Casa Dorinda Donates Hospital Beds for El Salvador Quake Victims

Direct Relief International
Friday, 27 April 2001

SANTA BARBARA, CA (April 27, 2001) - With the country of El Salvador still reeling from the after-effects of two devastating earthquakes in January and February, Santa Barbara's Casa Dorinda retirement community is pitching in to help out. Casa Dorinda has donated 28 state-of the-art, motorized hospital beds for Direct Relief International to send to charitable health care facilities in El Salvador. DRI will send the beds through the Salvadoran-American Foundation, a long-time partner which operates 34 hospitals and clinics in the Central American nation.

Some of the beds will be used in a new clinic that the foundation is building in the town of San Julian, where 1,100 houses were totally destroyed and 5,000 people were affected by the earthquakes.

Residents of Casa Dorinda have for decades been a major source of support for Direct Relief's worldwide aid efforts, and several Casa Dorindans have served on the agency's Board of Directors

Founded in Santa Barbara in 1948, since January 1, 2001, DRI has sent over $28 million in medical supplies and equipment to victims of poverty, civil unrest and natural disasters in 28 countries.

For more information, or to contact Direct Relief International, see their website at: www.directrelief.org