Using a KL15e tablet counter from Kirby Lester, the Little Friends International group was able to efficiently dispense more than 100,000 vitamin tablets to and fill 3,700 prescriptions for flood victims in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’s second largest city.

The Little Friends team, in partnership with Cure International, treated more than 3,000 people, many of whom were displaced by a devastating flood in October. Using the Kirby Lester counter, the four-person field pharmacy staff finished packing all the medications and vitamins in less than five days, or about 25% less time than it would have taken with hand counting. Patients were given 30 vitamin tablets along with their prescriptions.

“This was the first time we dispensed vitamins to not only each patient but to every member of the patient’s family, and this presented an unexpected amount of work for our pharmacy,” says Dr. Mary Pergiovanni, founder and president of Little Friends International. “Honduras endures 95% humidity, with frequent rains. That is not an ideal for any machine. We worked the Kirby Lester very hard, and it held up perfectly.”

Kirby Lester frequently donates its counting technology to humanitarian causes as well as to pharmacy schools. Recent donation recipients have included the African Youth Outreach, for its work with AIDS patients, and the pharmacy schools at Purdue, the University of Illinois-Chicago, West Virginia University, and Ohio Northern University.

“Kirby Lester is proud to continue its long-standing tradition of donating to important causes,” says Christopher Thomsen, VP of business development for the company. “It is truly inspiring to see organizations like Little Friends use our technology to help those in need.”