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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: LORI ALLESEE
PROJECT HOPE
TOM BURGESS
UPLIFT INTERNATIONAL
(703) 966-6956
Project HOPE and
Uplift International’s Growing Humanitarian
Aid Efforts Promise to Help Survivors of the Deadly Tsunamis
$1.5 Million in Vital Medicines
and Medical Supplies
Will be Airlifted from Dulles Airport Tonight
(January 6, 2005) MILLWOOD, Va.. –
Relying on their experience and long-standing relationships in Indonesia,
Project HOPE and Uplift International today will airlift $1.5 million in
vital medicines and medical supplies to reach communities hardest hit by
last week’s deadly tsunamis.
"We're confident that our aid will get
to where it's needed most because we know the region, we've worked closely
before with the people there, and we've mapped out the routes to ensure
success,” said John P. Howe, III, M.D., president and CEO of Project
HOPE.
Project HOPE, a health
education and humanitarian assistance organization based in Millwood, Va.,
will partner with Uplift International to make certain the disaster aid is
delivered to the hospitals, clinics and emergency centers in greatest need.
Before reaching hospitals in the Banda
Aceh region, Thursday’s emergency aid shipment will be transported from
Dulles International Airport by air to Jakarta. Emergency aid is expected to
arrive at a secure warehouse in Jakarta this weekend. The airlift is being
donated by FedEx.
Humanitarian aid efforts will be
directed to the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip
of Sumatra that was severely impacted by the disaster. Together, Project
HOPE and Uplift International will provide the emergency medical relief by
filtering its high-value medicines and supplies through the Indonesian
coordinating group. Uplift International is working closely with the
Indonesian government and the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) to assure
only the highest priority materials are being delivered to the right
locations in the affected areas.
“Coordination with the Indonesian
authorities and their medical community are the critical elements for this
operation. The Indonesians themselves must prioritize what the needs are and
then we respond from Jakarta,” Uplift International CEO Mark Schlansky said
today from their office in Jakarta. “In this case, there are only 2
hospitals in Aceh that were not destroyed, so the distribution will be
organized based on where the IDI doctors are located. A large number of
hospitals and major clinics in Aceh were destroyed by the tsunami.”
These emergency relief packages contain
surgical masks, bandages sutures, antibiotics and nutritional supplements.
The products were donated by corporations eager to support Project HOPE in
its effort to deliver immediate aid to communities devastated by the
disaster.
The December 26 earthquake and tsunami
swept a deadly path through South Asia. The disaster claimed tens of
thousands of lives, left hundreds of thousands of people without access to
basic medical care and medical supplies, and destroyed much of the region’s
infrastructure.
ABOUT UPLIFT INTERNATIONAL
Uplift International is a not-for-profit
organization that provides humanitarian aid and technical assistance in
health to developing country programs. Their approach is multidisciplinary
and aims to build capacity within developing country constituencies to
improve health and promote economic development.
Since
its founding in 1997, Uplift International has developed and implemented
programs in health and human rights,
humanitarian
assistance,
maternal and child
health,
telemedicine,
and
medical educational
exchanges in Southeast Asia. For more information, please visit
www.upliftinternational.org.
ABOUT PROJECT HOPE
Project
HOPE has a long history of medical training and humanitarian assistance
programs in Indonesia, the site of the maiden voyage of the S.S. HOPE
hospital ship in 1960. The SS HOPE was a Navy hospital ship given to
Project HOPE by President Eisenhower.
Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health
Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting
solutions to health problems, with the mission of helping people to help
themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime
hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and
health education programs in 34 countries across five continents. For more
information, please call 1-800-544-HOPE or visit
www.projecthope.org.
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