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By ROBERT DICKS Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is partnering with Applied Materials, Inc., and Airline Ambassadors International to help provide life-saving medical supplies to needy children in Argentina, which has been hard hit by political and economic turmoil. A local relief team departed for South America last weekend. Members of Airline Ambassadors International will travel in Argentina through Friday with vaccines, medicines, hygiene kits, newborn kits, wheelchairs and other health care essentials donated by Packard and others for children in the devastated country. "Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Applied Materials are enabling Airline Ambassadors International to make our most substantive medical donation in history, and we are very, very grateful," says Nancy Rivard, founder and president of Airline Ambassadors International, an organization that hand-delivers humanitarian and medical aid to children in more than 35 countries. "It’s an important part of our job to help channel supplies and products to organizations that share our mission," said Christopher Dawes, president and CEO of Packard Children’s Hospital. Airline Ambassadors International’s team of volunteers will personally present these supplies to an infant hospital in the Argentine town of San Isidro. "We believe these donations will provide the hospital with medical supplies for up to a year and medicines for six months," said Rivard. "Applied Materials has a long-standing commitment to giving back to the community. Upon learning of the desperate situation of the San Isidro hospital, we immediately contacted Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and AAI to find a solution," said Mike O’Farrell, vice president of global community affairs at Applied Materials. "We are delighted that Applied Materials was able to facilitate this collaborative effort, which has clearly resulted in a powerful response to the urgent needs of the San Isidro hospital." This is not the first time that Packard and Airline Ambassadors International have joined forces. They have worked together since the relief organization’s inception in 1996, when the hospital donated medical supplies for an outreach mission to Bolivia. "The hospital continues to provide critical medical support on a variety of our missions annually," said Rivard. This trip represents a continuation of the hospital’s commitment to improving the health care of children worldwide, especially within developing or crisis-torn nations. Other efforts by the hospital, its staff or physicians have provided restorative facial surgery to children in Cuba and Peru, disaster relief for hurricane victims in Central America and community-based health care in Zimbabwe. "All of our disciplines, from doctors to nurses to pharmacists to educators, have a passion for helping children in need," said Dawes. In addition to medical donations, volunteers also are bringing groceries, clothing, toys and school kits. "In addition, we plan to visit a variety of Argentine regions, enabling us to determine more of the requirements for future missions to this area," said Rivard.
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A frequent traveler to Cuba is honored for surgical work and an award-winning film (5/29/02) |
Stanford Report, October 30, 2002
