Health Care Partners Honored for Extraordinary COVID-19 Response

Bethesda, MD (September 16, 2020) – In a year marked by unprecedented health crises and heroic responses, Project HOPE, a global health organization that places power in the hands of front-line health workers to save lives, is honoring partners with Global Health Awards. 2020 recipients include Business Roundtable and Dr. Nicolette Louissaint of Healthcare Ready, who will be recognized during HOPE’s first virtual gala.

WHERE: The 2020 Global Health Awards will be presented at Project HOPE’s first-ever virtual gala event “HOPE for Life: Transforming Lives on the Front Lines of Crisis.” The event is open to the global health community and general public interested in supporting front-line health care response.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 16, 12:00pm EDT

About the Awards

Business Roundtable, Global Health Leadership Award

Business Roundtable will receive Project HOPE’s Global Health Leadership Award for its partnership in spearheading COVID-19 response across the United States. As America’s first responders needed support in early 2020 as the novel coronavirus spread, Business Roundtable’s CEO member companies joined forces with Project HOPE and Healthcare Ready to deliver lifesaving personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline health workers across the U.S.

Participating Business Roundtable companies include Rockwell Automation, Alliant Energy, Borg Warner, Lockheed Martin Inc., Micron Technology, NY Life Insurance Co., NRG Energy Inc., Synchrony Bank, CHUBB, Vistra Energy, ADP, Pitney Bowes, S&P Global, Worldwide Technology and NextEra Energy.

“We are grateful to the member companies of Business Roundtable for rallying together to help get PPE and essential gear into the hands of the health care workers who need it most,” said Chris Skopec, Executive Vice President of Project HOPE. “We’re looking forward to honoring their generous support at the HOPE for Life event.”

Dr. Nicolette Louissaint and Healthcare Ready, Global Health Partner Award

Project HOPE will honor Nicolette Louissaint, executive director & president at Healthcare Ready, for her partnership in responding for the US Business Roundtable Initiative. With a focus on strengthening health systems and supply chains, Healthcare Ready, in partnership with FEMA, prepared and coordinated the distribution of urgently needed PPE for COVID-19 response health systems in cities and states across the U.S.

“We are inspired by Dr. Louissaint’s leadership and Healthcare Ready’s swift, strategic approach. Their commitment to community resilience and saving lives is at the very core of our mission,” said Cinira Baldi, Vice President and Chief Development and Communications Officer at Project HOPE.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the U.S., Project HOPE, Business Roundtable companies, and Healthcare Ready’s partnership has already delivered 6.5 million pieces of essential personal protective equipment to doctors and nurses on the front lines, including 2.1 million gloves, 3.4 million masks and 1 million gowns. Locations receiving the equipment to date include California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and the cities of Baltimore, Houston, and New York. Additional distributions in coming weeks and months will continue to save lives around the country. Funding was provided by leading U.S. companies who are members of Business Roundtable.

“Partners like Business Roundtable and Healthcare Ready make it possible to scale our work through the most challenging of conditions, placing power in the hands of local health care workers to protect communities, heal people and transform lives,” Skopec said.

“In this time of crisis, America owes its gratitude to our frontline health care workers who put their lives on the line every day, working countless hours under difficult circumstances, to combat the virus and save lives. At the onset of the pandemic, many of these brave professionals faced dangerous shortages of critical medical supplies,” said Business Roundtable President & CEO Joshua Bolten. “Project HOPE and Healthcare Ready were there to help – procuring, importing, and delivering essential equipment to medical professionals in communities across the country. In recent weeks, critical supplies have also been distributed to support disease prevention in areas hit by Hurricane Laura. Business Roundtable CEOs have been proud to support all of this work. Thanks to Project HOPE for recognizing these companies’ generosity – and, more importantly, for the great work you do every day.”

“It is a true honor and privilege to receive the Global Health award in recognition of the strategic partnership between Project Hope, Business Roundtable and Healthcare Ready to help solve a myriad of complex challenges resulting from COVID-19,” said Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, Executive Director of Healthcare Ready. “I’m extraordinarily proud we were able to leverage each organization’s strengths and ultimately create a powerful tool to ensure that more than 6.5 million critically-needed supplies were able to get into the hands of those who needed them most in communities throughout the nation.”

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About Project HOPE

With the mission to place power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the world, Project HOPE has more than 60 years’ experience responding to some of the world’s greatest health crises. HOPE was one of the only international humanitarian relief organizations on the ground in Wuhan as the COVID-19 outbreak began. Since January, Project HOPE has been providing critical supplies, training, and other support to frontline health workers treating patients and working to contain the spread of the virus globally, including in the U.S. To date, Project HOPE’s COVID-19 efforts have reached over 100 countries and includes providing over 8.5 million pieces of PPE, training over 30,000 frontline responders on prevention and treatment of COVID-19, and providing medical staffing to locations including Houston, Chicago, Navajo Nation, and Montgomery County, Maryland. For more information on Project HOPE, visit projecthope.org and follow @projecthopeorg.

About Business Roundtable

Business Roundtable CEO members lead companies with more than 15 million employees and $7.5 trillion in revenues. The combined market capitalization of Business Roundtable member companies is the equivalent of over 27 percent of total U.S. stock market capitalization, and Business Roundtable members invest nearly $147 billion in research and development – equal to over 40 percent of total U.S. private R&D spending. Our companies pay $296 billion in dividends to shareholders and generate $488 billion in revenues for small and medium-sized businesses. Business Roundtable companies also make more than $8 billion in charitable contributions. Learn more at businessroundtable.org and follow @BizRoundtable.

About Healthcare Ready

Healthcare Ready is a preparedness and response nonprofit organization that helps to strengthen healthcare supply chains through collaboration with public health and private sectors by addressing pressing issues before, during, and after disasters. As a convener of industry and government, the organization safeguards patient health by providing solutions to critical problems and best practices for healthcare preparedness and response. For more information, visit www.healthcareready.org.