Bill O'Reilly says Partners In Health is "doing the right thing"

Last week, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor endorsed Partners In Health's work to help relieve and rebuild Haiti following the January 12 earthquake.

"They are doing the right thing, they really are," said O'Reilly on his show, which aired on February 12.

"[PIH] works alongside 4,600 Haitians. They don't give block grants to Haiti’s government… what they do is accompaniment," added Geraldo Rivera, a regular commentator on The O'Reilly Factor. "They hire the Haitians, they train the Haitians to be nurses and doctors and health care professionals.”

On a previous episode, O'Reilly had questioned how PIH would use donations, specifically donations coming from MTV's Hope for Haiti Now telethon. The event raised $8 million for Partners In Health. Read a transcript from the segment below.

Transcript from The O'Reilly Factor, February 12, 2010.

Bill O'Reilly: Geraldo is our eyes and ears on the Haiti telethon spending deal. We did have an update on Partners In Health. We laced them last week. We told you not to give any money to this charity because they would not tell us what was going on with the 8 million they have received. They did call us and they apologized. And now we believe that they are doing the right thing.

Geraldo Rivera: They really are, I think. First of all, the 22-year-old organization, Ted Constan and I had a great talk, he's their spokesman

Bill O'Reilly: You are confident all the money is going where it should go?

Geraldo Rivera: I am confident about the money. They are working alongside 4,600 Haitians. They don't give block grants to the Haiti government. They recognize that would be throwing money down the toilet. What they do is what they call accompaniment. They hire the Haitians, they train the Haitians to be nurses and doctors and health care professionals.

Bill O'Reilly: They are doing the right thing--that's Partners In Health.

Geraldo Rivera: They are doing the right thing.

Geraldo Rivera: They lament the fact that the Haitian story has disappeared from the headlines and all anyone is talking about is the 10 missionaries who have been arrested for kidnapping.

Bill O'Reilly: Okay. We have information by the Haitian Health Foundation, which money--I give to them on billoreilly.com. So we haven't disappeared it. Overall we have 30 seconds. You happy with the telethon? You think it did the good thing in the money getting where it should go as it stands now?

Geraldo Rivera: I can only report on the first 35 million. I am extremely impressed. I think that everybody who gave should feel a sense of satisfaction that they did the right thing for righteous cause.

Bill O'Reilly: You and I do not have to go to [George] Clooney's house?

Geraldo Rivera: We do not.

Bill O'Reilly: All right. Thank god, ladies and gentlemen. Has got to have a rottweiler that guy.