On Thursday, Direct Relief staff fanned across Southern California to distribute medical aid at multiple locations, including evacuation centers and community health facilities.

Direct Relief maintains medical inventory commonly requested during large wildfire events, including N95 respirators, prescription medicines, Tdap vaccines, medical supplies, personal care items for evacuating people, and protective gear for post-fire recovery efforts.

A series of support shipments have been disbursed across the city and continued on Thursday.

One of those locations was the Arroyo Vista Community Health Center, where Direct Relief staff delivered N95 respirators, personal care products for evacuees, and solar chargers. Aid also arrived Thursday for the South Central Family Health Center, where Direct Relief staff delivered field medic packs, N95 respirators, personal care products for evacuees, and more.

The health center provides care for underserved and uninsured patients in South Los Angeles, and will be receiving more medical aid from Direct Relief, including prescription medications, later this week to support patients impacted by the fires.

Medical aid was also en route Thursday to AltaMed, a community health center with multiple sites in the Los Angeles area. The organization reported that one of its locations in Pasadena had been completely destroyed by the Eaton Fire this week. The organization requested 25,000 N95 respirators, which will be distributed to senior care facilities in Los Angeles and primary care patients in Pasadena.

Direct Relief staff also delivered support this week to the Pasadena Convention Center, where hundreds of people have been evacuated, including older adults living in nearby assisted living facilities.

The organization is continuing to coordinate with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, California Primary Care Association, California Association of Free & Charitable Clinics, Mobile Health Care Association, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, Health Center Partners of Southern California, local VOAD groups, and community health centers, free and charitable clinics, and other safety net providers in the impacted areas.

The post As Smoke Thickens and Fires Continue, Medical Aid Reaches Impacted Communities appeared first on Direct Relief.

These emergencies were all experienced by communities, but also by staff at health centers. But instead of shying away from these disasters, those staff stepped up for their communities, many times as first responders even as they experienced the storm’s impacts personally.

Whether through driving mobile units, creating resilient power hubs, or working to connect patients with lifesaving medications needed during an evacuation, community health centers are often on the frontlines as disasters increase in frequency and intensity.

Through an editorial partnership, Direct Relief and the National Association for Community Health Centers, or NACHC, uncover and share stories of health centers reaching their patients in unique ways, during emergencies and beyond. These stories, published by Community Health Forum and Direct Relief, are offered free of charge for republishing and have been syndicated in various digital and broadcast outlets throughout 2024.

The editorial partnership relies on high-quality storytelling from professional journalists at a time when health reporting from many outlets has been significantly reduced, leaving stories untold.

In between times of emergency, health centers work each day to meet patients where they are, with personal and culturally competent care. They are also actively involved in training the next generation of health workers, many of whom have been patients themselves or have had family seek care.

Here are some of their stories.

Resilient Power Proves a “Lifesaver” for Mississippi Health Center After Catastrophic Tornado

After an EF4 tornado swept through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in March 2023, destroying one of Delta Health Center’s sites, the organization set up a temporary clinic and harnessed resilient power for nine months until a site with power became available. The microgrid allowed health center staff to treat Rolling Fork patients in their hometown.

Adoris Turner, deputy chief executive officer at DHC, said the solar power allowed the health center to offer services through the worst phases of Rolling Fork’s recovery.

“It was a lifesaver, and I literally mean a medical lifesaver,” Turner told Direct Relief journalist Olivia Lewis. “The ability to see a patient who may be having an asthmatic crisis or people who are having any type of medical need, it went a long way to have our facility up and running.”

Read more.

Shelter From the Storm: South Carolina and Georgia Clinics Stand Strong for Patients

As Hurricane Debby loomed over South Carolina in August, staff at Fetter Health Care Network, the Low Country’s only federally qualified health center, evacuated medicines and mobile units to their inland Summerville location for safekeeping.

The following morning, on storm game day, Powers led her staff through a plan for the day to ensure that patients throughout the city and on the neighboring barrier islands would have as much time to access care and get medication refills as possible.

