Wrist Bracelets Boost Tulane Pediatrics

March 6, 2008

Keith Brannon
kbrannon@tulane.edu

A New Hampshire high school senior with ties to New Orleans has launched a campaign to help some of the youngest patients at Tulane Medical Center.

Benjamin Karp, 19, is selling blue “Children of New Orleans” wrist bracelets to raise money to buy toys, video games and play equipment for waiting areas and patient rooms at the Tulane Hospital for Children. A senior at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., Karp says he came up with the idea as a way to help “children of New Orleans in a post-Katrina world where many families and institutions are still recovering from the storm and rebuilding.

“I have been thinking for the past two years what I could give back to the city in a direct way,” says Karp who grew up in New Orleans, but moved to Concord after the storm. “After looking at several different options, it was this past summer that this project was finalized.”

Karp has a personal stake in Tulane. Back in 1990, he was in a severe car accident that claimed the life of his mother. He credits the staff of Tulane Medical Center with saving his life.

The bracelets cost $2 each and are available for purchase in the Child Life and Pediatrics departments of the hospital. Karp is in New Orleans this week signing up local merchants to sell the bracelets. Information about other locations can be found on Karp’s website.

So far, Karp has raised more than $1,100. He hopes that number grows exponentially. The program already has created a following among doctors, says Dr. Samir S. El-Dahr, Jane B. Aron professor and chair of pediatrics.

“The blue bracelet campaign has generated a tremendous reaction from the medical and lay community alike,” El-Dahr says. “I have received dozens of e-mails and telephone calls from friends, colleagues and others all wanting to know how they can contribute to the campaign.”

El-Dahr adds, “We are extremely grateful to Ben’s efforts in raising these much-needed funds, which will be used to support the newly established Pediatric Emergency Department and the Child Life Program at Tulane.”

Karp has even enlisted a New Hampshire merchant to sell the bracelets to raise awareness about children’s health care in New Orleans.