Hospital's mission outreach program assists thousands of people every year.

Dr. Kirby Sweitzer of Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio, assists a young patient during a recent visit to Honduras. More than a decade ago, Joan Buck, RN, surgical staff nurse, and Judy Melnyk, RN, surgery/operating room instructor — both longtime employees at Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio — started collecting clean but "contaminated" surgical materials for annual medical mission trips they and other Mercy employees took. Buck recognized that keeping supplies out of a medical wastebasket was good stewardship. "This stuff, like unused dressings and surgical instruments, would simply have been thrown away," she said. "Judy and I knew these items could be used to save lives elsewhere."