The Wisconsin Medical Project was started in 2004 as an offshoot of the Madison-Camagüey Sister City Association. Since 1994, people from Madison, Wisconsin, were fortunate to travel to Camagüey as members of the Madison-Camagüey Sister City Association at a time when people-to-people travel to Cuba was licensed by our government. In 2002, licenses for this type of travel were curtailed.
The Madison travelers saw the need for equipment and supplies in the otherwise well-staffed and run medical facilities in Camagüey, especially the pediatric hospital, and providing them became an integral part of the sister city effort.
Fortunately the possibility of continued assistance to the Cubans could be addressed by the incorporation of the Wisconsin Medical Project as a humanitarian group, which has been able to obtain a US Department of Commerce export license and a US Department of Treasury travel license to continue this effort.
Since 2004 WMP has sent more than a dozen 40-foot containers of medical supplies and equipment to Camagüey.
Over 200 members of the group have visited Camagüey to oversee the distribution of the containers, deliver medical instruments like microscopes, visit the medical facilities, learn about the excellent Cuban medical system, and establish lasting personal friendships.
Here in Madison the scope of our activity has grown to include rental of a warehouse where donations are accepted, packaged, refurbished if needed, and prepared to be shipped to recipient locations. A small, dedicated, unpaid staff does this work.