Patriots Plane Will Fly To Haiti With Medical Equipment, Supplies After Devastating Earthquake
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New England Patriots plane is headed to Haiti after a devastating earthquake killed more than 2,000 people and left over 12,000 hospitalized with injuries. It will be filled with supplies and major medical equipment.
"A bunch of construction equipment to help with damage to the buildings. Surgical beds. Blood pressure cuffs. Anything we can use to assist with the damage and help the Haitian people," said Chris Rogers, Supply Chain Coordinator for Build Health International.
The supplies were donated from Beverly nonprofit Build Health International, who teamed up with the New England Patriots for use of their Boeing 767.
"They're very accommodating. We reached out and they were able to set up a plane for us almost instantly," said Rogers.
Once the plane is loaded Saturday morning at Logan, it will make a stop in Miami to pick up more supplies before taking off for Haiti. Several volunteer healthcare professionals who will assist teams on the ground are also on board.
"Every minute that goes by it's just going to get much worse. The least we can do is send as much of this stuff down and help as fast as possible," said Oliver Hayward, Supply Chain Logistics Manager at Build Health International.
This isn't the first time the Patriots team plane has been used for humanitarian efforts, delivering half a million COVID vaccines to El Salvador in May. It also flew to China at the start of the pandemic to bring 1.2 million N95 masks to Massachusetts.
"It just shows how much they want to help. How much they really appreciate the work that other companies like this are doing. It's a huge step," said Hayward.
Roughly 40 pallets of emergency medical supplies and building materials will be loaded onto the Patriots Plane, in addition to water and PPE donated by the Kraft family.
"Logistically to have all of this planned takes a lot of time. To be able to streamline that for this purpose, it's remarkable," said Hayward.
The plane is scheduled to depart Logan at 10 a.m. on Saturday. It will touch down in Port au Prince at 5:20 Saturday night.
