A. Malachi Mixon, III, Chairman and CEO of Invacare Corporation, Receives ``Trailblazer's Award'' for Mentoring of African-American Businessmen.

Business Editors

ELYRIA, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2000

A. Malachi Mixon III, chairman and chief executive officer of Invacare Corporation (NYSE:IVC) has been honored with the "Trailblazer's Award" recognizing his contribution to African-American owned businesses in Northeast Ohio. The award recently was presented by The President's Council of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association.

The President's Council is a membership organization of chief executive officers representative of Greater Cleveland's largest African-American owned and operated businesses. The Council's purpose is to advance the competitive position of its members and contribute to the overall growth and economic development of Northeastern Ohio.

Mr. Mixon is a participant in The Council's Boardroom to Boardroom initiative, which assists a select group of successful minority entrepreneurs in moving their businesses to the next level by helping them overcome obstacles they face in the marketplace. The program brings together a group of majority CEOs and minority entrepreneurs in a boardroom-style interactive dialogue centered on a "case study" of a minority enterprise.

"Mal Mixon is a CEO who has gone above and beyond the support area in mentoring minority-owned companies," said Steven Williams, chief executive officer of Elsons International in Cleveland and a minority entrepreneur participating in Boardroom to Boardroom. "He has done more for African-American businesses in Northeast Ohio than anyone before."

Elsons International is a certified minority owned and operated manufacturing company, producing corrugated, wood and foam fabricated packaging products. Elsons supplies Invacare with polyethylene foam trays and corrugated packaging for some of its products.

Mr. Mixon has assisted Elsons by providing contract opportunities, by lending technical support in the areas of manufacturing and engineering, and by recommending Elsons to other CEOs in the Greater Cleveland area, Mr. Williams said.

"We are trying to grow our companies," Mr. Williams said of the members of The President's Council. "Finding the opportunities to participate in the greater business community is the key to our growth and success."

Invacare Corporation (NYSE:IVC) is the global leader in the manufacture and distribution of innovative home medical products which promote recovery and active lifestyles through more than 25,000 providers. The company, which had 1999 revenues of $878 million, goes to market in the following channels of distribution: home care, mass retail and institutional. Within these channels of distribution, Invacare participates in the following product segments: Home Care, which includes rehab products, respiratory products, manual wheelchairs, home care beds, therapeutic support surfaces and personal care products marketed by Invacare's Home Care Group; Soft Goods and Supplies, which includes ostomy, incontinence, wound care and diabetic supplies marketed by Suburban Ostomy; and Institutional, which includes nursing home beds, patient lifts and slings, nursing home furniture and bathing systems marketed by Invacare Continuing Care Group. The company's headquarters are in Elyria, Ohio, and the firm has manufacturing plants in the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For more information about the company, visit Invacare's website at www.invacare.com.