Where surplus finds a purpose.

Over $9 billion of medical supplies are discarded each year in the United States. As medical technologies continue to advance, outmoded (but perfectly good) equipment and supplies are gathering dust in the corners of hospital storage rooms across the nation. At the same time, less fortunate countries all over the world are in urgent need of medical equipment and supplies.

In 1997 Dr. Patricia Brock decided to do something about all the waste. On a medical mission to El Salvador, she was struck by the country’s incredible lack of basic medical supplies. Upon returning to Houston, Texas, she, along with a group of concerned individuals, established a recycling program that would channel unused medical equipment and supplies – everything from X-ray machines to antibiotics – to qualified healthcare providers in developing countries that desperately needed them. Medical Bridges was born.