Associate Erica Smith – Living the Dominican Call through Global Service
Springfield Dominican Associate Erica Smith brings hope, dignity, and care while meeting global health challenges in her role as the Executive Director of Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach in Springfield, Illinois.
“It’s not just what does the world need, it’s what do I have to offer and how can I give what I have to offer in a way that meets that need,” said Erica. She and her team at Mission Outreach were recently honored with the Catholic Health Association’s 2026 Achievement Citation award for their work in transforming global health by connecting surplus medical supplies in the U. S. to hospital and clinics around the world.
The program was initiated 24 years ago by the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis who knew there was a need for usable supplies and equipment that, if not used, would go to a landfill. The program started as a Medical Supply and Equipment Recovery Organization (MSRO), collecting medical supplies and equipment from hospitals in the Midwest and making them available to health care facilities in low-resource areas around the world. Donations are collected and processed in a 55,000 square foot warehouse in Springfield and rely on more than 300 volunteers to sort, pack, inventory, and ship the medical supplies.
The program started with a locally recognized need. “The sisters had missions in Haiti and Tanzania and they had hospitals in the Midwest that had a lot of stuff,” said Erica. “What we do is take surplus, but usable, medical supplies and equipment from hospitals and clinics around the Midwest. We sort them, we package them, we make sure they are of high quality, and the we distribute them to hospitals and clinics in low and middle resource areas around the world.
“We don’t send things that are expired; we don’t send things that aren’t requested. We know when we send them the items are appropriate for use, and we think about how the item will be disposed of,” she said.
“It’s the dedication to quality and dignity and really listening to what our international partners are saying they want and responding to that, is what I think makes us unique,” she continued.
Another thing that sets Mission Outreach apart is having a full-time biomedical equipment technician on staff who evaluates and repairs all equipment before any of it is sent.
The coordination of the supplies, which relies on over-the-road delivery to maritime ports, is governed by strict logistical and security standards designed to maintain supply chain integrity. From origin to the loading dock, this process requires rigorous synchronization of routing, documentation, and terminal operations.
The Mission Outreach staff builds relationships around the world and tracks the progress made by measuring the utilization rates and the impact that the donations are making.
Erica is quick to deflect the honor she and her team were paid at the CHA assembly in St. Louis. “The heroes of the story are the doctors, nurses, and clinicians that are saving patient lives every day. It’s our privilege to put the tools in their hands that they may not otherwise have access to.”