“The city may shut down at 3 p.m., but we can’t do that. We have to give our patients an opportunity to get off with the shutdowns and then pick up their meds, Powers told Direct Relief journalist Noah Smith. Her staff also took vaccines off the islands in case of power outages and also coordinated with migrants to help them with supplies and to find off-island shelters.

Read more.

This San Diego Health Center Offers Patients a Career Focused on Community

One health center decided to train people who wanted a career in health care, starting with its own patients. The Laura Rodriguez Medical Assistant Institute, a program of the Family Health Centers of San Diego, reported that 65% of participants in its medical assistant program have been health center patients themselves, and aim to better reflect the community they serve, reported Olivia Lewis.

FHC of San Diego has 27 locations, which serve about 160,000 patients annually, with over 95% of them living at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, according to HRSA data. Most identify as part of a racial or ethnic minority.

For Diana Garcia Cortes, who graduated from the program in August, one of 15 in her cohort, the program was a game-changer. “It’s really, honestly life-changing to know that within a year I’m able to have a different career, better opportunities, a different job,” she said.

Read more.

As Francine Bears Down on New Orleans, A Health Center Braces for Impact — and Plans for Uncertainty

Tropical Storm Francine was sweeping towards New Orleans, but in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward, Teresa Bovia kept her health center’s doors open.

Regardless of the impending storm, six new patients had already needed walk-in appointments at Baptist Community Health Services, Inc., where Bovia is the chief operating officer. Most needed to refill their medications before the storm hit, but hadn’t been able to contact their regular doctors. The health center’s existing patients also needed insulin or other medications, or wanted to check their blood pressure, before sheltering in place.

“The people we serve, they don’t have the means to leave,” Bovia explained to Talya Meyers, Direct Relief’s senior editor and writer. In New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward, where Bovia works, patients are always vulnerable. She explained that life expectancy in the community is fully 20 years lower than it is for residents of her home neighborhood 15 minutes away.

“We know [the inequity] is there and it’s our responsibility to do something about it,” she said.

Read more.

A New Generation of Doctors Looks to Health Centers for Residency

When Dr. Joronia Chery applied for a residency program, it wasn’t at a hospital, but a community health center.

“I came here because this is where I see myself making the most difference. It feels like treating my grandmother or my mother,” said Dr. Chery, a first-year resident at the Institute for Family Health’s Harlem location. Her decisions stemmed from growing up witnessing the healthcare gaps in her Brooklyn community, where she had to travel 30 minutes by bus to the closest community health center.  

Many residents, like Chery, intentionally choose the program because they see themselves in their patients, reported Noah Smith. Fluent in French and Haitian Creole, she has bridged language gaps that might otherwise complicate care. “When a patient hears someone speaking their language, their shoulders relax. They know they’re in the right place,” she said.

Read more.

The post In 2024, Health Centers Responded to Disasters, Trained the Next Generation, and More appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief relies on their expertise to know what is needed, and their resilience represents the best of humanity even in the darkest of times.

This year, Direct Relief has shipped more than $1.6 billion in medical aid to 90 countries. But behind those abstract numbers are real people, working to serve others in tremendously challenging situations, whether during an emergency or while experiencing limited resources — or both.

Here are some of their stories.

Kranti Tamang on the Anti-Trafficking, Anti-Stigma Revolution

Trafficking survivor Shanti Tamang, and her daughter, Kranti, are providing safe spaces for survivors to thrive and dismantle the stigma that comes with living with HIV in Nepal.

Shanti had been taken from her job in Nepal and forced into sex trafficking in India as a teenager. After escaping and returning home, Shanti’s family and community rejected her upon learning she was living with HIV, and she was forced to find work and housing on her own. For a time, she was so unwell that she had to leave her daughter, Kranti, at an orphanage.

