December 17, 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

OKOLONA, Miss.—Traffic just got heavier along the information superhighway, thanks to North Mississippi Medical Center’s recent donation of 20 personal computers to Okolona Public 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.

Eddie Prather, school district superintendent, said the computers will benefit seventh through 12^th grade students involved in the district’s after-school program. The additional computers also mean more students can do research at school, as well as enroll in online courses.

“There is no way we could have funded 20 computers at one time,” Prather said. “This donation is wonderful because it allows us to expose a larger number of students to this 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of specialized computer applications used throughout the health care system, after about four years a computer becomes outdated to the point that it can no longer support the necessary technology.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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