Summa Western Reserve Hospital is extending its outreach by sending medical uniforms to the SHARE (Student Health Assistance Rural Experience) Kenya Program, a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Benson Bonyo, who trained as a resident at Summa Western Reserve Hospital and now runs his own practice, BS Bonyo and Associates. Summa Western Reserve Hospital had recently transitioned to new uniforms and quickly sought the best use for the former scrubs that were surplus from staff or lightly-used.

“Outreach, both local and beyond our geographic borders is an important part of our mission to improve the health of our communities,” says Robert DeJournett, Director, Community Relations & Diversity at Summa Western Reserve Hospital. “We remain grateful for the resources we have and are proud to assist in Dr. Bonyo’s dedicated effort.”

The uniforms were sent to Mama Palista Bonyo Memorial Clinic in rural Masara Kenya where physicians and staff desperately need supplies, such as sterile clothing when attending to the ill or injured. Suzanne Gill, RN, Summa Western Reserve Hospital’s Vice President Patient Care Services and CNO, coordinated the uniform collection and donation in a unified effort by the hospital’s nursing units to repurpose their resources to aid the mission.

“Our members greatly appreciate Summa Western Reserve’s contribution toward the medical services which we work hard to provide,” says Dr. Sharon VanNostran, who serves as a SHARE mission member and works in Summa Health System’s Department of Family Medicine. “These donations will be used during the much needed care at the rural clinic.”

Dr. Bonyo’s SHARE Kenya Program began in 1995 when a group of thirteen medical students from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) and Ohio State University, traveled to western Kenya in the hopes of  improving health care for those in need. The year-round program has now grown to include the Mama Palista Bonyo Memorial Clinic in Bonyo’s home of Ahero, which serves as the areas only source of medical treatment. The clinic has provided aid to thousands in a region where 70% of the population lacks access to healthcare and many face afflictions such as chronic malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, parasitic illness, and other tropical diseases. More information can be found at www.bonyokenyamission.org.