Then, in 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, and a border blockade between Nepal and India, cut off the supply of critical medications into Nepal, including the HIV treatment on which Shanti’s life depended.

With the help of a friend, Shanti connected with Direct Relief, which provided a supply of antiretroviral drugs for a number of Nepali people living with HIV, including Shanti.

“We love to say that Direct Relief saved my mother’s life,” Kranti shared with Direct Relief’s Brianna Newport. “And when she felt that she had been given a second chance to her life, she had to do more for her community.”

Shanti went on to found the Shanti Foundation, which works to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficking survivors and people living with HIV.

 Read more.

Plan A Health Hits the Road for Patients in Mississippi Delta

A local team travels across the Mississippi Delta to ensure every adult has access to quality reproductive care, contraceptives, and trusting relationships with their medical team.

Plan A provides reproductive and primary care health throughout the Mississippi Delta, a region that historically has had poor health outcomes and low economic status. Their small team operates a mobile medical unit, outfitted with two exam rooms, that truck driver Antoinette Roby drives from city to city.

Since its inception in 2018, Plan A has expanded to include a pharmacy, mail-order prescriptions, options for contraceptives, pre-and-post-natal care for patients with HIV, and telehealth for family planning. They’ve also hired a nurse practitioner that patients can call or text directly to ask questions.

The team includes Desiree Norwood, who is the mayor of her hometown of Sunflower, Mississippi. Norwood said when the mobile medical unit arrives in Sunflower, people are excited because Plan A has built a reputable reputation.

“A lot of organizations come into the community, and they do evaluations and research and then what happens? They leave,” she told Direct Relief journalist Olivia Lewis. “We’ve actually been able to fill a lot of gaps and alleviate some of those barriers that they’re facing.”

“This isn’t working a job, it’s a passion,” Norwood said.

Read more.

In Panama, Type 1 Diabetes Care Improves by Empowering Young People

Pilar Gomez, DiabetesLATAM’s founder and director, started DiabetesLATAM after moving to Panama in 2017 with a son and daughter diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. With little in the way of services for people living with diabetes in Panama, Gomez decided to change that, reported Brianna Newport.

Kids like her own needed reliable access to insulin. Through contacts at the International Diabetes Federation, she got in touch with the Life for a Child team, an Australia-based NGO that, in partnership with Direct Relief, provides insulin to young people in 45 under-resourced countries.

When plans to provide insulin and education through a local hospital fell through, Gomez created a completely volunteer-run program separate from the hospitals for families that don’t have guaranteed insulin access. The program began in August 2022 with 30 kids enrolled, and in the last two years, it has grown to support 150 kids with diabetes care. That means that DiabetesLATAM now provides care for roughly 1 out of every 10 people living with Type 1 in Panama, according to the prevalence numbers from the Type 1 Index.

Read more.

“Living Day by Day,” Health Staff in Haiti Keep Hospital Doors Open as Violence Continues

Since 2010, Haiti has faced a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, Hurricane Matthew, cholera outbreaks, the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake the following month. Gang violence continued to rock the country this year, and health providers went to heroic lengths to show up to work, putting themselves at risk, reported Direct Relief journalist Noah Smith.

“We’ve never seen a situation like this,” said Dr. Marc Edson Augustin, medical director of the St. Luke’s Foundation, which runs a hospital in Port-au-Prince and clinics nationwide that care for about 60,000 patients annually.

Direct Relief provided $1 million in financial support to health organizations across the country so they could maintain operating budgets and continue serving patients.

Read more.

Health Care Hero: A Landfill Fire Was Poisoning Her Patients. She Cared for Them at Home.

Alejandra Hernandez Ezquivel was in her house in the 500-person community of Santa María Chimalhuacán, in eastern Mexico, when her husband came running indoors. The landfill nearby — the one that had appeared one day out of nowhere years earlier, with no opportunity for the community to object — was on fire.

