto do that. Can you explain to
us how that works, because it'snot like giving money away to people who
are going to embezzle it. Thisstuff actually gets used and you go,
(05:46):
you know, absolutely, we oweit to the hospitals and the doctors who
have doctors' offices who make the donationsof equipment that if you put to good
use, that it goes someplace wherethey have this skill to take advantage of
the material and use it effectively.You know, the old fashioned way Lorent
would be somebody like me would flyout to Kenya or would fly out to
(06:14):
Ukraine, walk around with a clipboard, make some notes, come back and
send crap. Right, that doesn'twork. We're in one hundred and four
countries. You can't possibly know andrespect the culture in one hundred and four
countries. So in every country wework, we find people natives of that
country, resident in the country thatare NGOs or in ministries of health that
(06:39):
we can trust and trust us,and then we work with them and the
physicians in the hospitals. Our globalhealth leader is doctor Taddia Diallo from the
Republic of Guinea. She's an MD, and so she can talk the medical
language with the people in each ofthose institutions. So every single item in
(07:00):
the container is something we know theycan use and something they've told us they
want. And is this still correctto say that texas A and M delivers
you a mobile examination room every year. This is absolutely amazing. Yes,
it inspires me. Also, theyyou typically send us four or five okay,
(07:23):
so it's a lot more than whatI said. Four or five clinics
complete with generator, air conditioning,ceiling fans, cabinetry, something you rarely
see in the developing world, curtainsfor patient privacy. And then we equip
it with the appropriate material for whereit's going, and it'll go someplace where
there's not even a building, placeswhere hospitals have been damaged. For example,
(07:48):
you'll see one of these Texas Aand M medical clinics with medical bridges
materials treating patients today. Do y'allhave the logos on the outside of it.
It depends on the country because againculture matters, but quite but it
will almost always have a medical bridge'slogo. And then the donors who donate
(08:09):
to the students the caventry and stufflike that, the woodworking, their logos
will be on it as well.I just, you know, to make
sure that the audience understands. Theseare exactly the same containers you see being
hoisted onto giant ships. These arereally really big steel containers, which of
course are not livable unless you buildthem out or in. But that's what
(08:33):
they do. They you have nowclean walls instead of corrugated steel, right,
and everything is a septicized and easyto clean. And then they literally
put it on a truck. Theydrive it to medical bridges. You guys
install the chairs, the beds andput in all the medical supplies and then
(08:54):
you take then that truck takes itback to the Port of Houston. Oh,
we forget where the fourth largest portin this kind. But that's one
of the reasons why this works.Absolutely we have a large medical sense.
Yeah, so it's sufficient to getthe materials. Houston is a philanthropic community
because obviously there are certainly colusts associatedwith running our small lean nonprofit. And
(09:15):
we have this port which by somemeasures has the greatest international shipping of the
ports in the US. And thankfullywe don't have all the union problems they
have in Los Angeles. Yeah,so it keeps working, which is why
you keep getting coffee. This iswhere all the coffee from South America and
in Africa comes in. I don'tknow, it's one of the cool things
to know. Most of the coffeedistributed in America comes into Houston, So
(09:39):
they roasted in Seattle maybe, butfirst it comes here green before it just
it is. It's an awesome cityand it's part of the reason why it
works. And I guess now you'regoing to get trucks come in from San
Antonio. Absolutely. In fact,we have a partnership with a group in
San Antonio called Project Mend that isone of the largest distributors of wheelchairs to
(10:03):
the poor in San Antonio. Sowhen we get wheelchairs that we can't use
that are broken, we ship themthe projectmn They have a repair facility and
they distributed them to the poor inthe South Texas area. When they get
medical supplies, as they're picking upwheelchairs for their mission, our truck then
picks them up and brings them back. Plus hospitals are now donating to us
(10:26):
also, and then the truck,just like I said, goes to the
port, the medical facility on atruck gets lifted off, the truck puts
on a ship and it can beanywhere in the world where it'll be again
trucked into sometimes very remote areas.It's hard to measure the impact that something
like that can have, especially overdecades. Well, here's a great example,
(10:50):
we two were delivered to South Sudanbecause of their culture. We needed
to send two because if we onlysent one, it could only be used
by the men, and we wantto be able to serve both men and
women. When we delivered them andthey were finally delivered, you could see
the picture of hundreds of women linedup to get medical care in this desolate
(11:13):
part of South Sudan. When themen was delivered, you can see the
men driving around in pickup trucks andjeeps shooting off AK forty seven's in celebration.
