On the Ground in Vanuatu: Our Partnership with ProMedical
From warehouse to frontline care, another vital shipment of medical supplies has reached the Pacific—this time strengthening emergency response capacity in Vanuatu through a delivery to ProMedical, a leading provider of pre-hospital care across the islands.
The shipment, now in use across Efate and Espiritu Santo, includes a broad range of essential items: suture packs, dressings, IV supplies, manual resuscitators, hypodermic needles, catheters, thermal blankets, cold packs, oxygen tubing and airway equipment, syringes, and more. Together, these supplies form the backbone of effective emergency care—enabling first responders to act quickly, safely, and with confidence in critical situations.
For ProMedical, where teams operate in a resource-constrained environment, the impact is immediate and tangible.
“These supplies will have an immediate and meaningful impact on our ability to deliver safe, timely care to our community,” said CEO Jeff Mabbett. “In a resource-constrained environment like Vanuatu, access to reliable medical equipment directly translates to better patient outcomes.”
Beyond frontline response, the shipment also plays a crucial role in community outreach. ProMedical’s Community First Aid Responder training program equips local residents with lifesaving skills—but those skills are only as effective as the tools available.
“Importantly, these supplies don’t just support our frontline teams,” Mabbett added. “They also allow us to equip communities where we’ve delivered our Community First Aid Responder training, ensuring people not only have the knowledge, but the tools to act when it matters most.”
A critical but often overlooked part of this story lies within the hospitals and health centres across Australia that make shipments like this possible. Many of the items delivered to Vanuatu originate from surplus medical stock: high-quality, unused supplies that remain after procedural packs are opened but not fully utilised, or inventory left behind when facilities upgrade, relocate, or close services. These items are clean and viable, and with the collection and delivery network managed by SOS, can be used for their intended purposes in the hands of health workers across the Pacific.
SOS carefully recovers, quality-checks, and redistributes supplies to partners who can put them to immediate use. This approach not only reduces unnecessary waste but also extends the life of valuable medical resources—transforming surplus into lifesaving support.
SOS CEO Tracey Scanlan expressed deep gratitude to the vast network of supply partners across Australia. “Save Our Supplies relies on our domestic partnerships with our donor partners; Medline, Ansell, Defries; Queensland Health and Queensland Ambulance as well as all the wonderful nurses, doctors, health care professionals and private citizens who contact us regularly to make donations of medical consumables”.
“We are incredibly thankful to these supply partners who trust us with their surplus,” says Tracey. “It’s a powerful reminder that impact doesn’t always come from something new — sometimes it comes from rethinking what we already have.”
“In places like Vanuatu, where supply chains can be unpredictable and resources limited, access to consistent, high-quality equipment is about more than efficiency—it’s about dignity, irrespective of geography”.
As this latest shipment moves from storage shelves into ambulances and community kits, it stands as a powerful example of what’s possible through collaboration—linking surplus to need and turning excess into impact.
