(BUFFALO, N.Y.) –Rural/Metro Medical Services is joining the Lupus Team to help educate and support those affected by lupus, create community awareness and find a cure.

Rural/Metro Medical Services is donating dozens of cell phones and various accessories to the Lupus Foundation. Lupus will then sell the phones back to the manufacturers to raise money.

“A recent changeover of our cellular phone provider means we have several dozen phones that can go to good use at the Lupus Foundation” says Rob Zachrich, General Manager of Rural/Metro Medical Services. “They can sell these phones and use the funds to support their worthwhile causes”.

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease, which causes inflammation of various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood or kidneys. The immune system normally protects the body against viruses, bacteria and other foreign materials. In an autoimmune disease like lupus, the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against "self". Lupus is not infectious, rare or cancerous.

The local chapter was founded in 1977 and is primarily a volunteer driven organization. Dedicated men and women who have the disease themselves or have been touched by lupus through a friend or family member support it.

Rural/Metro, headquartered at 481 William L. Gaiter Parkway in Buffalo, New York, has satellite offices and ambulance bases in Amherst, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, and Niagara Falls as well as several others locations throughout Erie, Niagara and Orleans Counties. Their 520+ paramedics, EMT’s and support personnel are responsible for servicing 22 hospitals, more than 100 nursing homes and health care facilities, most major sporting and entertainment events in the region, as well as the one million residents who reside in Western New York.