DentalEZ® Donates Massive Amount of Equipment, Supplies to Project Chimps Organization
Contribution
Will Provide Complete Dental Care Facility for
the
Organization’s New Location
Malvern,
PA (January 10, 2017) – For its latest philanthropic endeavor, DentalEZ®,
a supplier of integrated products and services for dental health professionals
worldwide, recently donated a full shipment of dental supplies and equipment to
Project Chimps, a rescue organization dedicated to the lifetime sanctuary care
of hundreds of captive chimpanzees.
Specifically, the Company donated various dental products, and operatory
and utility room equipment to Project Chimps’ new northern Georgia sanctuary
including NevinLabs™ steel cabinets, DentalEZ® delivery
units and operatory lights, StarDental® handpieces, and RAMVAC
vacuums and compressors. Because of the Company’s generous donation, the new
dental facility will now have all components needed for complete and optimal
dental care of the rescued animals.
Peter Volk, Territory Sales Manager for DentalEZ is heading the mission along
with Southern Region Manager, Chuck Seeger, and Jason Hodkowski, Senior
Institutional Sales Manager. The team is currently working with the company to
create the dental facility. “It is interesting because as dental professionals
our focus is almost always on our human patients,” remarked Volk. “What most
people don’t think about is that all of the animals that they only see on
Animal Planet or at the zoo need dental care. Once in a captive environment
these animals need to receive all of the preventive care that we humans are
accustomed to.”
A recent transfer carried out by Project Chimps prompted the charitable
donation by DentalEZ, as well as widespread national attention. Nine chimpanzees
once used as research animals at the New Iberia Research Center in
Louisiana were just relocated to the new Project Chimps refuge, hundreds of
miles from their former home in a lab where they were used as subjects in
biomedical testing.
Workers with the non-profit organization transported all nine animals and
now Project Chimps sanctuary, located in Morganton, Georgia, is their new home,
a sprawling preserve where over 200 chimps will eventually roam free. The
236-acre sanctuary is located along a temperate rainforest, with rolling hills
and a lush, green landscape. In addition to office buildings, a full veterinary
clinic, and an upscale kitchen designed by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, there
are currently four "villas" that can house 10-15 chimps each, and one
larger group building that can house two groups of 10-15 chimps.
“It’s a very rewarding feeling to know that we are providing the medical
and dental equipment to chimps that, up to this point, have spent most if not
all of their lives in a research laboratory,” continued Volk. “As a DentalEZ
representative, it is important that we give back not only to the people in our
community, but also to those that do not have a voice. It is our calling as
dental professionals to make sure that everyone, both human and animal, are
treated with the utmost care and respect.”
In 2015, all chimpanzees were designated an endangered species, marking
the end of privately funded research on chimpanzees in the US. Chimps are
considered the smartest primate and the closest relatives to humans, which is
why the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana has used 220 of them for
medical testing.
The opening of the new Project Chimps sanctuary follows a steady shift
away from controversial biomedical research on chimpanzees across the country.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) began significantly phasing
out its funding of federal research on chimps in 2013, and announced the
retirement of its 50 remaining chimpanzees in November 2015.
NIH also ended its research support for chimps but did not
own approximately 360 remaining around the US. Now the private
institutions that own them, like the New Iberia Research Center, are following
suit. However, due to limited space at existing sanctuaries such as Chimp
Haven in Louisiana and Save the Chimps in Florida, the creation
of new refuges like Project Chimps is crucial.
For more
information about the DentalEZ company and its complete offerings of dental
product and equipment solutions, please visit www.dentalez.com.
About Project Chimps
Project
Chimps was founded in late 2014 by a “super group” of chimpanzee, nonprofit,
philanthropic, and legal experts to solve the critical question of what would
happen to the hundreds of chimps still left in private biomedical research. Primatologists
and professionals from all over the country left their current roles and signed
on to work for Project Chimps, a nonprofit organization that is making
unprecedented advances for captive chimpanzees. Through relationship-building,
collaboration, and tenacity, Project Chimps was able to come to an agreement
with the University of Louisiana’s New Iberia Research Center. They agreed to
let Project Chimps have all of their remaining chimpanzees and provide them
with lifetime sanctuary care. This decision is unprecedented and shows what
positive collaboration can do for the betterment of others, in this case:
chimpanzees. For more information, please visit www.projectchimps.org.
About
DentalEZ®
DentalEZ
Integrated Solutions is committed to providing real solutions to everyday
challenges in oral healthcare by uniquely combining innovation focused on
simplification and efficiency in value based products and outstanding customer
service and support. DentalEZ manufactures a full line of products and well-known
brands including StarDental® Instruments, DentalEZ®
Equipment, RAMVAC Utility, NevinLabs™ Workstations and Columbia Dentoform®
Teaching Solutions. For more information, please visit www.dentalez.com.
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