New Orleans Habitat for Humanity project beckons to SNM meeting volunteers

The molecular imaging community will lend a hand to help rebuild New Orleans during a special event June 13 before the start of the 2008 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting.

IBA Molecular, a radiopharmacy chain in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, has arranged for a day of volunteer construction help through the New Orleans area Habitat for Humanity. The charity is using volunteers to build replacement houses in Musician's Village, the Ninth Ward, and other hurricane-damaged neighborhoods of the city.

About half of 50 volunteer slots were filled the first day after the event was announced March 18, according to Jill Epperson, trade show and marketing coordinator. Construction efforts continue throughout New Orleans and surrounding communities to repair the damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms killed an estimated 1464 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and destroyed tens of thousands of houses and commercial buildings in August and September 2005.

Expert construction skills are not required, though volunteers must be at least 18 years old to participate, Epperson said. They will be transported by bus from the Renaissance Art Hotel to the Habitat for Humanity construction site at 7 a.m. Work will end before 5 p.m.

For information, contact Epperson at 815-328-7150 or jill.epperson@iba-group.com.

IBA Molecular operates 35 radiopharmacies distributing F-18 FDG and other radiopharmaceutical agents for diagnosis and radiotherapy in North America, Europe, and Asia.

For more information from the Diagnostic Imaging archives:

One year later, Katrina leaves hospitals hurting

New Orleans VA medical center restores data lost to Katrina

Hurricane Katrina bursts PACS myths for Louisiana radiologists