ORBIS International
FedEx isn’t just about using the power of aviation to deliver a package or a letter. We believe that the global connectivity that aviation affords us carries with it the responsibility to make the world a better place. Our 20-year involvement with ORBIS International makes us proud to contribute to the goal of delivering the gift of sight to the world. Thirty-seven million people in the world are blind and for 28 million, this could be avoided with proper medical care.
ORBIS developed the first Flying Eye Hospital, a DC-10 aircraft that contains a teaching facility and ophthalmic surgery center. Volunteer pilots from FedEx fly the plane to remote locations across the globe, where medical teams perform surgeries, conduct training sessions and educate communities about blindness prevention and treatment. Since the Flying Eye Hospital took flight in 1982, more than 6.8 million people worldwide have been treated; 360,000 surgeries have been completed; and 195,000 eye care professionals have been trained aboard the hospital. The FedEx-sponsored ORBIS Pediatric Eye Care and Training Center of Excellence in Guangzhou, China, anticipates that by 2011 it will save the sight of more than 1,000 children and screen more than 200,000 children for eye problems.
At FedEx, we also support the plane’s maintenance, making it possible for ORBIS to operate the current Flying Eye Hospital at nominal expense, and we also provide complimentary transportation for critically needed medical supplies headed to ORBIS-hospital-based programs around the world. For more information, visit http://www.orbis.org/
