For Immediate Release: April 5, 1999

First Lady Hillary Clinton to be honored for contributions to Children’s Health Programs

(New York City) On Monday, April 19th at 6 p.m. First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) in recognition of her long-standing efforts to improve children’s health in Ukraine and around the world. The award will be presented at the Ukrainian Institute of America, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street in Manhattan, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In addition to Mrs. Clinton, several other dignitaries have confirmed they will attend the reception, including US Senator Frank Lautenberg, actor Alec Baldwin and film producer Fred Caruso.

Mrs. Clinton has been very supportive of efforts to aid the children of Chornobyl. In 1996, she and Vice-President Gore hosted a White House ceremony commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. On three separate goodwill missions, Mrs. Clinton visited children’s hospitals in Ukraine to observe first-hand the health impact of the 1986 nuclear accident that released massive amounts of radiation into the environment of Ukraine and neighboring countries. She has also lent her support to US-based efforts to save the lives of Ukrainian children.

The New Jersey-based Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund has been cited by many authorities including Ukraine’s former Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, the US State Department, and many members of Congress as one of the most effective and cost-efficient medical missions serving Ukraine. With the aid of technology, training and support services generated by US donors and activists, CCRF has achieved dramatic successes in its partner hospitals in Kyiv (Kiev), Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Lutsk, and other cities.

The Fund has established model neonatal intensive care units that have sharply reduced infant mortality in several medical centers. The Fund has also established the most advanced blood-testing laboratory in all of Eastern Europe, at the Lviv Regional Specialized Pediatric Clinic, to help combat children’s leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Together with the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, CCRF installed the first Magnetic Resonance Imaging System at the Kyiv Emergency Hospital and Trauma Center. Since 1994, the MRI has provided diagnostic tests for 9,500 patients, in many cases enabling doctors to perform life-saving surgeries on malignant tumours and traumatic brain injuries afflicting Chornobyl survivors, including children, evacuees, and nuclear cleanup veterans.

CCRF has chosen to honor Mrs. Clinton for her personal commitment to children’s health and humanitarian efforts in Eastern Europe. Throughout her professional life, Mrs. Clinton has devoted herself to improving the lives of mothers and children, both in the United States and throughout the world. The First Lady has frequently spoken out about the need for increased aid for hospitals and non-governmental organizations such as CCRF that are implementing innovative, high-impact approaches to international aid and development.

In its first ten years, CCRF has completed twenty major airlifts and seven sea shipments to Ukraine, delivering over 1,200 tons of aid valued at $40 million dollars.

For more information on the April 19th reception, please contact the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund in New Jersey at (973)376-5140 or in Kyiv (Kiev) at (011-38-044-228-1870, or consult CCRF’s homepage at www.childrenofchornobyl.org or at www.ccrf-iccf.org. Email messages may be sent to info@ccrf-iccf.org.

*CCRF uses the Ukrainian spelling of "Chornobyl" recommended by the US Library of Congress and the National Geographic Society, as opposed to the former, Soviet spelling "Chernobyl".

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