"Imagine walking into your doctor's office with your health data at your finger tips. No more lost reports, duplicate tests, faxing records back and forth. Your doctor will have immediate and secure access to your data no matter where are." said Jim Goddard, 9Health Fair's President and CEO. "The cost and time savings could be quite significant. Our gratitude to BNSF is enormous and their generosity helps us turn an important dream into reality."

For more than a century, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) has played an important role in Colorado's transportation economy. The railway's 32,000-mile network moves 770,000 carloads of freight in Colorado annually. The award to 9Health Fair helps BNSF enter a new world of information transportation – ensuring that 9Health Fair attendees have secure, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant access to their health data online. Over time, users can plot trends of their numbers and allow authorized doctors Internet access to critical records.

"Not only will participants have improved access to their data," said Goddard, "but our new system also allows 9Health Fair attendees to register before they show up at a fair. This convenience should help save significant wait time for participants when the register for a fair."

"BNSF is grateful for the opportunity to make an important contribution to such a promising new program that can help improve the health of all Coloradans and set a positive national precedent as well" said Janssen Thompson, General Manager of BNSF's Colorado Division.

About 9Health Fair
9Health Fair is Colorado's largest non-profit, volunteer-driven health fair program that promotes health awareness and encourages individuals to assume responsibility for their own health. Created by a National Institutes of Health project and 9NEWS, 9Health Fair's free and low cost health screenings and education program has earned unique endorsements from the Colorado Medical Society, the Colorado Nurses Association and the Colorado Hospital Association. Since 1980, 9Health Fair has impacted 1.7 million lives.

As an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, 9Health Fair is proud of its financial management performance, keeping its administration and fundraising expense under 17 percent of its total budget, well under the industry average of 20-25 percent. Major sponsors for the 2008 9Health Fair include 9NEWS, Quest Diagnostics, UniPath, King Soopers/City Market, GE Healthcare and Abbott. Special thanks to The Colorado National Guard for its continued 9Health Fair support through delivering supplies to volunteers and sites around the state.