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BRAMA, Mar. 31, 2000, 9:00am EST


Relief Organization Prepares 25th Airlift to Aid Children Affected by Health Crisis in Nuclear Fallout Region

- Shipment to include aid for Families of Victims of Latest Mining Disaster in Don Region -

An Emergency Plea to All Readers!
Your Help is Needed Immediately!

Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund Responds to Barakova Coal Mining Disaster with Emergency Airlift

In response to the urgent request from the Ministry of Ukraine of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Relief regarding the recent coal mining accident which occurred on March 11, 2000 at the Barakova coal mine in the Luhanske region of Ukraine, the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund is organizing an emergency airlift to assist the victims’ families and their children. We ask you to adopt one of the 87 families that were tragically stricken by this horror, by sending your $200 donation to CCRF immediately. CCRF will leverage your donation to provide relief supplies in the value of $2000. Your humanitarian gift will be hand-delivered to the families by CCRF’s In-Country Director in the Luhanske region. When you send your donation, please indicate if you would like to be acknowledged by your adopted family or if you would like to remain anonymous.

The families suffering from this tragedy are in dire need of your help. Please make checks payable to:

CCRF or Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
272 Old Short Hills Road
Short Hills, NJ 07078

(Tel: 973.376.5140 Fax: 973.376.4988)

On behalf of the families, we thank you in advance.

The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, an award-winning charity based in New Jersey with chapters in Boston and Hartford is preparing its 25th major medical airlift to help children and newborns who continue to suffer the effects of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Established in 1989, CCRF has delivered more than 1,200 tons of medical and humanitarian aid to the region affected by the 1986 accident at Chornobyl Atomic Energy Station in northern Ukraine. The accident unleashed millions of curies of radiation into the environment, contaminating hundreds of thousands of square miles and forcing the evacuation of entire cities and dozens of smaller towns.

The April shipment is scheduled to deliver high-priority surgical supplies, neonatal intensive care equipment and antibiotics to help stem the high mortality rates that have reduced the population of Ukraine by more than 2 million people in the past five years.

"The long-term effects of Chornobyl are still manifesting themselves in hundreds of children stricken with thyroid cancer and other malignant tumors," said Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, the co-founder and President of CCRF. "We’re also seeing increasing numbers of newborns with major complications and birth defects." As health effects have increased, CCRF has intensified its efforts to train local doctors and to provide them with the technology they need to combat this ongoing health crisis. Since 1997, the Fund has established model intensive care units that have dramatically reduced infant mortality in several hospitals.

CCRF has won strong bipartisan praise from members of Congress, the US State Department, and health experts working in the field. In its next shipment, the Fund will also include humanitarian assistance for the families of the 89 coal miners who died in last weekend’s explosion in the city of Krasnodonsk, in the Luhansk region near the Russian border.

"This latest disaster underscores the need for stronger health and safety controls in the Soviet-built industrial complexes," said Alex Kuzma, Executive Director for the Fund. "Sadly enough, Chornobyl and Krasnodonsk are not likely to be the last environmental accidents to plague this country which is so critical to the strategic interests of the United States. We have to do everything we can to strengthen their health care services and restore the hope of young families for a brighter future."

Kuzma said that the real hope lies in idealistic young doctors and community activists who have committed themselves to a radical transformation of their health care system. "When provided with the right training and resources, these doctors have shown an amazing ability to adapt new techniques to protect and save the lives of these children."

For further information, please call CCRF’s national office at (973) 376-5140, or its New England regional office at (203) 407-0261. For more information on programs in the Boston area, please call (617) 864-1838.

CCRF’s web site may be accessed at www.childrenofchornobyl.org.

*Note: CCRF uses the local Ukrainian spelling of "Chornobyl" recommended by the US Library of Congress and the National Geographic Society as opposed to the Russified spelling "Chernobyl" used more commonly during the Soviet era.


 


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