In an article in the West Toledo Herald Newspapers dated 6/1/2005, Lawrence Conway, president of the Diller Foundation, announced that a shipment of 18 tons of desperately needed hospital and medical equipment was sent from Toledo to hospitals and medical clinics in El Salvador.

In addition, six tons of medical supplies were included. Materials included in the shipment will be distributed to public hospitals and medical clinics in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. The materials were shipped on May 21st from the Foundation’s Distribution Center located at St. Charles Hospital.

This is the second shipment of humanitarian aid supplies to El Salvador within the past year by the Diller Foundation.

The vitally needed medical equipment and supplies, which have an estimated value of $280,000, were donated to the Foundation by hospitals, medical clinics, and physicians in the Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan Area.

Dr. Diller, a former resident of Ottawa Hills who now resides in Ann Arbor, said, “it’s appropriate and timely, given the recent occurrence of Hurricane Adrian in El Salvador, that we’re able to make this shipment to the Salvadorian people, who have little, if any, available public hospital or medical facilities.”

Sean Ahearn, president of Project Lighthouse in Boston, Mass., who is coordinating the shipment in conjunction with the Diller Foundation, said, “We are deeply grateful for the noble humanitarian effort of the Diller Foundation.

“The poor and sick of San Salvador look forward to receiving these medical supplies. In many cases, this material may mean the difference between life and death. I would like to thank, on their behalf, the many kind and generous contributors in the Toledo metropolitan area for their timely and sorely needed assistance.”

Andrew B. Casabianca, M.D., executive vice president of the Diller Foundation and an anesthesiologist at the Medical University of Ohio, said, “This medical supply shipment is not only helpful to the medically poor of San Salvador, but it is also beneficial from a public health point of view by reducing the incidence of morbidity and morality of the citizens of San Salvador.”

Gary W. Hoffman and Associates, vice president of the Diller Foundation and president of Gary W. Hoffman and Associates, a Toledo based telecommunications consulting firm, was responsible for the logistical planning for the shipment.

The shipment to El Salvador is the 20th shipment of hospital and medical supplies to various countries, including Mexico, Russia, Senegal, East Africa, the Central African Republic, Congo, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, since Jan. 1, 2004.