FedEx and Bosma Enterprises Indianapolis Employees Lend Support Indianapolis, Indiana
September 8, 2011 – FedEx and ORBIS International, a leading global organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide, will host an Indianapolis stop on the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital’s North American Goodwill Tour at the FedEx Express Maintenance Facility on September 10, 2011. The ORBIS International flagship Flying Eye Hospital – a converted DC-10 aircraft, flown by volunteer pilots, containing a state of the art surgical and teaching facility – will also be in Indianapolis to prepare for its upcoming FedEx sponsored program to Peru in October.
The Flying Eye Hospital brings eye care professionals and a fully functional eye hospital to developing countries to provide two-to-three weeks of training and state of the art surgical demonstrations. ORBIS uses the Flying Eye Hospital to conduct intensive skills-exchange programs for ophthalmic practitioners, medical personnel and the local eye health community aboard this unique aircraft. ORBIS volunteer doctors, local doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers and technicians impart 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. Over the past 29 years ORBIS’s Flying Eye Hospital has visited 77 countries and conducted 275 training and service programs in 154 cities.
“Thanks to the local Indianapolis FedEx maintenance facility and Bosma Enterprises, the Flying Eye Hospital is able to restock its medical supplies, which are necessary for our program to Peru in October,” said Bruce Johnson, Director of Aircraft Operations at ORBIS International. “Being here in Indianapolis provides ORBIS with a unique opportunity to work with FedEx to transport medical supplies from the local Bosma Enterprises facility directly to the plane, as normally the supplies are shipped compliments of FedEx to the program’s location, wherever it may be across the globe.”
Indianapolis employers FedEx and Bosma Enterprises strongly support the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital. Bosma Enterprises helps keep the Flying Eye Hospital stocked, employing people who are blind or visually impaired to help save others’ sight by compiling supply kits for the Flying Eye Hospital’s worldwide missions. FedEx, whose Indianapolis-based aviation mechanics will be servicing the plane at no cost during the stop, is a major sponsor donating the unparalleled FedEx global network and aviation expertise to help the Flying Eye Hospital fly. In 2005, Indianapolis-based Bosma Enterprises assumed warehousing and distribution operations for ORBIS International, implementing ORBIS’s efficient, cost-saving Supply Chain Management system. Today, Bosma Enterprises stores and restocks medical supplies used on every ORBIS mission.
Heather Quigley-Allen, M.Ed., Senior Director of Marketing and Resource Development, President, Bosma Visionary Opportunities Foundation, said “Bosma Enterprises is proud to partner with ORBIS and its sight-saving mission. As an organization who serves people who are blind, we are uniquely positioned to understand the critical importance of their work.”
FedEx pilots volunteer to fly the ORBIS DC-10 to many of its medical programs and train other volunteer pilots; FedEx mechanics provide maintenance support; team members around the world volunteer as part of the ORBIS humanitarian team as interpreters, welcoming and escorting patients to and from their surgeries and checkups, canvassing neighborhoods and assisting with patient screenings. FedEx provides complimentary transportation services to move critically needed medical supplies to ORBIS clinics worldwide; makes the FedEx flight training simulator available to train volunteer pilots and manages the cost and performance of the annual safety checks for ORBIS's flagship Flying Eye Hospital. FedEx recently announced a new five-year, $5.375 million commitment in the form of cash and in-kind contributions to ORBIS, plus the donation of a MD-10 cargo aircraft to be the third-generation Flying Eye Hospital.
“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.”
About ORBIS International
ORBIS International is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works in developing countries to save sight worldwide. ORBIS prevents and treats blindness through hands-on training, public health education, improved access to quality eye care, and partnering with local health care organizations in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness. For more information on ORVIS, please visit www.ORBIS.org.
About FedEx
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $39 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 290,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit news.fedex.com.
About Bosma Enterprises
Bosma Enterprises was founded in 1915 and is dedicated to empowering people who are blind or visually impaired by creating opportunities that lead to the achievement of each individual’s employment, economic, social, and self-determination goals.