Now think of this a forty goodlord, but a forty foot clinic
in a box with just basic medicalstuff creates a celebration in that part of
(11:35):
Sudan that's bigger than our Fourth ofJuly celebration. That's what Houston Generosity accomplishes
in one hundred and four countries aroundthe world. You know, I just
won't say that the shooting guns inthe air is extremely dangerous because those bullets
come back down and kill people.Think about that. We have a problem
with celebratory gunfire in Houston now.People shooting in the air that comes down
(11:58):
somewhere locks and well, actually neighborhoodsaway and can literally hurt people. Just
it's ironic that they might celebrate thearrival of a mobile clinic considering they might
need it. Ten minutes later,you are listening to Houston PA, Houston's
Public Affairs Show. My name isLaurent. My guests are akin Ye Adoyo.
She is the marketing manager for MedicalBridges, and Walter Ulrich is their
(12:22):
CEO. And he's a Marine Corps. He's a marine. He's a marine.
So I like to say that becauseoh, and you drove a nineteen
sixty four Mustang and I think,I mean, this guy is basically Steve
McQueen, except that for the forreal. Akenye, you come from Kenya,
which means that you get to appreciateHouston culture from the outside a little
(12:45):
bit like I do. I'm continuallysurprised that this happ this sort of thing
happens in this town. It's veryunique. We don't have anything like this
in France. I think things willgetting better as far as volunteering, but
the culture is very different here.People. What do you think of this
Houstonian tradition of helping each other andthen being so prosperous that you can just
(13:11):
help people on the other side ofthe planet literally, And now the Texans
have a big hut and there's beenit's easy to find volunteers and in Houston,
so we don't have a problem gettingvolunteers to help us supplies in the
supply room. And so the cultureof helping in Houston is amazing. I
(13:35):
just I am continually surprised by it. And I mentioned earlier you have a
resident genius who repairs medical machines likedialysis machines. This is the machine.
A dialysis is when they have toliterally remove all your blood and replace it
for you. So let's say,if your kidneys are failing and they're not
filtering your blood, they'll have amachine do it for you. So these
are often on wheels, they're portablemachines. They stick a needle in your
(13:58):
arm, your blood comes out,goes into the machine which filters your blood
for you, and then it isbrought back into your other arm. So
it's a it's not a vacuum cleaner, although there are some similarities. There's
a but the thing is is thatthis is a complicated machine. And I'm
calling this, this young man aresident genius. Because my understanding is that
(14:20):
he did not go to college.He doesn't have any actual training in any
kind of mechanics. He's just asuper smart guy. He's a smart he
he actually worked for NASA before.Oh so I'm wrong, before he came
to Medical Bridges. So Brian Williamsand Walter called him, calls him the
(14:41):
real Brian Williams because oh yeah,nothing leaves Medical Bridges unless he puts a
label on it and makes sure thatevery equipment works. But he's self taught
in a lot of this stuff.It's self tauting a lot of it,
and he does a lot of researchwhen it comes to, you know,
making sure that each equipment is ingood working I was just very impressed by
this young man when I met him. I was just like, I just
(15:03):
couldn't believe it. I just Ican't even build a cabinet. And I
know it's a matter of experience,of course I can learn, but still
to get into this job and towant to do that, that's a special
kind of vocation. I think it'sextraordinary. Tell us a little bit about
your gala coming up in September OctoberOctober, Yeah, so on October seventeenth,
(15:28):
we have our gala and we arehonoring Miss Paula Harris of the Astros
and we hope that everyone will beable to can show up in support medical
Bridges in our efforts to breach thehealthcare gap worldwide. Paula Harris is the
(15:48):
executive director of the Astros Foundation.How do they help you like that?
