How Rescue Now provides aid in Ukraine using Orca Scan

Rescue Now, a not-for-profit delivering humanitarian aid in Ukraine, has made thousands of life-saving medical supply deliveries to people in need thanks to Orca Scan’s inventory management system. Here’s how they did it 👇

The problem

Meet Vlad, a successful Business Developer who joined Rescue Now - a not-for-profit designed to help those in need in Ukraine.

From evacuations to humanitarian aid and medical supply deliveries, Rescue Now relies solely on donations from the public and organisations like Unicef and Razom.

Within weeks of the invasion, donations were coming in fast, leaving hundreds of boxes to process, each full of various products - making it nearly impossible to find what was needed. With no way of knowing what would be donated, it was hard to anticipate how much inventory they would receive and manage the surplus.

Initially, Vlad began to organise the stock with shelving and labels on each box, but it didn’t help; it took them weeks to source the items requested.

Vlad needed a digital solution that would work quickly and efficiently with easy set-up.

They reached out to us at Orca Scan, and we were happy to help.

Who is Rescue Now?

Rescue Now is a not-for-profit organisation made up of Ukrainian volunteers, like Vlad, who put their own lives and jobs on hold to help those affected by the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Operating from the city of Kharkiv, which has a population of around 1.4 million people, they began providing evacuations for those who needed to leave the city. To date, they have evacuated about 20,000 people and 855 pets.

As they continued to help in crisis zones, they realised they could also provide support through humanitarian aid by

• Delivering medication, food and hygiene products
• Providing psychological assistance to children and their parents
• Looking after the elderly
• Providing support and education to volunteers

From their hub in Kharkiv, they receive all donations from members of the public, Unicef and other humanitarian partners. These donations are processed and packaged, and orders are created and shipped.

How Orca Scan provided ‘Rescue Now’ with a solution

Rescue Now uses Orca Scan’s prescription drug tracking template to maintain an inventory of around 600 pharmaceutical and medical products.

When donations arrive at the warehouse, they are scanned and sorted into dedicated boxes. Each type of medicine has a box labelled and stored in the warehouse.

Once scanned, they can see exactly how much of one product they have and where it is located in the warehouse. When someone requests a specific product, they can source it quickly by searching in their Orca Sheet.

In addition, Orca Scan’s inventory management system allows Rescue Now to track the expiration dates of their medical supplies, ensuring that they are using effective products and can dispose of any expired ones. This not only saves resources but also helps to maintain a safe and hygienic environment.

When a request is made for a specific medicine, it is sourced, and once scanned, they can see what the medication is and how many are stocked at the warehouse. This medicine is then given to a pharmacist to process, and the quantity is changed in the Orca Sheet to maintain inventory levels.

Every day, they process around 50-80 orders and every two weeks, they do an entire warehouse stock take to ensure the data is up to date.

As Orca Scan helps the team maintain their inventory in real-time, they can quickly identify any shortages or surplus, plan and budget accordingly and generate accurate reports. This visibility means they can easily share inventory information with their partners and donors, ensuring that the right resources are directed to where they are most needed.

Has the solution been successful?

Since implementing Orca Scan, Rescue Now has increased its deliveries from 70 to 300 locations per day and has provided over 80,000 families with vital supplies - making a massive difference to the people of Kharkiv.

The most significant impact of implementing Orca Scan has been the time saved. At Orca Scan, our mission is to keep people’s time and money so they can do their most meaningful work. This mission has never been more visible than through our collaboration with Rescue Now. Time saved using Orca Scan allows the Rescue Now team to provide critical care to more people faster.

What’s more, as we donated their subscription - the money Rescue Now receives can all be put towards providing care for those who need it.

There are other benefits, too, because the system allows for scaling; Rescue Now is looking to implement Orca Scan across different donation depots.

Overall, Orca Scan’s inventory management system has been a vital tool for Rescue Now in its mission to provide aid to those in need, leaving them to focus on its core mission and make a real impact on the lives of people affected by conflict.

Thank you 🙏

Orca Scan has played the smallest part in helping amazing people at Rescue Now to provide the service and care they do. We want to thank Vlad, and all of the team, for sharing their story with us.

If, like us, you’re inspired by the work of Rescue Now, you can find out more on their website or donate directly to their cause.

Are you a not-for-profit? We’d love to help you and your cause. Get in touch!