WESTLAKE VILLAGE, California – December 16, 2010 – Dole Food Company, Inc. today announced that it has just shipped its sixth 40-foot container containing medical equipment for communities in need in South and Central America. The result of a partnership with MedShare, the donated equipment ranges from an ultrasound equipment to hospital beds, centrifuges and generators, to smaller implements such as crutches, walkers, needles, gauze, syringes and surgical drapes.
The supplies were provided by the non-profit organization MedShare and shipped from Dole ports in the United States via Dole Ocean Cargo Express. The containers are delivered to municipal governments and non-profit organizations that run small public-health clinics in Ecuador and Honduras.
Dole deferrers the cost of shipment by providing container space on its fleet of cargo vessels. The first shipment took place in 2008.
“Dole is proud to help to make these donations possible,” said Marty Ordman, Vice President, Marketing & Communications. “Our employees and the land we farm are our most important assets. Dole’s partnership with MedShare represents one more way in which we are able to support the communities in which we live and work.”
“MedShare is grateful to have good partners like our friends at Dole to help us import life-saving medical supplies and equipment to Ecuador,” said MedShare CEO and Co-founder A.B. Short. “The contents of these containers will literally support the healthcare of tens of thousands of people living in poverty."
Dole, with 2009 net revenues of $6.8 billion, is the world’s largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, and is the leading producer of organic bananas. Dole markets a growing line of packaged and frozen fruit and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research.
Source: Dole Food Company Inc.
