MEDICAL SUPPLIES, GROUP SHIPPING OUT TO PSKOV

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993                   TAG: 9303100195
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: By CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MEDICAL SUPPLIES, GROUP SHIPPING OUT TO PSKOV
A delegation departs for Roanoke's sister city of Pskov this Saturday, carrying with it more than 1,500 pounds of badly needed medical supplies and used hospital equipment for the Russian city's hospital.
Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley donated the equipment, which includes infant incubators and resuscitators, a fetal ultrasound unit and other pediatric supplies. In addition, the shipment will include rubber gloves, disposable needles and medicines.
"I'm so overwhelmed with the generosity," said Natasha Petersen, a Russian teacher at Patrick Henry High School who is chairwoman of the Roanoke-Pskov Sister Cities Committee. "They do not have enough of anything," she said, recalling a visit to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) five years ago, when she could not even locate an Ace bandage for her knee.
Page Pace, spokeswoman for Community, said when the delegation from Pskov came to Roanoke last fall "they expressed a need for supplies pertaining to pediatrics."
Although Community no longer has need of the equipment, Pace said it is up-to-date and would carry a value on the used market of about $140,000.
Vicki Helms, a member of the delegation, said she learned from a news report that the hospital had excess equipment and was willing to donate it. Knowing of the need for medical supplies in the newly dissolved Soviet Union, she quickly won the hospital's support to contribute the equipment to Pskov.
R. Frazier Inc., a computer parts recycler that does business worldwide, donated $5,000 to pay for shipping the equipment. DeHaven Transfer and Storage Co. Inc. provided $1,000 worth of storage and packing materials and labor, said DeHaven President Ray R. DeHaven.
To prevent the supplies from finding their way onto Russia's thriving black market, Helms said the delegation is making sure the cargo will be placed on their flight.
"When we get to St. Petersburg, we are going to ride on these boxes and follow them into the airport," said Helms. A delegation from Pskov plans to meet them there.
In addition, Helms said the group will be carrying letters from the sister city, the Russian embassy in Washington, and Roanoke Mayor David Bowers to assure the cargo makes its way swiftly through customs.
Dr. Hugh Wells, a specialist in newborn medicine at Community, said he hopes the Roanoke delegation will be able to determine if this shipment of supplies represents the type of assistance the city needs.
Wells was among a number of Community doctors and officials who showed off the hospital to the Russian delegation during a visit last fall.
"They were much impressed with the facility and technology," he said. But because there were no medical personnel in the delegation, he said it was hard to determine just what Pskov needs.
"They had a great deal of pride," Wells said. "They wanted to make it clear they were not a needy Third-World country. But they also made it clear that they were eager to have an exchange of information and personnel and the latest in medical technology."
He said "if you read between the lines" there was a sense that the Russian city had problems maintaining equipment and supplies.
Petersen will lead the seven-member delegation. She will be accompanied by Helms; her son, Don Petersen, a photographer for the Roanoke Times & World-News; Betty Lee, principal of Patrick Henry; Virginia Tech Professor Ed Ewing; Ferrum College Professor Sasha Saari; and Natasha Green, who is from Philadelphia but has participated in some of the Roanoke sister city activities.
Last year, Harry Wilson, a political science professor from Roanoke College and several students made the trip to Pskov.
"This completes the cycle of making it official that this is a sister city," said Helms.
Pskov (pronounced Puh-Scoff) is an industrial city about the size of Roanoke located 250 miles northwest of Moscow. It was chosen to be Roanoke's sister city in 1992.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB