Employees Help Distribute Thousands of Laptops and Other Equipment; Technology Aids Relief Effort
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 16, 2005 - Technology assistance
being provided by Intel Corporation and others for Hurricane Katrina
relief efforts is allowing victims to get back on their feet and
helping the region rebuild. Over the past two weeks, Intel and its
technology partners have enabled technical solutions that are proving
to be important to the relief and recovery, including donating more
than 2,300 wireless laptops for American Red Cross shelters, deploying
wireless broadband infrastructure such as WiMAX for first responders,
and assisting the Veterans Administration with the set up of mobile
hospitals along the Gulf Coast.
On Sept. 17, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett will join Red Cross officials on a fly-over of impacted areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
"Intel is proud that we've been able to play a role in helping the
region recover and in aiding those who have been impacted in rebuilding
their lives," said Paul Otellini,
Intel president and CEO. "We are committed to continuing efforts that
can relieve suffering and to assisting the Gulf Coast as it gets back
on its feet."
Equipment and Technical Assistance
Intel is coordinating the donation of more than 2,300 laptop personal
computers to the Red Cross for use in its shelters. Approximately 1,500
of those PCs came directly from Intel inventory for its own employees.
With critical network support supplied by Cisco, SBC and Avaya,
Intel has donated 150 wireless Internet access points to enable
wireless local area connectivity in priority relief center locations.
Key locations for deployment of PCs and wireless access points include
Houston; Baton Rouge, La.; and Montgomery, Ala. Intel volunteers, along
with those from other companies, managed the configuration,
distribution and installation of the equipment at the direction of the
Red Cross.
Nearly 200 Intel employees have provided on-site or off-site
technical assistance to ensure the success of technical deployments.
PCs are being configured by Intel and its partners according to Red
Cross requirements to allow shelters to exchange important information
with the organization's headquarters regarding victim status, resource
needs and case management. These systems, along with broadband access,
provide a technology backbone that gives thousands of hurricane victims
a means of communicating with relatives, verifying their identity for
emergency fund distribution, contacting social services and accessing
information important to their relocation.
The impact of these technology deployments has been significant. For
example, at the Houston Convention Center, volunteers using donated
laptops processed case forms for 4,400 families (12,000 people) in 2
1/2 days. At the Houston Astrodome, with 350 laptops, 3,000 families
were able to find permanent shelter within 24 hours.
Internet Connections
Communications problems
have been a major challenge in coordinating disaster recovery, rescue
and care efforts. Working with Tropos, MCI's SkyTel and others, Intel
is helping to establish WiMAX and Wireless Mesh networking connectivity
in locations throughout the region including around Biloxi, Miss. and
Baton Rouge These networks are being used or will be used by FEMA, the
Red Cross, local first responders and citizens to access the Internet
where no broadband connection is otherwise available and in areas where
the communications infrastructure has been compromised.
Health Care IT
Intel's Digital Health Group has been coordinating relief efforts with
the regional Veterans Administration's Veterans Integrated Services
Network (VISN) to set up nine mobile hospitals along the Gulf Coast.
Currently, mobile VA clinics have been established in: Hammond, La;
Slidell, La; McComb, Miss; Biloxi, Miss; and Lake Charles, La.
The VISN covers a vast area of 170,000 square miles providing health
care to veterans in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
parts of Texas, Missouri, Alabama and Florida. Currently, the VISN has
opened up the care beyond veterans to all those seeking assistance in
the region.
To date, Intel's Digital Health Group has procured, built and sent
55 notebook PCs equipped with Cellular Edge cards (connectivity) to the
nine mobile units, as well as to brick and mortar operations in Biloxi.
These systems have resulted in significant productivity for the
clinical teams in the mobile units by providing connectivity to
centralized records management systems, pharmaceutical systems, and
patient tracking.
Financial Contributions
On Sept. 1, the Intel Foundation announced that it would donate $1
million to the Red Cross and that it would also match employee
contributions. To date, Intel and its employees have directly donated
more than $2.6 million.
News Source: Intel Press Release
Links