It just doesn't seem like a connectionthat is easy to make in my head
sports medical. I know that obviouslyathletes are seeing doctors all the time,
but what is the connection. Well, the Astros Foundation three times a week
will come to Medical Bridges and helpus sort of supplies three times a week.
(16:12):
Yes, so they've done this fora couple of years now and it's
made a significant difference when it comesto putting supplies together before it's staged.
And who are these people that arevolunteering? Is it the players because obviously
Astros is a huge organization, it'snot just players, but who is doing
that. We have had players comein to help, but it's mostly the
(16:34):
Astros Foundation employees, so it's adifferent end. This is a different organization.
You know, the Astros do sucha great job of engaging their fans
in so many different ways. Andone of the ways they do is they
put together volunteer opportunities and we areone of the leading places where the volunteers
choose to spend their time and inreturn, the Astros their hours and if
(17:00):
they get so many hours, theyget a ticket to a game, or
they get a T shirt, niceor something else, so they actually get
a reward. And you know,when you come. We love it when
someone comes for three or four hoursonce in a while, but when someone
is coming every week, they getreally, really efficient. They're really good
at it. When COVID hit andfor a while we didn't have volunteers,
(17:25):
the first groups of volunteers came thatcame were Team Rubicon. I'm a veteran,
as you mentioned, and the othergroup was the Astros Foundation. Because
we're out of business if we don'thave volunteers. Who is Team Rubicon.
Team Rubicon is a is a groupninety percent are all veterans, and they're
usually out when there's a flood ora disaster of some kind. They're the
(17:48):
ones that are going to people's homesand they'll replace sheet rock and do physical
labor. But with COVID, theneed for us was so great they made
an exception and actually worked in oursort room. We're very great. So
Ruby Khanas and you've crossed the RubyKhana and gone into an actual catastrophe and
you need a special help. That'sa cool name. We do think about
(18:08):
the Roman Empire all the time.So one of the things that I noticed
to the Gala, which is inOctober October seventeenth, it's presented by Chevron,
which means that you've got these bigguns behind you, and we want
to encourage for profit or corporations todo this because it matters a great deal.
(18:34):
We're talking about a significant amount ofmoney to put on these galas,
and they help you keep the lightson, which means that that money that
you're not spending to keep the lightson is money you can use to send
another truck full of supplies to theother side of the planet. How do
you develop these relationships. Chevron hasbeen with Medical Bridges for a while.
(18:55):
They have not only supported what wedo here in Houston, but they've also
sponsored some some of the shipments inAfrica as well. So they've been a
great partner in our main sponsor atthe galle means. Recently, about a
year ago, they sponsored enough forus to send five forty foot containers of
(19:18):
medical equipment to Kabinda Province in Angola. The death rate of mothers and children
at birth are just dramatic, andthey heart of Chevron was they wanted to
help keep mommies and babies alive forfour weeks, just four weeks. So
they made a huge commitment which wewere able to partner with them and delivered
(19:41):
to the poorest part of the countryof Angola. Yeah, we forget that.
Back in the Middle Ages, thesurvival rate of a mother giving birth
was like flipping a coin. Itwas around fifty percent, and it changed
only recently and only in the developedworld. So we were very quick to
forget how strong and powerful women arein that area and how important that is.
