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business Saturday 30 april 2022
Q&A: Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe on how to help Ukraine

By GLENN GAMBOA must make it exponentially
AP Business Writer harder.
Thomas Tighe says help- A. It feels like this is an event
ing Ukrainians can gener- that should be in black and
ally be done by using exist- white in a high school his-
ing aid strategies. It's just a tory book or something.
matter of scale and adapt- Instead, I'm seeing it on
ing to circumstances on TV every night. But what
the ground. you're also seeing is this
Since Russia invaded kind of uncommon cour-
Ukraine in February, Tighe age in Ukraine. What the
and the nonprofit humani- Polish people are doing, it's
tarian medical organiza- embodying righteousness.
tion Direct Relief, where he What the Russians are do-
has been president and ing is embodying cruelty.
CEO since 2000, have pro- It certainly makes anything
vided more than 50 million we're doing seem very
doses of medication and In this image provided by Direct Relief, Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe stands in front of boxes of small. But it's good motiva-
254 tons of medical aid N95 masks at Direct Relief’s Santa Barbara, Calif., warehouse and headquarters in March 2020. tion to keep doing it.
to people in Ukraine and Associated Press Q. How would you suggest
neighboring countries. individual donors who want
Earlier this month, it cently spoke with Tighe land were covered by the for health services, be- to help take action?
launched Health 4 Ukraine, about Ukrainian aid, a national health insurance, cause people get hurt or A. Figure out what you care
a payment and distribu- topic he will also address but could still not obtain injured, and decreases the about. For personal philan-
tion program that will Monday at "Crisis in Ukraine medication they need- capacity to deliver the ser- thropy, it's really important
cover 100% of prescription and Beyond: How You Can ed because the national vice, because hospitals are to find something you be-
co-pays and 85% of non- Help Now and Over the health insurance has a co- damaged or roads are out. lieve in, so that your act of
prescription drug costs for Long Run," a free virtual pay requirement. Now they We're used to that at the generosity is going to ac-
about 400,000 Ukrainian program co-sponsored by can. I felt like anything you abstract level. The differ- tually translate into some-
refugees in Poland. The sys- The Associated Press, the do, it's not enough. We've ence here is that if there's thing you really feel good
tem was developed and Chronicle of Philanthropy got to do more. But it's nice an earthquake, people about. And that's such a
launched with help from and The Conversation. The to see. immediately pull together personal choice. Then, do
Pelion S.A., Poland's largest interview was edited for Q. Direct Relief provides aid to try to open up the distri- your homework. It's just
healthcare company. clarity and length. for natural disasters, or for bution channel. Here, the general consumer advice,
However, there are still ___ health crises like the CO- capacity is getting worse but look up and see if the
some wartime requests that Q. You were recently in VID-19 pandemic, as well because hospitals keep group is explaining what
have — as of now — sty- Poland working on aid for as the logistics and the sup- getting bombed. There's they're doing with the mon-
mied Tighe and his teams. Ukrainian refugees. How plies for those helping out targeting of the infrastruc- ey. I think the downside
"We have not been able was the experience? on the front lines. Does any ture. So when people are of these high profile emo-
to fulfill the request for A. It was rewarding, ulti- of that operational knowl- trying to open up the sup- tionally charged events is
hundreds of ambulances mately, to be able to do edge transfer to a wartime ply lines to rebuild the ca- it can lend itself to exploi-
with armor in them," said something. We actually situation like we have in pacity, they keep getting tation from a fundraising
Tighe, adding that they put $10 million behind a Ukraine? Or do you have to destroyed. That's the ad- perspective. The Ukrainian
are needed to help evacu- program with a private come up with a brand new justment. You have to real- people's tragedy is not an
ate Ukrainians with medi- company that wanted to game plan? locate things because it's a excuse for fundraising. And
cal issues from the country. step up and do it and had A. Some does, but at the dynamic situation. there's an obligation if you
"OK, we're good at a lot of this capability to create a abstract level. A wildfire, Q. Logistics in those situ- receive money for Ukraine,
things, but this is not in our charitable pharmacy pro- earthquake, hurricane — ations are hard enough. it's not for you.
typical range." gram. The Ukrainians who the disruptive event simul- Layering wartime safety It's for you to help the peo-
The Associated Press re- had to flee and were in Po- taneously spikes demand precautions on top of that ple of Ukraine.q

Airbnb allows employees to live and work from anywhere

Airbnb will allow its em- won't change if employees muting radius around our
ployees to live and work al- decide to move. offices," Chesky said. Re-
most anywhere around the Employees can spend up mote work and flexibility
world, fully embracing a re- to three months working "will become the predomi-
mote work policy to attract in each country they visit nant way that we all work
staff and ensure flexibility. every year but they will still 10 years from now," he said.
The San Francisco short- need a permanent address Millions of people switched
term-stay company said for tax and payroll reasons, to working remotely dur-
late Thursday that under which involves a "moun- ing the pandemic to limit
the new policy, employees tain of complexities," but potential exposure to CO-
can work from the office, Chesky said the company VID-19. Companies are be-
home or during their travels is working on an open- ginning to ask those work-
to 170 countries. source solution. ers to come back to the
Staff will still have to meet The new policy will put the office, at least on a hybrid
in person for regular team company in a better posi- basis, including other tech
meetings and events, CEO tion to hire and retain the companies such as Face- The Airbnb app icon is seen on an iPad screen, Saturday, May
Brian Chesky said in a mes- best people by not "limiting book parent Meta and 8, 2021, in Washington.
sage to employees. Salaries the talent pool to a com- Microsoft.q Associated Press