Boeing has announced it has partnered with Ethiopian Airlines and Seattle Anesthesia Outreach (SAO) for this week’s delivery of anesthesia equipment to Ethiopia’s largest hospital.
Ethiopian Airlines’ newest 777-200LR—its second of five 777-200LRs on order—delivered approximately $500,000 worth of medical supplies, mainly anesthesia machines, monitors and books, weighing 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms), from Seattle Anesthesia Outreach to Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Black Lion Hospital is the largest hospital in Ethiopia as well as the largest teaching hospital for the University of Addis Medical School.
A majority of the medical supplies being shipped to Ethiopia were donated by Swedish Medical Center, which is the largest and most comprehensive non-profit health provider in the greater Seattle area.
In addition to the donation of medical supplies, 12 affiliated physicians and clinical staff from Swedish have donated vacation time to volunteer as part of SAO’s humanitarian trips to Ethiopia.
“Boeing and its airline partners have been working together to fill what is sometimes empty cargo space to help bring relief to people around the globe,” said Liz Warman, director of Boeing Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest region.
“Our company has a history in humanitarian efforts. Our Humanitarian Delivery Flights program is another way we can continue leveraging our resources to help those in need,” Warman added.
The Boeing Humanitarian Delivery Flights (HDF) program is a collaboration effort between Boeing, airline customers and non-profit organizations to deliver humanitarian aid throughout the world to communities in need or crisis.
The humanitarian items are loaded into the empty cargo space of new airplanes being delivered and transported to the customer’s home destination.
