BT Supports InterHealth

26 January 2010

BT’s benefit in-kind Charity Programme supports InterHealth with a six month loan of an experienced e-commerce professional.

BT supports InterHealth, to help prevent the risk of ill health to GAP & Expedition travellers

InterHealth are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of those working to make the world a better, fairer and healthier place.

Sitting at his ‘not quite so flash’ desk in the heart of Waterloo, Steve Sharpe is a long way from his job as Senior Sales Manager at BT, supporting small/medium enterprises to utilise technology to achieve their business aims. Now it is InterHealth’s turn to benefit from 6 months support from BT’s Charity Programme. Steve started in September and is unleashing his expert knowledge of how dynamic e-commerce solutions can be effectively applied to a not-for-profit charity. This injection of commercial savvy will enable InterHealth to take their newly launched website and TravelShop to the next level making them more accessible to the thousands of people that use their travel health services worldwide.

BT makes a commitment every year to invest at least 1% of UK pre-tax profits to community investment in direct funding and in-kind support to charities.

Steve Sharpe, BT comments;

“After five years at BT helping small enterprises benefit from e-technology, it’s extremely rewarding to be able to help InterHealth to realise the cost efficiencies and improved communications available. I find it really motivating to know that my knowledge will enable InterHealth to help more people involved in humanitarian relief and poverty reduction across the world.

"Working at InterHealth demonstrates that organisations with a like-minded approach can collaborate to help each other. I’m looking forward to taking my learning back into BT to share how this social collaboration can benefit any operation with a common vision/mission.”

Technology can play a big part in delivering advice and information to individual travellers. This can subsequently reduce the risk of ill health among travellers by providing access to excellent remote travel health advice, essential travel equipment and medicines (including antimalarials).

Every year, an estimated 500,000 individuals go overseas, undertaking short to long term volunteer projects, GAP years and expeditions. While volunteering and expeditions are incredibly rewarding pursuits, individuals may work in tough environments with high instances of tropical illness. They may also be exposed to challenging sights of injustice, human suffering, and deprivation. These can have high risks to their health, wellbeing and security. Working closely with Gap Advice (gapadvice.org) InterHealth equip GAP and Expedition organisations and their travelling volunteers/staff with the medical support required to reduce the risk of ill health overseas.

Steve will now be focussing on improving InterHealth’s e-communications in support of the increasing number of GAP / Expedition organisations. Many individual travellers invest their time for the greater good, and by communicating through e-networking we can support their health and wellbeing remotely.

InterHealth’s Chief Executive, Kevin Belcher, said:

“I see this as a mutual learning opportunity for both BT and InterHealth. For us, new knowledge of two-way e-communications can really help us to reach and support our customers using the most effective communication channels so they can gain real value from the ongoing health service we provide to them. For the people involved, they return to BT with frontline experience of scaling the benefits of e-commerce to utilise in helping other small to medium enterprises."

All your essentials for global travel

Get kitted out for your next adventure with travel supplies and antimalarials from InterHealth’s TravelShop www.interhealth.org.uk/travelshop.html

Spotlight

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Testimonial

"The First Aid course was excellent and beyond my expectations in terms of content, presentation and opportunities to interact with what was being taught. It provided not only a first aid refresher but some hugely useful ideas for overseas work which I've never come across in regular first aid courses in the UK."

Dr V. J. Davidson, long-term health education worker in China