Urgently needed medical supplies left Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) for tsunami-wracked Indonesia Tuesday. The medicines will be in the hands of tsunami survivors in less than two days.

But Vickie Johnson is already thinking long-term: "A year from now, we will still be there because people will still be rebuilding and still be recovering. They will still need medicines and we will be there," mused the IMA spokesperson, adding IMA has received unprecedented media attention in the past few weeks.

From its peaceful offices in the western Maryland foothills, IMA runs a sophisticated operation that brings together faith-based responders from across the globe, and corporate pharmaceutical partners it has cultivated over the years.

The IMA "Medicine Box" has enough products — including antibiotics, pain relievers, wound care supplies, medicines for respiratory disease, vitamins to supplement inadequate diets, and more — to treat the everyday ailments of 1,000 adults and children for about two to three months.

But in current post-tsunami conditions, Johnson said these supplies would be used much more quickly. One hundred Medicine Boxes are en route to Indonesia, and these follow 75 that have already arrived in Sri Lanka.

"We are depleting our stock of Medicine Boxes," worried Johnson, adding that cash donations would help IMA restock the warehouse on the grounds of the Brethren Service Center, some 35 miles from Baltimore.

IMA is almost completely focused on tsunami relief right now, said Johnson, and it must restock its shelves not only to send more supplies to tsunami-stricken countries but also to continue its other missions across the globe: providing anti-retroviral drugs to six African countries as part of an AIDS relief effort, preventing mosquito-borne illnesses in Haiti, and many more.

IMA relies on private donations, and on contributions from its pharmaceutical partners including Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc. and others.

Watching people pack up Medicine Boxes, Johnson admitted IMA staff had been stretched since the tsunami struck. "I'm not just talking about people working on handling material resources," she said, "but we have received donations like we've never received before. We've got schools interested in getting involved."

And it's a good time to teach people about disaster relief and compassion, said Johnson — "we're all learning more about that part of the world and about weather patterns" — but it's hard for a stretched staff to answer every inquiry and harness the good intentions of every volunteer.

And, even while in the throes of a major relief effort, Johnson and others at IMA ask the question: why? "If I could make it not happen, I would," she said. "If I could go back to Christmas Day and erase time, and make this not happen, I would."

Despite media attention and heightened volunteer interest, Johnson still defines IMA's role as behind-the-scenes — only this time in the largest disaster she has ever worked.

"And people don't understand the work that goes into this. Just as people go to their local supermarket without thinking of how the stuff gets there, we're here doing this and people generally have no idea."

Shipping off Medicine Boxes, she said, "requires coordination and communication. It's a huge process and very sophisticated. We operate on a good business model. But we're a nonprofit."

Within two days after the tsunami struck, IMA received word from local partners on the ground that Medicine Boxes would be needed. "Then we physically pull the products from the shelves and pack them into shipping containers," explained Johnson. "Every box is standardized. Every single one is weighed and bound with metal bands. Boxes are then loaded onto a truck and taken to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where they are air-freighted."

In the wake of the tsunami, IMA has been working with Church World Service (CWS) and its partners, including the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka. When the boxes reach Indonesia, they are received by these partners, cleared through customs, and distributed.

By shipping in bulk - and working with corporate partners — IMA operates in a cost-effective way, said Johnson — much more so than if a person packed up a 70-pound box and sent it themselves.

"Once I calculated how much it would cost to go to the post office and ship a 70-pound box to Honduras," said Johnson. "It would cost about $700. And Indonesia is many, many more miles away."

At this moment, Johnson is most proud that IMA is collaborative. "It is so easy to have a single nonprofit that's totally independent," she pointed out. "But we have a huge network. We put our resources together through that. I really appreciate the structure in place."