Team Alvimedica to Support Heart Kids in NZ

Press Release

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Team Alvimedica to Support Heart Kids in New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand, February 13, 2015 - Team Alvimedica is racing to New Zealand in Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race and the clear winner at the Auckland finish line in early March will be Heart Kids, a foundation supporting families of children experiencing heart health challenges.

New Zealand’s Starship Foundation is also getting on board to support Heart Kids through a visit by members of the sailing team to Starship Children’s Hospital cardiac paediatric unit and to promote Team Alvimedica’s auction for unique team experiences during the Auckland stopover of the round-the-world race.

Bidding is open on seven Pro-Am Race spots and the “Jump Seat,” two separate once-in-a lifetime experiences on board Team Alvimedica. The auction winners will be part of Team Alvimedica as they compete in Auckland in mid-March. Bids can be made now at www.teamalvimedica.com/auction. Team Alvimedica has raised close to $40,000 USD for paediatric heart health charities since the Volvo Ocean Race started from Spain in October and today formally announced the World Heart Health Charity Tour.

Rob Lutter, CEO of Heart Kids, said “We are honoured to be part of this exciting opportunity. For kids living with congenital heart defects, this sort of adventure racing is not possible – but heart kids take on even bigger challenges every single day, challenges many of us take for granted. We really appreciate Team Alvimedica’s support, and every dollar raised through this great auction will help Heart Kids support families from around New Zealand who need us every day.”

Starship Foundation Chief Executive, Brad Clark says, “We are exceptionally pleased to work with Team Alvimedica and collaborate with Heart Kids to support this exciting initiative.

Housing the National Heart Unit and funding significant heart projects at Starship over many years, this is a cause near and dear to our hearts.”

“All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit Heart Kids,” said Dr. Cem Bozkurt, CEO of Alvimedica, the global medical devices company specializing in interventional cardiology that is the Team’s owner. “It is our hope that this initiative will be a small step toward supporting heart health in New Zealand and at each of the stopover communities of the Volvo Ocean Race worldwide.”

Sailing fans have the chance to bid on bringing their own team of five to seven people to join the Team Alvimedica race crew on one of the Pro-Am Races in the stopover. These in-port races precede the leg start and offer sailing fans the rare opportunity to actually be involved in crew manoeuvers with the professional race team as they compete against the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Bids can be placed on the team’s web site atwww.teamalvimedica.com/auction.

The “Jump Seat” experience involves departing the dock with the race crew and being on board for the initial racing before the fleet leaves the stopover port.

In Auckland, the fleet sets out March 15 for a 6,776 nautical-mile leg to Itajai, Brazil, through the Southern Ocean and around the iconic Cape Horn. The initial part of the Leg is sailed inshore with each of the Volvo Ocean Race teams having a Jump Seat guest on board. The Jump Seat riders experience the exhilarating moments of the start before leaping overboard at a safe moment in the race. The “Jumpers” are then retrieved by a tender boat and brought safely back to shore.

For the details of this exciting auction opportunity and to support children experiencing heart health challenges, visit the team website at www.teamalvimedica.com/auction. Bidding closes March 12 for the Pro-Am spots and March 5 for the “Jump Seat.”

Heart Kids New Zealand

• 12 babies a week are born in New Zealand with a congenital heart defect (CHD), a condition they have to live with for the rest of their lives and for which there is no prevention or cure.
• CHD is the most prevalent childhood illness affecting Kiwi kids, with one in every 100 babies born having a heart defect. CHD is the number one cause of infant death for in New Zealand.
• Over 450 open heart surgeries are performed on small hearts each year at Starship Children’s Hospital, with many other procedures and treatments undergone at Starship by heart kids from all over the country.
• Heart Kids NZ is the only charity in New Zealand supporting children born with congenital heart defects (CHD) throughout their entire lives. The organisation also helps children who develop heart defects in their early years, as a result of illnesses such as rheumatic fever. We also support the entire family and community.
• Heart Kids’ practical and emotional support is vital for those affected, helping them cope with the day-to-day challenges of living with a childhood heart condition. Services include specialised Family Support Workers, camps for heart kids, professional resources and information, family matching, and medical equipment and support tools such as MedicAlert bracelets and CoaguChek machines.
• Heart Kids receives no government funding and relies on support from generous partners and communities to provide support services for children and families affected by CHD across New Zealand.

Starship Foundation

• Starship is New Zealand’s national children’s hospital. There are over 110,000 patient visits to Starship Children’s Health every year by children from all over New Zealand.
• The Starship Foundation is a social-profit organisation that raises funds so Starship Children’s Health can better care for its young patients. The Starship Foundation aims to create meaningful and magical opportunities that enrich the health of every young New Zealander.
• The Starship Foundation raises up to $10 million a year. Donations are extra to Government funding and provide for initiatives such as Starship’s National Air Ambulance Service which brings children from all over New Zealand to Starship for life-saving care, as well as refurbishing older wards, new technology and medical equipment, vital research, boosted family support, staff training and community outreach projects to keep children out of hospital.

Team Alvimedica is the youngest entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015, the world's toughest and longest sporting event. The crew is led by American skipper Charlie Enright, age 30. Alvimedica, the European based medical devices company, is the team’s owner. Founded in 2007, Alvimedica is a fast growing challenger in the global field of interventional cardiology, committed to developing minimally-invasive technologies. This is the team’s first entry in the extremely challenging 39,000-mile race that started October 11, 2014 from Alicante, Spain and features stopovers in 11 ports around the world.

Follow Team Alvimedica on:
www.teamalvimedica.com
www.facebook.com/TeamAlvimedica
www.volvooceanrace.com

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