PRESS RELEASE
March 3, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Jesse Dredge, Project Manager
Phone: 435-757-2898
Address: 1357 N. 400 E. #3A
E-mail: 911guatemala@gmail.com
Non-profit Organization Vies to Donate Retired Oneida County Ambulance to Guatemala
Charity Anywhere Foundation campaigns for ambulances and medical supplies
Logan, Utah – The Charity Anywhere Foundation sponsored project, 9-1-1 Guatemala, has begun a campaign to acquire an ambulance and medical supplies for the rural hospital of La Tinta, Guatemala. One Oneida County ambulance, to be retired this spring, has caught the attention of the campaign. Project founders, Jesse Dredge and Paul Oja, have contacted the Oneida County Commissioners and Ambulance Board to discuss the donation or sale of the retired ambulance to the campaign. “An unneeded ambulance here is an invaluable asset in Guatemala,” said project co-founder Jesse Dredge. The Oneida County Ambulance Board is excited and supportive of the project, and wants to help out the project as much as they can. The ambulance will, however, go out to bid soon.
Although the donation of the ambulance is preferred, the campaign is willing to use campaign funds to buy the ambulance from Oneida County. Campaign funds will be gathered through contributions from a social media campaign, a pay-pal account on the project’s Blogger page and proceeds from charity concerts and races. These events will also be offered in Malad, Idaho, throughout the campaign. The 9-1-1 Guatemala campaign has teamed up with the Utah State University True Blue Public Relations Firm to promote the campaign and is currently seeking other campaign sponsors. Event dates have yet to be planned and posted.
The campaign will also fill the ambulance with the medical supplies in Logan Utah, and then drive it 2,917 miles to Guatemala. The trip’s progression will be filmed and placed on YouTube for subscribers, allowing the opportunity for contributors to be part of the donation. “We want the whole project to be transparent, we want everyone to come along and see the impact they make,” said Oja.
The National Hospital of La Tinta houses eight doctors, has two operation rooms, one x-ray machine, and uses two Toyota trucks as ambulances to serve an area population of 960,000 people. Clinics are located in towns and villages in the area that the hospital of La Tinta serves, and emergency victims are transported to La Tinta and some even farther for hospitalization. “The donation [of an ambulance] would be of great benefit to the population in need of emergency transfer to a regional capital or Guatemala City,” said Mr. Cifuentes, administrator and head of personnel in the National Hospital of La Tinta. The hospital staff is excitied about the idea of having an ambulance in the area and is currently working on a list of medical supplies needed.
Pneumonia accounts for half of the mortality rate of both infants and adults in La Tinta, and the maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in Guatemala. Most of these victims will never see a health care professional during illness or child birth. If they are able receive hospital attention, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare will fund the treatment and a patient’s costs will usually only result in the purchase of medication. Despite this effort, the deaths of these victims could have been prevented through proper hospitalization and care.
Charity Anywhere Foundation sees an opportunity to help in these bleak circumstances. Charity Anywhere is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving service to anyone, anywhere in the world. The founder Lyle Gordon Carter has helped to organize projects from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Quito, Ecuador. The organization functions through the work of volunteers and believes in the motto: be good and do good.
Become involved in the Campaign and find us on Blogger: 9-1-1guatemala.blogspot.com, Twitter: twitter.com/911guatemala, Facebook: 9-1-1 Guatemala, and soon our own website: 9-1-1guatemala.org. Stay posted for future campaign events. Contributions can be received through pay-pal on the Blogger account and soon on the website.
For additional information contact Jesse Dredge, Account Manager, 435-757-2898, 911guatemala@gmail.com
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2 comments:
Great press release. I feel like you had a lot of information, my only suggestion would be condensing it a little bit. Excellent call to action. I don't see a boilerplate, you may want to add one? But overall, really great.
I like the info and organization you used in this press release. I do agree with cami though, its really long. One of the most important things is conciseness. I feel like while the info about guatemala is important it drags on a bit, if your press release is primarily about the fondation of 9-1-1 guatemala I dont think it is as imporatnt as the ammount of space you devoted to the info. The call to action is good. and if you really want to be cool you would put links to all of the twitter, facebook, etc. But good! sometime I will print this off, write on it about more individual things, and give you more specific feedback, before you actually submit it to news papers and stuff.
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