A year ago, I was welcomed by the President to Iceland. I have been blessed by the entire community here in Iceland, especially the medical community. My first stop in coming here was to see my friend Pall, my friend Olafur and this relationship that, in a way, was fortuitous but also sad because of what we have all faced in the last 3 months. We felt – all of us – that we needed stronger relationships between our two countries. And what’s a better place to start than in health care?
We’re here today to celebrate everything we have in common and, really, the future. And our future are these kids. And I think there has been no one who has been a greater advocate and a greater example of the future than the President. As you all know, much better than myself, he is an expert in history. But I would also contend that he understands the future and is an expert in the future. The importance that he puts on the future stands behind us.
In that spirit, we have a little gift from the U.S. Embassy. When we were looking for things to give, I reached out again to my friend Sturla. So this is all his fault. (Laughter.) And he suggested something here in the pediatric hospital. It’s called an AccuVein. Myself, having a background as well in pediatrics, it enables children to feel less pain and enables children to have less needle sticks in their arms. It enables the clinician, the physician, the medical center, the Chief Medical Officer, the Head of Pediatrics here and everyone here, the Director, to do a better job.
So we present this to you, Mr. President, with thankfulness and humility on the part of our country and to reiterate how blessed we are to be here in Iceland. Thank you. (Applaud)
