American Red Cross Teams With Estco Medical for Web Site Design; New America's Fund for Afghan Children Site Powered by Medigent.

Business Editors

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2002

The American Red Cross marked the first-year anniversary of America's Fund for Afghan Children (AFAC) on October 11th with the launch of a redesigned Web site at kidsfund.redcross.org.

More than $10.5 million has been raised through the fund in its first year to help meet the fundamental needs of Afghan children. Estco Medical (www.estcomedical.com), creator of the Medigent(TM) software suite that enables life science companies to launch and manage online marketing initiatives, donated software and services for the redesign.

The updated site allows people to chart the progress of AFAC and see how much America's children, local American Red Cross chapters, schools, clubs, corporations and private citizens have collected and donated in terms of both supplies and funds.

Sections of the site are geared toward both children and educators with games, activities, information about how the donations are being applied and information about Afghani people, language and wildlife.

"The American Red Cross is grateful to Estco Medical for donating its services to redesign the America's Fund for Afghan Children Web site," said Phil Zepeda, senior director of Media and Communication at the American Red Cross. "The new design provides easy navigation for those who want to learn more about the fund and the services the Red Cross is providing in Afghanistan. Continued donations to the Fund, now in its second year, allow the Red Cross to show Afghan children how much children in America care about their well-being."

The AFAC site was designed using Estco's Medigent Lite, part of the Medigent software suite. The Web-based application runs a promotion engine that makes it easy to rapidly publish content and interactive material, so the American Red Cross will be able to keep the site updated with new photos, announcements and totals for donations and letters processed to date.

"We understand that with AFAC's dynamic campaign, the American Red Cross needed a Web site that can be easily changed as more money is raised," said John Estafanous, president of Estco Medical. "In addition, it was important that the site be fun and able to get visitors involved, since the goal was to get American children interested in the lives of the peers in Afghan. Estco is pleased to have donated its services to help the American Red Cross communicate their message about the plight of the Afghan children."

About the American Red Cross

Governed by volunteers and supported by community donations, the American Red Cross is a nationwide network of local community supporters - volunteers, blood donors, and financial donors - organized into nearly 1,000 chapters, Blood Services regions and field units dedicated to saving lives and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Led by 1.2 million volunteers and 36,000 employees, the Red Cross annually mobilizes relief to families affected by more than 73,000 disasters, trains nearly 12 million people in lifesaving skills and exchanges more than a million emergency messages for U.S. military service personnel and their families.

The Red Cross is the largest supplier of blood and blood products to more than 3,000 hospitals across the nation and also assists victims of international disasters and conflicts throughout the world.

About America's Fund for Afghan Children

On Thursday October 11th, 2001, President Bush issued a call to action to children across America in support of the more than 10 million children in Afghanistan whose lives have been devastated by years of conflict and civil unrest.

Asking each child to put a dollar in an envelope and send it to the White House, President Bush said, "this is something the children of America can do for the children of Afghanistan." Through their donations to America's Fund for Afghan Children, American children are helping girls and boys who have grown up in times of natural disasters such as drought or famine.

These same children have also lived through armed conflict and face the hazards of landmines as part of their daily lives. Many of them are orphans or have lost their brothers or sisters. For more information about the Fund and the activities it enables, visit kidsfund.redcross.org.

About Estco Medical

Founded in Bethesda, MD in 1999, Estco Medical is the creator of the Web-based Medigent(TM) software suite, which aids pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech and other life science companies in launching and managing online marketing initiatives.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, GE Medical Systems, Aspect Medical Systems and Panacea Pharmaceuticals are among the life science companies using the Medigent software suite to better communicate, educate and validate processes through every part of a product marketing life cycle.

The Medigent software suite includes components for content management, media and investor relations, product and clinical education, community development and outcomes and market research studies. For more information, visit www.estcomedical.com or call 301-657-9332.