“It was like a monster, so immense,” she told Talya Meyers, Direct Relief senior editor and writer, through a translator, recalling the fire that began raging on May 29, 2022. The blaze was out of control by the time firemen arrived at the rural community, located in the municipality of Chimalhuacán, about an hour away from Mexico City.

Ezquivel cared for patients all the while, eventually working to help establish a full-time primary care center, funded by the NGO Fundación Escala, which Direct Relief has supported with medications. With the nearest health facility two hours away, the primary care center fills a huge gap in care.

“Whatever patients need, that’s what we provide,” Ezquivel explained.

Read more.

After a Disaster, “the Mothers Will Call You to Where You Need to Be”

Picture a disaster’s first responders. A firefighter dousing a blaze or a doctor treating a critical injury might come to mind. But midwives caring for pregnant women and newborns are also critical responders during disasters, a fact that Sunny Chen, executive director of Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i, knows firsthand.

“When the disaster happened, our Maui partners called us and said, ‘we need you to come,’ and so we brought the mobile clinic here and we were able to provide critical medical care and services,” she said. “That’s the amazing thing about midwives and nurses. We just do whatever it takes, and we adapt.”

The organization’s midwives and nurses were some of the first medical responders to reach Maui after the devastating 2023 wildfires and continue to provide care for families.

“When you take care of mothers and pregnant and parenting people, you really take care of a whole community,” Chen said. “The mothers will call you to where you need to be.”

Read more.

For Kids with Diabetes, This Summer Camp Is Like Any Other. But It’s Theirs.

Camp Conrad Chinnock in Southern California looks right out of a movie set: archery set, mess hall, climbing wall, flagpole, even a swimming pool. Campers laugh and lurch about, making jokes and trading stories as they walk to the next activity together, reported Direct Relief journalist Noah Smith when he visited the camp this summer.

The familiar atmosphere is precisely the aim. Camp Conrad Chinnock’s purpose is to give children with Type 1 diabetes a typical summer camp experience. Due to the nature of T1D, it’s not a simple proposition.

“The burden of diabetes management is minute-to-minute, constant, 24 hours. You can’t quit. And it’s always part of your thinking in the background. But when you come to camp, you have a support network that helps to carry your load,” said Tracy Fulkerson, a former camper who is now on the medical staff at the camp and works as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse supervisor at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

Having trained support staff and medications and supplies needed to manage diabetes allows campers to focus on fun. Direct Relief’s insulin donations, which are used every day during the camp season, keep prices affordable. Without them, the cost of attendance would multiply several times over, said Rocky Wilson, camp director.

“Camp could not exist without donated insulin.”

Read more.

Fire Destroyed an Island Hospital. Months Later, a Honduran Free Clinic Is Still Bridging the Gap.

When a fire had destroyed the only public hospital on the island of Roatán, Honduras, staff at Clinica Esperanza, a local free clinic, were part of an immediate, community-wide response.

Thousands relied on the hospital for care, reported Direct Relief journalist Olivia Lewis. Patients and hospital staff were being routed to local medical practices to receive emergency care, and Clinic Esperanza staff said they couldn’t imagine having to turn anyone away.

“I cannot handle the idea that people can die because they don’t have any other option,” said Kallie Vallecillo, CEO of Clinica Esperanza, which has operated in the community for 22 years.

Clinica Esperanza, which relies on medical students and volunteers to operate, extended its daily hours to meet the increased need.

Read more.

The post 2024: Stories of Resilience appeared first on Direct Relief.

The Alaska Art Alliance provides space for these men, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, to come inside and out of the harsh elements and connect with their culture.

The Utuqqanaatmiñ project, or “From Our Elders,” seeks to overcome generational trauma by connecting Alaska Native people with cultural practices. The Alaska Native Heritage Center, or ANHC, in Anchorage, serves as a cultural and educational hub established 25 years ago by the Alaska Federation of Natives. The cultural center works to share the heritage of Alaska’s diverse Indigenous cultures and support them with programming that spurs social change and community healing.