(20:07):
But you're right, what you're ableto do there, if you can
help them stay healthy for four weeks, you can practically guarantee that there are
essentially they they have the same survivalrate, both the mother and the child
as we do. Yeah, theirsurvivability goes way. Yeah, you got
to get through those first four weeksand many thanks to Chevron. Yeah,
(20:29):
that's so for identifying that that needthat seems almost a science fiction ish and
how alien it is to our theway we live well, and it's especially
true for other of our corporate sponsors, especially that do business in parts of
the world. Yeah, it's it'svery easy for us, in partnership with
(20:52):
them to deliver two or two hundredthousand or four hundred thousand dollars worth of
high quality medical equipment supplies for verylittle money. And think of the impact
it has on the communities where they'reworking overseas and the goodwill that it generates.
It's not money that goes into somebureaucracy. It's actually something visible that
(21:15):
people can see and touch, improvehealth and saves lives. And obviously I
hadn't thought of this, but they'vedeveloped these relationships with the community over decades
and decades, so they know exactlywho to give this material to to make
sure that it gets to the rightpeople. Yes, it's really clever,
Yes, and all these people arejust volunteering their time to do this.
(21:36):
You are listening to Houston, PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name
is Laurent. My guest are Akinyia Dooyo. She is the marketing manager
for Medical Bridges and Walter Ulrich istheir CEO. I should have said their
online at medical bridges dot org.Medical bridges dot org you can find out
about their gala on October seventeenth andalso donate. Will provide enough material for
(22:03):
healthcare heroes in the poorest part ofthe world to treat forty people. A
quarter provides enough philanthropy for us todeliver enough material for a treatment. Twenty
five cents treats one person, sofor ten bucks you're actually you're directly helping
forty people. That puts a perspectiveon it. So you have a new
operation in San Antonio. We alsohave a huge medical center that is developing
(22:27):
in Austin and Dallas. Fort Worthis an area that is not too shabby
when it comes to hospitals. Areyou working to expand your operations up there
or do they have their own operationswe Medical Bridges is the only organization in
the state of Texas accredited by themed Surplus Alliance for international shipments. We're
(22:48):
doing San Antonio because it's close andits manageable. Sarah's being really successful.
We're using that as the model andfrom there we'll probably go to Dallas,
and then we may look at NewOrleans, which has a port. But
yeah, you know, you knowthe thing about nonprofits is you have to
(23:08):
use your head alongside your heart.Heart's got to come first. But you
don't want to jump into a bigcity like Dallas without having had the experience
of being successful and learning from ourmistakes in San Antonio and then leveraging that
to Dallas and then going to NewOrleans. There of course, there's Austin,
(23:30):
there's Oklahoma City. There's lots ofplaces in Texas and the surrounding states
that have good medical centers that stuffshouldn't go into landfills. Yeah, and
I'm actually having a port nearby isreally important. Yeah. Really, that's
really a really good model for particularlyNew Orleans. But then so that means
that this model can be replicated inMiami, Los Angeles. I mean,
(23:52):
basically, anybody with the motivation couldgive you a call or go to Medical
Bridges dot org and send you anemail. We have actually talked to some
people on the West coast and tohelp them get started, we'll share our
plans. In the city of Atlanta, there is a sister organization, no
(24:15):
formal relationship. But like us,there are accredited They behave very much like
we do. They get support fromCoca Cola and the Atlanta organizations. And
Atlanta is also near a port,so in the US we're the only ones
in this part of the country,but there are a handful of other good
ones on the East coast. Butit feels like this could be an industry,
(24:38):
so to speak, that could explode, which would mean that the help
would be multiplied. You're also callingfor doctors who often have to replace their
machines, for instance, when theyget become obsolete, you bet, or
doctors retiring. Yeah, there's anentire office, right, Dennis retiring.
