FedEx is to donate $5.375 million over the next five years to ORBIS International, a global charitydedicated to saving sight worldwide, as well as an MD-10 freighter that will become its new Flying
Eye Hospital.The commitment will be made in the form of cash and in-kind contributions from FedEx. TheMD-10 cargo aircraft will replace an older DC-10 aircraft to become the third-generation Flying EyeHospital.
The announcement was made at the start of a North American Good Will Tour in Los Angeles.From there, the Flying Eye Hospital will also visit Burlington, Vt., Dallas Fort/Worth, Memphis,Tenn., and Toronto and Ottawa, Canada between August and November to raise public awareness of theneed to eliminate avoidable blindness.
“FedEx has supported ORBIS for almost three decades, one of our longest-running relationshipswith a nonprofit,” said James R. Parker, executive vice president, FedEx Express air operations.“Today, we’re taking our work together to the next level by creating the next generation Flying EyeHospital, which will significantly improve the lives of millions of people around the world whootherwise would have been blind, but now will experience the gift of sight.”
The new Flying Eye Hospital, the world’s only airplane with a fully functioningstate-of-the-art eye hospital on board, will be built on an MD-10-30 freighter aircraft and willutilise a modular design concept. It is the first time such modular units have been designed for anaircraft, and building them presents an enormous engineering challenge to meet the demandingtechnical requirements for both aviation and medical certification. MMIC (Mobile MedicalInternational Corporation) of St. Johnsbury, Vt. is under contract to design and manufacture thestate-of-the-art modules which will be carried by the MD-10-30 freighter.
The Flying Eye Hospital is a unique tool that brings dedicated eye care professionals fromacross the world to developing countries to provide two to three weeks of training and state of theart surgical demonstrations. ORBIS volunteer doctors impart to local doctors, nurses, biomedicalengineers and technicians the skills necessary to provide high-quality eye care to theircommunities that will prevent and treat avoidable causes of blindness such as cataracts, glaucomaand diabetic retinopathy.
Tragically, there are 39 million blind people worldwide; 80 per cent of cases are preventableand treatable. Ninety percent of these people live in developing countries where there is a severelack of proper medical care. Since 1982, ORBIS has conducted programs in more than 85 countries,impacting more than 15 million lives.
“Preventable blindness can be avoided through routine, inexpensive medical procedures and eyecare education,” said Dr. Barbara DeBuono, president and CEO of ORBIS International. “Through thesupport of companies like FedEx and the hundreds of doctors, nurses, technicians, engineers,aviation staff and pilots who have dedicated their considerable time and talents we have been ableto save sight for millions of people around the world.”
FedEx has supported ORBIS for 29 years, providing millions of dollars of support in cash andin-kind contributions. The latest donation builds on a $5.5 million, five-year commitment thatFedEx made to ORBIS in 2006.
In addition, FedEx and its team members donate the unparalleled FedEx Express global networkand aviation expertise to help the Flying Eye Hospital fly. FedEx Express pilots volunteer tofly the current ORBIS DC-10 to many of its medical programs and train other volunteer pilots; FedExExpress mechanics provide maintenance support; team members around the world volunteer as part ofthe ORBIS humanitarian team as interpreters, welcoming and escorting patients to and from theirsurgeries and checkups, canvassing neighborhoods and assisting with patient screenings.FedExExpress provides complimentary transportation services to move critically needed medical suppliesto ORBIS clinics worldwide; makes the FedEx Express flight training simulator available to trainvolunteer pilots and manages the cost and performance of the annual safety checks for ORBIS’flagship Flying Eye Hospital.
