We've partnered with the Embrace Foundation, a Newport News based nonprofit, for a donation drive!

About Embrace Foundation:

Far too often, gently-used Durable Medical Equipment winds up in the trash or gathering dust for years in closets, attics and basements.

Yet those crutches, canes, walkers, splints, slings, boots, cervical collars, back braces, bone growth stimulators and more are in desperately short supply in many impoverished countries. That’s where Embrace aims to make a difference. 

Launched in 2018 by a staff member at Orthopaedic & Spine Center, Embrace is an ongoing effort to collect, package and deliver supplies for Samaritan’s Purse, an international disaster relief organization.

While federal health regulations prevent the reuse of such equipment in United States medical practices, Samaritan’s Purse can sanitize and repurpose items sometimes worth thousands of dollars each to help patients in need. 


February 1- 28, 2023, we will be collecting the following items at 1st Advantage Branches:

Orthopaedic Items Needed

Braces, Immobilizers, Slings & Splints

  • Knee
  • Wrist/Forearm
  • Arm/Elbow/Shoulder
  • Spine
  • Neck (Cervical Collar)
  • Lower Back

Patient Care

  • Wheelchairs
  • Walkers
  • Knee walkers
  • Crutches
  • Canes
  • Over the bed tables
  • Ace® Bandages
  • Bone Growth Stimulators
  • Foot & Ankle
  • Walker Boots
  • Air casts
  • Elastic or Neoprene Ankle Supports
  • Night Splint for Plantar Fasciitis

Medical/Surgical Items Needed

  • Anesthesia supplies
  • Casting materials
  • Catheters (suction, foley, and urethral. No cardiac or balloon)
  • Dressings (gauze, bandages, Band-Aids, 4 x 4’s, etc.)
  • EKG supplies (electrodes, recording paper, leads, etc.)
  • Electrosurgical supplies (cautery pencils, patient plates, etc.)
  • Endotracheal and tracheal tubes
  • Gloves (OR and exam)
  • Gowns (OR and exam, cloth only, no disposables)
  • IV supplies (catheter placement, butterflies, injection sites, extensions, no solutions)
  • Ostomy supplies
  • Over the bed tables
  • Q-tip applicators and containers
  • Scalpels and blades
  • Scrub/prep (surgical scrub, iodine, brushes, sponges)
  • Stainless steel containers
  • Stainless steel items: mayo stands and carts, cabinets, and kick buckets
  • Surgery instruments
  • Surgical tape
  • Surgery towels and drapes (cloth only, no disposables)
  • Sutures and wound closure supplies
  • Syringes/needles
  • Tongue depressors and containers
  • Yankauer suction tips and suction tubing