As an employee benefits broker, we immerse ourselves in health care issues every day. After all, it’s part of our mission to ensure our clients’ employees and their dependents get access to outstanding health care resources.
Yet our reach in this regard only extends so far. For the unemployed and under-employed, employer-sponsored health care simply isn’t an option. And for some, not even the marketplace exchanges and other government-provided relief programs make their way to the youth of this country.
That’s why, as long time supporters of underprivileged children’s charities, it gives us great pride to lend our support to The Hope Association and their Run for Hope initiative. Their mission is to build and operate two mobile health clinics to serve underprivileged children in the Washington, DC and Los Angeles metro areas, with possible expansion to other cities thereafter. The need for mobile health care is substantial. Just consider that:
- 7.7 million children in the U.S. do not have full year access to health care services due to lack of insurance or transportation barriers
- 9 out of 10 children who were brought into pediatric emergency rooms were treated for acute conditions that could otherwise have been treated in a primary care setting
- 1 out of 4 children with chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, and HIV/AIDs do not receive proper, on-going treatment because of lack of access to this care
- 43% of children in families with an annual income under $35,000 go more than one year without any medical visits at all
Through an initial CrowdRise funding campaign, Run for Hope raised almost $140,000 to get the program off the ground. But that was just the start. Just 48 hours ago, Levi Rizk, a Virginia doctor, set off from Santa Monica pier to run from LA to DC over the next 100 days, all in an effort to raise awareness for this effort.
He’ll go what’s beyond humanly possible and cover 3,000 miles in 100 days. He’s doing this with his wife, who is six-months pregnant, and his two-year old daughter, all of whom are shadowing him with one of the donated RV campers. When he’s finished, the RV will be converted into a mobile health clinic for the DC metro area. You can read more about his run in this Washington Post article and watch the promotional video here.
You can also download the Run for Hope app here, in the iTunes store. And of course you can lend your assistance by sharing this story with others or by donating to the cause through the mobile app or online.
Stay tuned. Over the course of this four month journey we’ll be issuing status updates on the progress of Levi’s incredible run, and the progress they're making towards their ultimate goal.