Mayo Clinic to Donate $1 Million in Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief

Friday, September 02, 2005

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Mayo Clinic, as a three-site organization (Arizona, Florida and Minnesota), will donate $1 million to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Funds will be distributed equally to the American Red Cross, Americares and Direct Relief International. In addition to monetary donation, Mayo will respond with medical care. Mayo has contacted those most closely involved in relief efforts - including a New Orleans hospital that remains open - with offers of help. Mayo Clinic is also prepared to care for patients who may be transplanted from the hurricane-affected areas to its facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, and will send medical staff to the disaster scene when requested. In addition, Mayo is working with federal government officials to prepare for coordinated, long-term assistance. "The devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region have touched us all," says Denis Cortese, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones."

Mayo Clinic is a private group practice of medicine dedicated to providing diagnosis and treatment of patient illnesses through a systematic focus on individual patient needs. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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