Rev. Walter Madej, a native of Poland and pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus-Holy Cross Parish, formed the White Eagle Medical Bridge in 1997 to send basic medical supplies to Polands rural clinics.
Dr. Richard Chmielewski was an emergency room specialist with Little Falls Hospital when he formed EMS Global Inc., in 1994 to improve emergency care in Poland through education, equipment and physician exchanges.
Before long the two men, virtually neighbors, discovered each other and began to collaborate to provide Polish hospitals and clinics with much needed training, supplies, and equipment. Among their accomplishments are the shipment of a complete cardiac catheterization laboratory, the establishment of a supply network for rural clinics and organization of the first emergency medicine congress ever hosted in Poland.