First lady to receive CCRF award (04/11/99)

First lady to receive CCRF award

NEW YORK - First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) in recognition of her longstanding efforts to improve children's health in Ukraine and around the world. The award will be presented on Monday, April 19, at the Ukrainian Institute of America, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street in Manhattan.

Mrs. Clinton has been very supportive of efforts to aid the children of Chornobyl. In 1996, she and Vice-President Al Gore hosted a White House ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

On three separate good will missions, Mrs. Clinton visited children's hospitals in Ukraine to observe first-hand the health impact of the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chornobyl nuclear station in Ukraine.

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 Scherbak, the U.S. State Department, and members of Congress as one of the most effective and cost-efficient medical missions serving Ukraine.

The CCRF has partner hospitals in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Lutsk and other cities. The fund has established model neonatal intensive care units that have sharply reduced infant mortality. 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, the 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 tumors and traumatic brain injuries afflicting Chornobyl survivors.

The 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, the first lady has devoted herself to improving the lives of mothers and children, both in the United States and throughout the world. Mrs. Clinton has frequently spoken out about the need for increased aid to hospitals and non-governmental organizations that are implementing innovative, high-impact approaches to international aid.

In its first 10 years the CCRF has completed 20 major airlifts and seven sea shipments to Ukraine, delivering over 1,200 tons of aid valued at $40 million.

For more information on the reception, contact the CCRF at (973) 376-5140 or consult the homepage at http://www.childrenofchonrobyl.org or at http://www.ccrf-iccf.org. E-mail messages may be sent to [email protected].

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