How We Determine Which Projects To Fund

The Little Things focusses specifically on hospitals that are under-funded and poorly equipped, and we liaise with the hospitals to provide vital medical equipment needed by the hospital to cater to the needs of the local population. We provide support by purchasing medical equipment and overseeing the installation of these equipment in the hospital.

Determining where to conduct the project initially depends on researching any affiliation a volunteer from The Little Things may have to a hospital in a developing country. For example, for our first healthcare project in Tanzania, we decided to conduct the project for St. Elizabeth Hospital because that is the hospital that inspired Rathaven to start up The Little Things. For the second and third healthcare projects, we decided to equip hospitals in Sri Lanka as this is Rathaven’s motherland, and he has relatives that work in hospitals within the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and these relatives would often describe the need for vital medical equipment. For both projects, Rathaven visited the respective hospitals in Sri Lanka and discussed the needs of the people with the hospital directors. For the fourth healthcare project, which will be completed in the summer of 2018, Professor Satyan Rajbhandari who is a Consultant Physician in Diabetes & Endocrinology at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, visited Nepal and on behalf of The Little Things assessed three hospitals in and around Kathmandu that required urgent medical aid. Professor Rajbhandari wrote a detailed report on the three hospitals that he assessed, and gave his recommendation on which hospital The Little Things should support in 2018.

Once the location of the project has been decided, The Little Things liaises with the hospital director and members of the healthcare team to construct a list of the most urgently needed medical equipment. The list is written in order of priority, and irrespective of budget. The Little Things then begins to raise funds for the project, with the aim being to raise as much money as possible before June/July. The funds raised are then used to strategically purchase as much of the medical equipment as possible.

The relevant medical equipment are purchased from suppliers and installed at the chosen hospital. Rathaven visits the country during this time, to oversee the installation of the equipment and film a brief documentary to showcase the completion of the project.

We aim to complete each chosen project within a one year time-frame.