Archive for March, 2010
Medstrat donates PACS to Guatemala
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Medstrat is pleased to announce the donation of our echoes PACS system and annual support services to rural Guatemalan community hospital.
For more information on Medstrat please visit www.medstrat.com.
Posted in Kane Gives Back | No Comments »
Guatemala Medical Relief Update
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Jake Thompson, Kane X-ray’s CEO, and his wife Stephanie were part of a team with HELPS International that staffed a hospital in the highland areas of Guatemala for 7 days this past February. The medical/surgical team performed 161 surgeries and attended 1,453 patients. The construction team impacted over 350 people in the community by installing stoves and water purification systems to prevent respiratory and water-borne illnesses. This team, a combination 70 medical and non-medical personnel from Michigan, Florida, and Maryland, was 1 of 12 teams sent to Guatemala each year to help change lives through HELPS International.
H
ELPS is a major healthcare provider for the country of Guatemala. Over 60% of the people in Guatemala live below the poverty line. For most a visit to a HELPS staffed hospital is their only chance of healthcare.
Stephanie, a surgical nurse, focused her efforts with the team from Annapolis specializing in correcting pediatric strabismus – more commonly known as crossed eyes. A father of a surgical patient the team saw told them he had been out of work for months and had no money to help his son, but because they were there his son could finally see straight. “He thanked us for coming. We’re so glad we went,” said Jake.
Steph and Jake were humbled that they were allowed to go and help the beautiful people of Guatemala. They’re grateful to their friends and family that gave financially, donated baked goods for the bake sale, and their church small group who donated school supplies for the school they visited. “We’re home now but a piece of our heart is still in Guatemala. We brought them healthcare, but they gave us community,” said Steph.
Kane X-ray is currently working on a project to deliver x-ray imaging to a hospital in Rio Hondo, Guatemala.
For more information on HELPS International visit www.helpsintl.org.
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Plotting Goodness
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
I’m not really sure why this particular quote has impacted me so over the past 3 years, but I came across it during my final MBA research paper on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To me it basically says there’s a lot of suffering in the world, a lot of injustice, a lot of poverty, a lot of people plotting evil – but do something. Do anything. Just don’t do nothing.
As it says on our website’s Giving Back page, I truly believe that those of us in the medical community can do far more than just donate money to humanitarian causes. We can leverage our time, talents, and businesses to save lives. This sentiment was echoed by Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM in his book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? “Individuals can be enormously generous… yet they lack the heft and leverage that corporations can bring to the solution of large systemic problems.” At Kane X-ray I’m so pleased that our team is doing just that.
With our CSR initiatives, we’re leveraging what we do best, health imaging, and delivering x-ray equipment to hospitals in need in developing countries. We’ve partnered and consulted with some of the best people in this arena, but we’re still learning a lot about planning, managing resources, and communicating across boundaries. We’re learning that plotting goodness isn’t as easy as it should be, but it is worth it. Several customers, employees, and vendors have already committed their support to our work in Guatemala and it will be my pleasure to keep you updated on our progress.
At the same time, I would like to offer a challenge: consider what your business uniquely offers, consider what charitable project you can realistically take on – and do it. Just start. You’ll figure it out as you go.
Feel free to contact me regarding our Guatemala project or I’m happy to share what we’ve been learning as well jthompson@kanexray.com.
Posted in Jake's CEO Blog | 1 Comment »
