Founding of MedWish International

As a college student, Dr. Lee Ponsky served as a surgical intern in Nigeria where he witnessed the staggering lack of
medical resources in developing countries, and the devastating consequences it had on the local population.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., hospitals were discarding thousands of pounds of essential, life-saving medical supplies
each year. Knowing much of what was discarded was still usable, Dr. Ponsky returned home to Cleveland determined to
create a pipeline of medical supplies for those in need globally and founded MedWish International in 1993.

Partnering with healthcare facilities, manufacturers, and individual donors, MedWish began diverting useable medical surplus from landfills and making it available to low-resource communities around the world, bridging the gap between abundance and absence, surplus and scarcity. Although MedWish's work initially focused on supporting those in need internationally, in 2018 we expanded our mission to serve those in the United States as well.

Founding of Medworks

In the early 2000’s, Dr. Ponsky’s brother, Zac, participated in a MedWish Medical Brigade in Honduras. After a day of
providing free healthcare in an impoverished community, Zac and several volunteers reflected on the day, noting the
enormous needs in Cleveland as well. They knew that people in Cleveland could also benefit from free health services,
and just like the volunteer team serving those in need in Honduras, this could be done in Cleveland. With this
inspiration, Zac returned to Ohio and founded Medworks in 2009.

By engaging thousands of medical, dental, and community volunteers, Medworks addressed the lack of healthcare access of vulnerable populations in Northeast Ohio through 100% FREE pop-up clinics. Clinic services include medical, dental, and vision care, supporting those who are uninsured and underinsured. Care is provided to patients with no qualification questions asked. In 2018, Navigation services became a core component of Medworks programming when the Cuyahoga Health Access Partnership (CHAP) became part of the organization. Navigators work to connect individuals to ongoing care through health insurance, medical homes, and other needed social services.

Merging to Become MedWish Medworks

Although both organizations were in strong positions independently and doing profound work, leadership of both
MedWish and Medworks were deeply compelled to explore what we could do together. After a due diligence process,
we decided to merge. On September 1, 2024, MedWish and Medworks officially merged and became MedWish
Medworks, bringing all of our programming under one roof. MedWish Medworks continues to expand our supply distribution and local clinics while serving as a one-stop shop for free, multifaceted medical resource support. Our work is unduplicated in our region, offering a cost-effective solution to medical scarcity and barriers to access.