(25:00):
Right. The idea of somehow tryingto sell it in the secondary market you
end up putting in this enormous amountof effort, you get almost no return
and lots of complaints. Go tomedical bridges dot org will pick it up
at your convenience, at our cost. Seriously, seriously. That's because,
yeah, you're right. I wouldimagine that used medical supplies would engender a
(25:22):
lot of complaints. It needs tobe refurbished, it needs to be looked
at and fixed up. And thissounds like an awesome alternative is the word
getting out. A key is themarketing director and she's she's smiling. Yeah,
you're getting the word out. I'mgetting the word out. But this
is helpful. I'm We're grateful thatwe're able to tell more people that we
(25:48):
we can pick up medical equipment atyour convenience. And we have a box
truck that goes out every day.Are you serious? Every day? So
this is a this is an ongoingsuccess. The Box one of the supporters
of one of the box trucks.We actually have two. The smaller one
was the Spirit Golf Association in KirbyRobertson the other one, while they don't
(26:14):
let us put their logo on thevan, actually the Sisters of Charity the
Incarnate Word recognized what we were doingand helped us so we could have a
larger truck to make trips to SanAntonio. And they're donating anonymously because they're
not in it for any other reason. They don't want. They're doing it
because it's their mission to make theworld a better place, and so they
(26:38):
don't want. So please don't thankyour friends at your sisters at the Incarnate
Word, because they are doing it. Anonymously, but we're so grateful they
Literally, when I think about everythingwe touch in the supply chain, at
some point, the sisters have touchedevery item last year. That means they've
(27:00):
touched two hundred and sixty five tonsof material that's been shipped to fifteen countries
around the world. That's extraordinary.We should be thankful of them, We
should thank them. Well, Ibelieve me, I do thank them personally.
Yeah, there's some It's extraordinary howsome people are completely selfless, out
of nature. It's a vocation.They do it. They do it for
(27:22):
no other reason that they actually believethat's the right thing to do. It's
immovable, it's a great faith.Amen, exactly exactly, Folks. You
can help them keep the lights on, which means that not that the lights
are going to turn off. Youunderstand, what I'm saying is that if
you can help them pay for thelight bill and the AC bill, then
(27:44):
more of the money that they getfrom Chevron, for instance, goes straight
to helping people directly. And aswe've already discussed, if you donate small
amounts five ten dollars, it makesan enormous different. So there shouldn't be
any shame and no thoughts should includeall I can't donate one thousand dollars.
Therefore, it's not worth going tomedical Bridges dot organ even clicking on the
(28:07):
link. On the contrary, it'sgo ahead, Walter. One pair of
gloves matters. One pair of glovesmeans someone is going to get an operation,
diagnosis or procedure and not have therisk of infection, which in some
parts of the world has dire consequences. That's eleven cents. Yeah, and
(28:29):
you've already mentioned that ten dollars literallyis helpful to up to forty people,
which is an enormous return on yourinvestment. That's the if only we could
find odds like that for money inthe market. Right, So go to
medical Bridges dot org. You maywant to volunteer. It's a really great
group of people. You can meetthem by going to their gala on October
(28:52):
seventeenth. Chevron is sponsoring it,which means there's going to be a bunch
of good food. Well, that'swhat that means to the client. And
you're honoring Paula Harris, who isthe executive director of the Astros Foundation.
And I'm going to have to havethem on the show one day, because
every time I hear about these people, they're doing something else that surprises me,
and it's good. They're like anarmy of do gooders that are quite
(29:17):
visible and at the same time invisible. You would love having one of Paula's
colleagues on this show. They doso much in so many different ways.
I guess they're overshadowed by the Astros, which is a very media oriented organization,
especially when they play good baseball,but which they've done recently. They've
done recently I hear. I'm gonnahave to start following more closely. But
(29:41):
what I love is that there againthere's that Houston entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit.
You've got an enormous driver, amulti billion dollar organization that is driving literally
thousands of people to do a bunchof good stuff, and they've got a
huge budget because of it. It'sreally the right way of making things work.
So go to medical Bridges dot orgmedical bridges dot org for more information.
(30:04):
And if you have any questions relatedto Houston, PA any of the
guests that I have on this show, you can send me an email.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. All one word Texan from France at
gmail dot com and I want tothank you ladies and gentlemen for listening and
caring about all the issues that puton this show. My name is Laurent
(30:26):
I am the Texan from France andI'll see you next week. At the
same time, this has been HoustonPA, Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong.
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