Press Release - Project HOPE Welcomes Volunteers from Eli Lilly and Company for Two-Week Assignment at the HOPE Centre in South Africa ~ The HOPE Centre

Project HOPE, a global health education and humanitarian assistance organization, yesterday welcomed ten employees from the global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company for a two-week volunteer assignment at the HOPE Centre in South Africa. The volunteers will provide assistance to the staff at the HOPE Centre in a variety of capacities, all in an effort to improve the quality of care at the clinic.

Located in the impoverished township of Zandspruit near Johannesburg, the HOPE Centre clinic is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially diabetes and hypertension. The clinic not only offers treatment, but it also promotes awareness about chronic illnesses - especially diabetes and hypertension - with an emphasis on prevention. The HOPE Centre is the only clinic of its kind in South Africa.

Community health workers employed by the clinic go out into local areas to offer screenings for diabetes and hypertension, and they offer access to treatment for those individuals found to suffer from these and other illnesses. Because many residents of this community do not have ready access to family medicine providers, the clinic also offers treatment for many other common illnesses and ailments.

The ten volunteers starting their two-week assignments today at the HOPE Centre work in a variety of capacities for Lilly including clinical research, pharmaceutical sales, communications and manufacturing. They have each been assigned to one of five different functional areas of the clinic: clinical support, community screening, pharmacy and lab support, communications and peer support.

The Lilly volunteers will be responsible for developing strategies to improve the functioning and efficiency of each of the areas to which they have been assigned. They will also create educational materials about diabetes, hypertension and the most common pharmaceuticals used at the clinic. Additionally, some of the volunteers will conduct patient interviews; others will set up small gardens, which will support the nutrition education component of the clinic.

“I am thrilled to welcome so many talented individuals from Lilly to the HOPE Centre,” said Stefan Lawson, Project HOPE’s Country Director for South Africa and Director of the HOPE Centre. “I look forward to the lasting contributions these volunteers will make to our community.”
The volunteers are part of Connecting Hearts Abroad, Lilly’s global employee volunteer program, which was launched in 2011. Throughout 2013, Lilly will send 200 employees from 45 countries to impoverished communities throughout the world on two-week service assignments.

About Project HOPE
Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health crises, with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in 35 countries across five continents.
http://www.projecthope.org

About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation is developing a growing portfolio of pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Lilly provides answers – through medicines and information – for some of the world’s most urgent medical needs. Additional information about Lilly is available at www.lilly.com .