We need more women in Medical Logistics
So many of you didn’t know that my husband and I started a transportation company a few years ago. Yes, we owned 18-wheeler trucks….We would get up bright, and early, go down to the trucks, and conduct prechecks before the drivers would take them on the road.
Actually, my first truck was a 2014 Navy Blue Freightliner Cascadia and I named her Ogo. She was perfect! Purchasing her was a new beginning for our family’s legacy. My husband and I both loved the thrill and adrenaline of managing the logistics around moving freight and thinking of new strategies to optimize our routes and our profits.
The day we were contracted to move our first load of sterile surgical equipment, my brain connected the dots into a golden opportunity! MEDICAL LOGISTICS!
Medical logistics is an underserved area when it comes to transportation, yet it’s so critical to the livelihood of our health system. Not to mention logistics, as a whole, has very few women in leadership and ownership positions. If we are going to improve the health system, build more gender equity and economic buying power, and provide women owned businesses the same opportunities to build wealth through government contracting, then we need to have more contracts in logistics (especially medical logistics) going to women owned businesses.
If you are a woman in healthcare and you’re interested in the transportation industry or already have a trucking company, then you need to consider the millions of opportunities that most people are missing in medical logistics. The top targets for medical logistics and transportation includes DOD, VA, DHHS, NIH, and USAID. Our healthcare supply chain system needs our fresh ideas and innovative thinking around how to improve the way we move supplies across the nation as well as overseas.
Medical Logistics is a critical aspect of delivering quality health services and ensuring all communities have access to life saving drugs and equipment. COVID19 showed all of us, and especially all health agencies that we were not prepared to meet our supply needs during this critical time. A huge reason for that is a lack of diversity when it comes to transportation vendors. We need more women holding these contracts because we see the world’s health problems differently.
Imagine a mother of 3 (which I am) juggling the demands of each child, in conjunction with schooling, working, relationships, business, and still finding the time to make sure groceries are purchased, dinner is made, and everyone is at peace, all before 8pm. This is the complexity of logistics most women are trained to manage. Now image what happens when we bring those same skill sets and apply it to our healthcare supply chain and logistics challenges, especially on the federal and international level……..Everything would change for the better!
-Coach Ogo