“Trauma can be very personal, but it’s also collective,” said Emily Edenshaw, President and CEO of the Native Alaskan Cultural Heritage Center. Native children separated from family and culture in boarding schools, relocation from climate change, and the erasure of cultural practices all contribute to that collective trauma, she said.

ANHC works with partner organizations, including the Alaska Art Alliance, to provide the necessary infrastructure for more than 25 Alaska Native men who are experiencing homelessness. The program uses the cultural practice of ivory carving to create a safe space for healing via the art form.

A high percentage of homeless individuals in Anchorage identify as Alaska Native, Edenshaw said, and the program offers them a space to create work that they can then sell, including at the Native Alaskan Cultural Heritage Center.

Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity supported the Alaska Art Alliance, through the Native Alaskan Cultural Heritage Center, with a $150,000 grant.

Connecting to culture is a beginning to healing from trauma, which has real health impacts on Native people, Edenshaw said.

“A lot of the health issues we see today, whether it’s substance abuse, whether it’s suicide rates, whether it’s domestic violence rates… We have to understand that these are symptoms of a root cause.”

“We know that the strongest form of medicine is connection to culture,” she said. “We are in a generation of healing. This has really allowed us to operationalize our unconditional love for our community. We want to find ways to help our people become more whole.”

Since 2021, Direct Relief, through its Fund for Health Equity, has granted more than $50 million to 163 organizations across the U.S.

This video was directed, produced, and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith Cinematography.

The post Healing Generational Trauma through Cultural Connection in Alaska appeared first on Direct Relief.

Medications and supplies shipped this month included anesthesia medications for surgery, cancer therapies, insulin, rare disease medications, and more.

Medical Support Arrives in Haiti

Critical medical aid from Direct Relief arrived recently in southern Haiti to support healthcare providers working to reach patients.

A medical shipment containing antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, IV fluids, personal protective equipment, and more was received by staff from NGO Hope for Haiti. The organization runs Infirmary St. Etienne, a healthcare facility in Les Cayes, Haiti, which provides primary care, referrals, and medication for patients in need.

Shipping medical donations into Haiti continues to be challenging, particularly as the main international port in the capital of Port-au-Prince is regularly disrupted by gang violence. Recently, commercial flights have been suspended due to attacks on airlines looking to land at the capital city’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

Direct Relief has been working with local organizations in Haiti to support medical needs dynamically as shipping routes and roadways change due to the country’s security situation.

The supplies from Direct Relief will support Infirmary St. Etienne, as well as mobile clinics and other partner healthcare facilities in southern Haiti.

Direct Relief Awarded for Earthquake Response in Turkey

Direct Relief staff were in Ankara, Turkey, this week to meet with local organizations supported as part of the recovery from the 2023 earthquake that devastated large portions of the country.

Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe spoke at the National Congress of Public Health, where Direct Relief was given several awards, from the Association of Public Health Specialists of Turkey. Direct Relief supported the organization in the efforts to strengthen women’s health in Hatay after the Feb 23 EQs.

Direct Relief also received an award from the Psychiatry Association of Turkey and the Emergency Medicine Association of Turkey for support during earthquake response and recovery.

Critical Medical Aid Supports Lebanon’s Health System

Six tons of medical aid, including medications, vitamins, and field medic packs for triage care recently arrived in Lebanon. The shipment, received by Anera, will be distributed to public hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the country, in coordination with Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

YemenAid CEO Visits Direct Relief

This week, Direct Relief hosted YemenAid CEO Summer Nasser, who spoke about the organization’s work in Yemen and Direct Relief-supported efforts to strengthen health services in the country.

Nasser spoke about the challenges of strengthening medical care amid conflict and lack of infrastructure, including limited electricity and clean water access. Direct Relief has supported the organization with more than $12.5 million in medical aid since 2017, including cancer treatment therapies for breast cancer clinics in the country.

The organization has also received more than $360,000 in financial aid, including funds that supported two oxygen plants that strengthen hospital capacity for critical services.

