Asia Pacific (English)

FedEx and Heartbeat Vietnam Bring Health Care to Poor Children For Second Consecutive Year Through ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ Program

AN GIANG PROVINCE, March 3, 2012—FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company and a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and Heartbeat Vietnam, a program of the VinaCapital Foundation, are continuing their support for ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’, a program of mobile medical outreach clinics that brings health care services to poor children suffering from congenital heart disease.

Now entering its second year, ’FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ allows thousands of poor children to be examined and diagnosed by the country’s top cardiologists and surgeons without leaving their home provinces.

‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ was launched in March, 2011 and since then has brought free health care to over 5,500 children in 21 provinces in Vietnam. With a desire to surpass the program’s first year achievements and extend its reach, the second-year program will launch in March 2012 in An Giang Province and run through December 2012 in 22 different provinces.

Each ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ clinic last two to three days per province and provides free care to children deep in the rural areas including diagnostic testing, treatment, and placement on the national cardiac surgery waiting list as required.

Children who receive surgery through Heartbeat Vietnam can use the free clinics for their post-operative check-ups, without going on multiple trips to big cities.

Apart from increasing early detection of heart conditions in children, the ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ program also offers training to provincial doctors in diagnosis and treatment.

“I am so glad that the first year of ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ program in 2011 was such a success. Most of the children seen at the clinics come from extremely poor families who cannot afford proper treatment or surgery” said Ms.. Robin King Austin, CEO & executive director of the VinaCapital Foundation. “Thanks to the continuous generous support from FedEx, we will continue to expand the program in 2012, sending more doctors to provinces in Vietnam in order to reach even more underprivileged children suffering from heart defects and chronic diseases”.

“Seeing the achievements of ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ and the difference that it makes to the lives of so many children in Vietnam, we are now more committed than ever to supporting the program and helping extend its coverage into the rural areas,” said Nguyen Duy Binh, senior manager, Indochina and chief representative of FedEx Vietnam. “We are pleased to be able to engage in the community to meet the social needs of the local residents”.

FedEx volunteers are encouraged to contribute their time and efforts towards ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ by assisting the families with registration at the clinics and conversing with them while their children wait to be examined. They also help promote the program by interviewing the families and writing profile stories for the Heartbeat website and newsletter.

In 2011, 32 ‘FedEx Delivers Heartbeats’ clinics took place in 21 provinces and 13 districts across Vietnam. Of the 5,500 children who received free health care, 1,250 were found to have a congenital heart defect, and 909 required an operation. The children needing corrective heart operations were placed on the Heartbeat Vietnam surgery waiting list, where the average wait between diagnosis and surgery is just six to eight weeks.