$25,000 Donation Will Support Telecommunications in Rehabilitation Centers
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Just on the heels of the holidays, AT&T* is honoring our military service men and women with a $25,000 donation to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF). The funds will be used to help install communications technology in a series of satellite centers around the country to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress, the signature wounds of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120109/CG31581)
AT&T presented the donation to Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, housed aboard the refurbished World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier of the same name, which is docked on the west side of Manhattan.
"AT&T is proud to support our military men and women, both those actively defending our nation and those veterans who have come home," said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager for AT&T in New York and New Jersey. "By providing a way to connect men and women around the country to the doctors who have the expertise to assist them, we will be making their lives better and allowing them to continue to do what they love: serve our country."
The satellite centers will be modeled after the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), opened in 2010 on the campus of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. NICoE provides leading edge services for wounded warriors with traumatic brain injury and/or psychological health conditions. Further, the center conducts research, testing of new protocols and provides comprehensive training and education to patients, providers and families while maintaining ongoing telehealth follow-up care.
The NICoE was funded by the generosity of the American people through a fundraising effort mounted by the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The IFHF previously raised nearly $75 million to support families of military personnel lost in Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and to construct the Center for the Intrepid (CFI), an advanced physical rehabilitation facility at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, which opened in 2007.
"We are honored by AT&T's generosity and appreciate their recognition of the sacrifices and the challenges our military and their families face every day," said David Winters, President of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. "Through these and other programs, we will make an important impact in the lives of servicemen and women defending our nation around the world and here at home."
AT&T completed more than 5,000 improvements to its New York Area** Wireless Network in 2011, by adding or upgrading cell sites. The ongoing efforts to expand capacity and make network improvements last year led to a 30 percent decrease in 3G dropped call rates in the New York Area.
Additionally, AT&T has unveiled free wi-fi hot spots in a number of New York City parks including Battery Park (Battery Bosque and Ferry Landing), Rumsey Playfield, areas of Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem, Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, Astoria Park in Queens; Herbert Von King Park and McCarren Park Field House in Brooklyn; Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan and Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
**Improvements listed are from the following counties: Bergen, Bronx, Dutchess, Essex, Fairfield, Hudson, Hunterdon, Kings, Litchfield, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Nassau, New Haven, New York, Ocean, Orange, Passaic, Pike, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Somerset, Suffolk, Sussex, Ulster, Union and Westchester.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.
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