Ex-Indy Car Driver To Visit Ochsner

Added on Nov 02, 2006 | Filed Under:

Robbie Buhl to Tour Facility, Visit with Pediatric Patients

NEW ORLEANS, LA On Monday, November 6 from 1:00pm-2:00pm, Racing For Kids retired IndyCar Racer Robbie Buhl will tour the 4th floor Pediatrics Unit at Ochsner Medical Center (1514 Jefferson Highway) then visit with pediatric patients across the street at Ochsner Childrens Health Center. The tour will be led by Ochsner Chairman of Pediatrics Dr. Douglas Moodie and Hospitalist Dr. Vanessa Carroll. It has been shown that pediatric patients recover more quickly from illnesses after such a visit. "These visits of our celebrity racers have a definite medical benefit. The young patients receiving visitations get better faster," says Dr. William W. Pinsky, Ochsner executive vice president and founder of Racing For Kids. "Our team now has about a dozen drivers in three series." Mr. Buhl will talk about auto racing, hand out Racing For Kids baseball caps, and sign autographs. And, on behalf of Racing For Kids, Buhl will present $5,000 to Ochsner for use in pediatric cardiology. Now in its 18th year, the charity has taken its racecar driver team to more than 15,000 hospitalized children in more than 340 hospitals in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Mexico. In that time it has raised nearly $4.5 million for the hospitals visited. Founded in 1989 in Detroit, MI, Racing For Kids uses the popularity of motorsports to focus attention and funding on the health care needs of children. Buhl, who retired in 2004, won two national drivers championships in his 20-year career, had two wins in the Indy Racing League, and qualified second for the 2002 Indy 500 and finished as high as 6th place in eight Indy 500s.

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