Hundreds of children and their families halfway across the world will have a new chance at life thanks to the Olympic Peninsula Kidney Center in Bremerton. The center is partnering with Northwest Medical Teams to send urgently needed kidney dialysis machines to hospitals in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic.

The Kidney Center donated 11 machines valued at nearly $130,000. Last month, Northwest Medical Teams shipped the equipment 9,000 miles to the capital city of Tashkent, where the country’s Ministry of Health will distribute the machines to hospitals in critical need.

“We are grateful to the Olympic Peninsula Kidney Center for helping our organization bring hope to the people of Uzbekistan,” said Bas Vanderzalm, president of Northwest Medical Teams. “Uzbekistan’s government is struggling to meet the health care needs of its people and medical equipment is in short supply. This donation will give a head start to so many children and their families who would otherwise suffer.”

Northwest Medical Teams has been involved in humanitarian assistance in Uzbekistan since 1998. In the last four years, the organization has distributed nearly $23 million in medical supplies and medicines in the country.

Northwest Medical Teams has also sent dozens of volunteers to provide health care training, dental and medical treatment, and community development in Uzbekistan.