Our History

Med-Eq is part of REMEDY, a 501(c)(3) organization based in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. REMEDY was founded in 1991 to promote the recovery of open but unused medical supplies in United States hospitals for the purpose of donation in the developing world. REMEDY maintains an active recovery program at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.

In the late 1990s, the REMEDY staff recognized that some of their inventory was not suited to general purpose medical care overseas. In order to find placement for this inventory, AIRe-Mail (Agency for International Relief e-Mail system) was founded. Through AIRe-mail,  notifications regarding REMEDY’s excess inventory was sent to a large number of not-for-profit agencies that could then submit a request. In the mid-2000s, AIRe-mail was redeveloped into the Med-Eq website.

Today: Serving Families & Communities

When home care ends, families often find themselves in possession of medical supplies, devices and equipment that has been lightly or never used. When asking pharmacists, doctors and suppliers what to do with these items, they are usually told to throw them out. The new Med-Eq website has been built specifically to serve these families, while still serving the charitable community.

Healthcare facilities are invited to visit the REMEDY website to learn how they can start recovery programs »

How is REMEDY funded?

Except for a part-time administrator and a part-time book-keeper, all persons at REMEDY / Med-Eq are volunteers. Yale undergraduates run the hospital materials recovery program at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Doctors, nurses and others manage the donations to Med-Eq and subsequent distributions. A graphic artist designs our brochures and contributes to our web sites. REMEDY / Med-Eq requires very modest funding. Most of this comes from two events during the year – the REMEDY labor-day weekend "Run-Ride-Swing" and our annual "pie-day." You can learn more about these on the support page of the REMEDY website.

Does REMEDY need more funding? 

Yes! As you have learned from these about pages, the REMEDY mission is changing. We are focusing our efforts on helping families that find themselves with excess medical supplies. This will require an out-reach effort through the clergy, hospice and assisted living organizations. If you would like to help contact us at REMEDY@yale.edu, or make donations at the Support us page.