CHAMPAIGN – Leanna Cossman and her husband, Ron, of Champaign loaded up their Honda van Thursday with 500 pounds of medical supplies donated by Christie Clinic and bound for earthquake victims in Haiti.

Cossman is a registered nurse who has helped victims from a variety of disasters, ranging from Hurricane Katrina to the Chicago heat wave, the Decatur ice storm and the Quincy floods.

When a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, Cossman said she was deeply affected by the stories of earthquake victims on the island.

When Cossman learned that a Tennessee-based nonprofit volunteer organization called the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps was planning on flying a team of medical personnel and supplies to Haiti, she decided to work locally to collect medical supplies for the mission.

"I become aware of Remote Area Medical's work serving people affected by the disaster in Haiti, so I contacted them about specific requests for items they were looking for," Cossman said.

Cossman worked with Christie Clinic podiatrist and medical director Dr. Bill Pierce, and the clinic donated 500 pounds of supplies.

Lori Palmer, a registered nurse at Christie Clinic, helped gather the materials from different departments.

"We have operating room supplies for doing surgeries," Cossman said. "We have a lot of orthopedic supplies, splints, medicines, operating room medications, respiratory medications and intravenous supplies."

The Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation gave $2,000 to help pay for fuel costs.

"I'm absolutely impressed with Leanna's efforts," said Remote Area Medical Logistics Coordinator Shari Massengill. "She's dynamite."

Massengill's husband, James Massengill, is a pilot who flew an initial shipment supplies and medical volunteers to the island on Jan. 15.

Shari Massengill said medical volunteers from Remote Area Medical treated more than 2,000 people and performed 252 amputations within a seven-day period.

Since Leanna Cossman wasn't able to find a pilot to fly the materials from Champaign to Tennessee for the trip to Haiti, Ron Cossman drove them to Remote Area Medical's headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday, where Shari Massengill said the supplies will be loaded and flown to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Cossman will fly on Saturday to the island, where she and several other nurses will care for earthquake victims at a hospital and an orphanage for two weeks.

"We also hope to set up field hospitals at various locations," Shari Massengill said.