– Tim Sharpe

Last month I spent a week in Romania with Belief in Action, I was joining a team of mainly Occupational Therapists, and the trip was centred around the sorting of disability and medical equipment.

The main objective of the week, was to sort out a large warehouse full of equipment that was either needing repair, used for spares or scrapped.

The main Belief in Action warehouse is fairly small, so when a lorry arrives from the UK, a decision has to be made if the items can be used straight away, or stored elsewhere until needed.

We were also able to arrange for a number of local old peoples homes, to come and collect items they could make use of, as they have limited access to equipment.

The trip was particularly useful, as it gave me an insight into the process that is in place for receiving equipment in Romania, and the fact that unfortunately the team don’t have enough time and resources to deal with items that need more than basic repair, so we need to in the future be more selective what we send, and maybe try and do some repairs in the UK.