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LOUISVILLE, KY. (FEB. 17, 2010): Norton Healthcare officials today donated more than $151,000 to support Haiti relief efforts by EDGE OUTREACH and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Norton officials presented the donations to representatives of the two relief organizations during a brief program this morning in the Norton Hospital auditorium on Norton Healthcare’s campus in downtown Louisville.
The Norton family – employees, board members, physicians, volunteers and others – donated nearly $76,000, which was matched dollar-for-dollar by Norton Healthcare, making the total donation more than $151,000. The Norton family made donations for a three-week period starting in mid-January, which came in the form of online donations, vacation time donations, checks, cash and coins.
“When the Norton family began to ask how they might help with the Haiti relief efforts, we determined that the best stewardship of these donations was to support responsible organizations that were already in Haiti doing good work in very difficult circumstances,” said the Rev. Ronald Oliver, Ph.D., BCC, vice president, Mission & Outreach for Norton Healthcare, who coordinated the donation effort. “We were pleased but not at all surprised by the compassionate generosity of the Norton family.”
 EDGE OUTREACH is using Haiti relief donations to provide clean water for Haitian children and families affected by the crisis. Since the Jan. 12 earthquake struck, EDGE has established 18 water stations and three hand pumps with purified water storage tanks, and repaired several hand pumps. Doctors Without Borders has more than 1,000 physicians, nurses and non-medical staff in Haiti providing medical care. The organization has delivered more than 500 tons of relief materials, treated more than 6,000 patients, and conducted about 1,000 surgeries since the earthquake struck.
"What the Norton family has done to support these Haiti relief efforts has exemplified community leadership, inspired a spirit of camaraderie and saved lives. This is how companies can encourage all of us to do more for people,” said Mark Hogg, executive director for EDGE OUTREACH. “Our organization is honored to receive the Norton gift and to do our part responding to this horrific tragedy by providing pure water stations, repairing hand pumps and equipping Haitian leadership with the tools to care for their own water needs."
"Doctors Without Borders is incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Norton Healthcare family,” said Jennifer Tierney, development director for Doctors Without Borders. “Our teams in Haiti are encouraged by the outpouring of support for their work and of course for our patients. The funds donated will support activities such as surgery, post-operative care, mental health care, distribution of non-food items and water, and vaccination campaigns to protect Haitians from disease outbreaks."
In addition to today’s donation, Norton Healthcare has provided thousands of dollars in medical supplies to Supplies Over Seas to help in the Haiti relief effort.
About Norton Healthcare
For more than a century, Norton Healthcare’s faith heritage has guided its mission to provide quality health care to all those it serves. Today, Norton Healthcare is the Louisville area’s leading hospital and health care system (44 percent market share) and third largest private employer, providing care at more than 100 locations throughout Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. The not-for-profit system includes five Louisville hospitals; 11 Norton Immediate Care Centers; 10,900 employees; some 390 employed medical providers; and more than 2,300 total physicians on its medical staff. Norton Healthcare serves patients in the Greater Louisville area, including Southern Indiana, and throughout Kentucky.
 About EDGE OUTREACH
EDGE OUTREACH trains, mobilizes and equips individuals and organizations in a variety of sustainable water solutions, hand pump repair, health and hygiene education and water relief. As an international faith-based organization, EDGE OUTREACH has trained groups that are making a difference with water in 17 countries, and has its own water initiatives in India, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
About Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, the organization provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.
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