Safety Boxes Distribution and Healthcare Worker Training

Between 2009 and 2012, FIRE worked with the Albuquerque Del Norte Rotary Club in New Mexico, USA, and the Selbe Rotary Club in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to distribute 152,077 sharps containers (biohazard boxes for sharp medical waste) to 266 rural hospitals and clinics in Mongolia.  We created Mongolia’s first locally produced cardboard ‘sharps container’ to meet World Health Organization standards. It has been the standard box for most rural clinics since then, and we have provided every healthcare facility in 10 provinces with supplies and training to improve infection prevention and control in their clinics.

The “Safety Box Project” also connected FIRE to Charlie Ofelt and the Patlovich Family. Their tireless volunteer and fundraising support combined with their overall expertise helped FIRE shift our focus from clothing distribution to liver health. The last 10 years of FIRE’s work was made possible largely by our invaluable relationship with these wonderful people-whose connection with FIRE at the perfect time changed our history.

We reached 10 out of 21 provinces and trained 1,730 healthcare workers. We delivered a two-year supply of sharps containers for every hospital in each province. These containers were distributed in conjunction with a one-day training session for representatives from every hospital on using the containers and proper medical waste management. We distributed educational posters and handouts. We also distributed 2,000 copies of a one-hour training DVD, which FIRE wrote, directed, and produced, to every clinic in the country in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.