December 23, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: DEBORAH ROBERTS PUGH

(662) 377-3712

Visit www.nmhs.net for an electronic version of this article.

NMMC COMPUTER DONATIONS

SPUR TECHNOLOGY AT LOCAL SCHOOL

BALDWYN, Miss.—Traffic just got heavier along the information superhighway, thanks to North Mississippi Medical Center’s recent donation of 50 personal computers to Baldwyn Separate School District.

The Tupelo-based health care system has donated 2,409 computers to schools and other organizations in its service area during the past five years. Each donated computer saves an organization approximately $1,000.

Harvey Brooks, school district superintendent, said the computers are being placed in third- through eighth-grade classrooms. “This donation is extremely helpful to us,” Brooks said. “It allows us to give more students access to computers than would ever be possible with the limited funds we have for technology.”

Given the number and variety of specialized computer applications used throughout the health care system, after about four years a computer becomes outdated to the point that it can no longer support the necessary technology.

"As part of our long-range technology plan, NMMC replaces one-fourth of its computers each year. The computers we no longer use are donated to schools in the communities served by our health care system," explains Tommy Bozeman, NMMC vice president and chief information officer. “While these computers can no longer accommodate advanced software applications for health care, they can certainly support Internet access and serve as excellent classroom tools.”

For more information about NMMC’s’ computer donation program or to request consideration, submit a letter to Tommy Bozeman at North Mississippi Medical Center, 830 S. Gloster St., Tupelo, MS 38801.

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