Our Story

The concept and birth of C2C came from the natural evolution of my life’s work providing healthcare to the world’s disadvantaged. C2C was born from the innate belief and founding principle that every human on the planet has the right to accessible health care.

I founded Containers to Clinics after practicing emergency medicine as a Physician’s Assistant in US emergency rooms, training paramedics in the minefields of Cambodia, and teaching triage to nurses working in the overcrowded emergency rooms of Mozambique. Based on these experiences and my education from Duke University Medical Center and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the importance of health care access was clear to me. I’ve witnessed how lack of access to primary health care not only drives mortality rates, but also how this unfulfilled human need fractures families and communities. Without access to trained medical personnel, operational health facilities and simple medicines, health in the developing world is constantly challenged; without these elements, staying healthy in resource poor settings is nearly impossible.

While working overseas, I saw too many women and children suffer or die from the absence of even the most simply staffed and supplied health facility. I learned that the critical issue in international health was not about treatment but about access, that health care delivery was the roadblock to saving millions of mothers and children in rural areas around the world. And, once back in the U.S., I was intrigued by the green building movement that was pioneering new uses for recycled materials.

In the late summer of 2008, I had the ‘ah-ha’ moment in which I connected the repurposing of shipping containers to the portable, standardized delivery of primary health care clinics. I had certainly seen dozens of ports in developing countries where shipping containers were piled up while women and children only a few hundred miles away were dying from the lack of antibiotics. C2C was born.

In the fall of 2008, I assembled a team of international health and development experts. I formed a highly charged and knowledgeable board of directors and advisory committees. Together, we designed a sustainable model for health care delivery that can meet the health needs of poor women and children and their communities. C2C’s model is to supply the primary health care clinics to underserved areas, where local medical personnel can diagnose and treat primary health care illnesses and supply the necessary medicines.

Many parallel tracks have brought us to this point. We have been able to program all the activities, necessary supplies and SOPs for health care “inside” the container. We have worked with leading architects and design builders to design a primary health care clinic complex, using available, low-technology 8 by 20 foot metal boxes that function as a standardized, modular, portable medical clinics. We have brought together leading thinkers and supporters from around the world to support our pilot efforts in the Dominican Republic and subsequent clinic launches. And we have attained national recognition for the plight of these underserved and the viability of this solution.

When I reflect upon C2C’s first year of life, I can hardly believe how far we’ve come and the accomplishments to date. The first phase of this journey and the tremendous response to our efforts have reinforced our commitment to these guiding principles and our understanding of their universal appeal. C2C’s foundation is solid and our successes, to date, have been extraordinary.

And so, it is with tremendous gratitude that I recognize those people who believe in C2C’s guiding principles and our simple model and who have contributed countless unpaid hours to constantly support our efforts. I thank the exceptional partners who have worked with us side by side in areas of design, construction, logistics, medical supplies, medical staffing, and supply chain integration. And I thank the many generous donors who provided the seed funding to allow the C2C team to strategically position the pilot clinic in the DR. From all of your efforts, we’re extremely well positioned to improve the access and quality of women and children’s health worldwide.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Sheehan

Founder and Executive Director