World’s Only Flying Eye Hospital Launches North American
Goodwill Tour At LAX
FedEx and ORBIS International, a global organization dedicated
to saving sight worldwide, kicked off a North American "Good Will
Tour" Wednesday in Los Angeles with the announcement of a new
5-year, $5.375 million commitment in the form of cash and in-kind
contributions from FedEx. In addition, FedEx Express will donate an
MD-10 cargo aircraft to ORBIS to be the third-generation Flying Eye
Hospital. After Los Angeles, the hospital will also visit
Burlington, VT; Dallas Fort/Worth; Memphis, TN; and Toronto and
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada between now and November to raise public
awareness of the need to eliminate avoidable blindness.
“FedEx has supported ORBIS for
almost three decades, one of our longest-running relationships with
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 Eye Hospital, which will significantly improve the lives of
millions of people around the world who otherwise 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 functioning state-of-the-art eye hospital on board,
will be built on an MD-10-30 freighter and will utilize a modular
design concept. It is the first time such modular units have been
designed for an aircraft, and building them presents an engineering
challenge to meet the demanding technical requirements for both
aviation and medical certification. MMIC (Mobile Medical
International Corporation) of St. Johnsbury, VT is under contract
to design and manufacture the modules.
ORBIS volunteer doctors impart to local doctors, nurses,
biomedical engineers and technicians the skills necessary to
provide high-quality eye care to their communities that will
prevent and treat avoidable causes of blindness such as cataracts,
glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. ORBIS says there are currently
39 million blind people worldwide, and that 80% of cases are
preventable and treatable. Ninety percent of these people live in
developing countries where there is a severe lack of proper medical
care. Since 1982, ORBIS has conducted programs in more than 85
countries, impacting more than 15 million lives.
On Saturday, August 6, FedEx and ORBIS will celebrate their
historic relationship with a FedEx Friends and Family Day. The
event will feature activities for FedEx Express team members and
their families, capped by ORBIS’ “Pull for
Sight,” in which teams compete to be the fastest in a tug of
war against the 227-ton Flying Eye Hospital. FedEx Express aircraft
and privately-owned WWII aircraft will also be on display.
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