Are you thinking about what to do with crutches you no longer need? Or un-used medical supplies? Returning them is not an option and simply throwing unused supplies away is wasteful as they enter the landfills. The ideal solution is to get the medical supplies that you no longer need to people who can use them because they are poor or have little or no access to medical care. 

This is exactly what dozens of departments across all UHN sites have decided to do and have been doing for quite some time. After a 3 month pause due to Omicron, TeamUHN’s Operation Green program is back and running! Operation Green makes sure extra hospital supplies don’t go to waste by sending them to places in need like earthquake zones, other natural disasters — and right now, Ukraine.

TWH Respiratory Therapist Lisa Kappukatt and Energy & Environment Sustainability Coordinator Warren Marasigan hold up medical supplies donated to Operation Green.

On March 21st, we had the privilege to coordinate and collect hundreds of kilograms of medical supplies for Ukraine. We teamed up with our partner organization Not Just Tourists who will arrange the shipment of medical supplies through individual traveller’s, or in this case, the Canadian Ukraine Foundation. Overall, we were able to collect nearly 1400 kilograms worth of surplus medical supplies (our largest collection to date!). However, a big thank you goes to our friends at UHN volunteer resources, UHN Transportation Department and all the UHN volunteers at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, and Toronto Western Hospital. Your dedicated support and time are the reason we were able to ensure all excess supplies were collected and not wasted.

“We are grateful for the UHN’s support. They’re a leading hospital when it comes to donating”

– Juliet Lev, Medical Advisor, Not Just Tourists.

Operation Green’s efforts in March only the mark the beginning of what will be a year of donating through 2022. The program doesn’t just stop with one country, the goal is to continue to collect excess medical supplies, divert them from the landfill, and make sure they are put into the hands of communities that need them most.

Individuals or Departments across UHN who want to help with upcoming Operation Green donations, simply need to contact operationgreen@uhn.ca, grab a box from central storage, label it Operation Green and start collecting surplus, unused, expired, or short-dated (near expiry) supplies.