NEW ORLEANS and WILMINGTON, Del., May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans last August, AstraZeneca quickly supplied medicine and funding relief to area residents. AstraZeneca’s commitment to the community, where more than 100 of its own employees were affected, was demonstrated again in March by another cash donation to help increase access to health care and doctors at the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. Today, AstraZeneca employees will take a break from business and roll up their sleeves for a day of community service benefiting several New Orleans charity organizations - and they will donate employee-matched funds to the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Nearly 1000 AstraZeneca employees are in New Orleans for an annual leadership meeting from May 9-12. This year the employees specifically requested that the meeting be held in New Orleans because they wanted to spend time giving back to the community.
“We recognize that the emergency in New Orleans is far from over and that the process of rebuilding is very long,” said Ken Murtha, Vice President of Business Operations for AstraZeneca and head of its relief efforts. “As a company we remain dedicated to the area, and specifically to helping improve the lives of its residents. Our volunteer work in the community makes what happened in New Orleans much more personal to us, especially since many of our own staff were affected by the Hurricane.”
In addition, AstraZeneca committed to matching 100% of employee contributions collected after the hurricane. Today, the company will donate that contribution of $287,856 to the American Red Cross Southeast Louisiana Chapter. The donation will be used to help the SELA chapter of the American Red Cross cooperate with the City of New Orleans to develop a program of communication materials to educate vulnerable populations on hurricane preparedness. The check will be presented to the Red Cross this evening at the Marriott Hotel by Murtha.
“The AstraZeneca contribution will help to facilitate important communications to vulnerable populations living in the New Orleans region,” said Melvin Davis, Deputy CEO of the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross. “This group is made up of seniors, disabled people, and the migrant Latin-American population who are assisting in rebuilding efforts. Our shared goal with AstraZeneca is to assist these people with detailed information and evacuation procedures prior to the next hurricane season.”
The biggest volunteer effort by the employees today will be with Katrina Krewe - an organization started by a local resident to clean up the devastation. Five hundred employees will be picking up and bagging trash around the Franklin Ave. area between the 8th and 9th wards.
“Katrina Krewe would like to thank AstraZeneca for pitching in to help clean up New Orleans,” said Becky Zaheri, Founder of Katrina Krewe. “We are very grateful for their contributions to our city!”
The REX Organization, hosts of the Mardi Gras Parade and known for its color-coded public service projects, will receive 250 employee volunteers for its “Project Purple” - which offers direct support to New Orleans schools. The employees will divide between five locations to help with planting and landscaping school grounds.
Other charities employees will help include: -- The Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO) - Forty employee volunteers will work alongside hospital staff to help prepare the Perdido Clinic for women’s and children’s health services to reopen in June. Another group of fifty will support hospital staff to help paint the Primary Care Clinic. (On March 30, 2006 AstraZeneca presented $1 million to MCLNO to help increase patient access to primary care and improve healthcare outcomes to the citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. MCLNO is operated by the Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division.) -- The Louisiana Children’s Museum - The museum has been closed since Katrina, but will be reopening in June. Twenty employee volunteers will construct Dr. Seuss hats for young guests and help prepare materials for summer camp.
To date, AstraZeneca has contributed $2.6 million in cash, and $3.3 million in free medicine to victims of Hurricane Katrina. AstraZeneca also collaborated with organizations such as the Association of Black Cardiologists to provide medical relief and the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare to aid community mental health centers reaching out to displaced and relocated hurricane evacuees with serious mental illness.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $23.95 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection products. In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $10.77 billion healthcare business with more than 12,000 employees. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.
For more information about AstraZeneca, please visit: http://www.astrazeneca-us.com .
AstraZeneca
CONTACT: Media Contacts: Abigail Baron, AstraZeneca, +1-302-885-3578 orabigail.baron@astrazeneca.com, or Carla Burigatto, AstraZeneca,+1-302-886-5953 or carla.burigatto@astrazeneca.com
Web site: http://www.astrazeneca-us.com//
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