Humble Bundle Selects Direct Relief as Charity of the Month

Humble Bundle announced this week that Direct Relief will be its featured charity of the month for December, continuing a partnership that has raised more than $10 million to support health and humanitarian efforts worldwide. Contributions from Humble’s community have been instrumental in funding disaster response efforts, including recent support for communities impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, wildfires, and global crises.

As Dr. Byron Scott, Direct Relief COO, shared: “For more than a decade, Humble Bundle has stood alongside Direct Relief, helping ensure people in crisis have access to the care they need. With support from the Forward Fund, Direct Relief is ready for disasters before they even happen and able to respond whenever they occur. We are profoundly grateful for Humble Bundle’s partnership and to the Humble community.”

Operational Snapshot

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 373 shipments containing 709,279 doses of medication during the past month to organizations, including the following:

Around the World

Globally, Direct Relief shipped over 1.6M defined daily doses of medication totaling 26,291 lbs., to countries including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 23.1K shipments to 2,392 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 89 countries. These shipments contained 379.9M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.5B (wholesale) and totaled 4.9M lbs.

in the news

• At the Top! International Relief Agency Based in Santa Barbara Gets 100% Charity Navigator Rating – KCLU
• Santa Barbara Nonprofits Say “Giving Tuesday” Can Change the World – KEYT
• Global Impact, Local Roots: The Mission of Direct Relief – Noozhawk
• Philanthropy in the 21st Century – Civil Dialogues Podcast – Pacific Coast Business Times
• Direct Relief Supports First Responders in Spain After Devastating Floods – Angels in Medicine
• In Yemen, Midwives Learn New Skills to Support Women and Babies – ReliefWeb
• Direct Relief Earns Top 100% Rating by Charity Navigator for 2024 – 3BL

The post Strengthening Healthcare Services in Haiti appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief staff were in Ventura County on Thursday distributing respirators and other requested medical aid to support people who have been evacuated by the fires, as well as those impacted by poor air quality.

According to the Air Quality Index, “unhealthy” levels of particulates in the air were measured in the Oxnard and Camarillo areas of Southern California on Thursday, and many communities downwind from the blaze were inundated with high levels of smoke from the Mountain Fire.

Direct Relief staff distributed 3M-donated N-95 respirators from a distribution point at the YMCA in Ventura for the public to pick up throughout the day, and Direct Relief staff also made deliveries across the county to agencies and organizations serving impacted communities.

The Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, or MICOP, works with indigenous migrant communities, many of whom work in agricultural industries in the county. The group received N-95 respirators to distribute to people exposed to poor air while working outdoors.

Respirators were also delivered to the Ventura County Farm Bureau to support farmworkers potentially impacted by poor air quality, as well as to the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services.

The Westminster Free Clinic, which is located several miles from a mandatory evacuation zone, also received N95 respirators and hygiene items to distribute to people who have been evacuated from their homes.

On Thursday, Santa Barbara County Fire Department was providing aerial support with the country’s helicopter that was retrofitted for large water drops. Direct Relief provided financial support to outfit the helicopter with the ability drop about 1,000 gallons of water, and the helicopter is used frequently to douse wildfires in the county, and is also deployed to nearby counties, including Ventura, to support air operations.

Dry conditions and high winds also prompted a smaller 50-acre fire to break out near Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, and Direct Relief will respond to any needs that become known from that fire as well.

Direct Relief has a long history of responding to wildfires throughout the state, as well as across the U.S. The organization maintains a medical inventory, including medications often requested during fire events. Those items include respiratory medications, including inhalers and nebulizers for people with asthma, ophthalmic medicines, and medications for chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, which can create emergency situations if unmanaged. Medical support requested in the recovery phase often include tetanus vaccine to protect people clearing debris from their properties.

Direct Relief also maintains an inventory of personal protective equipment for people returning to their homes to begin cleanup in areas that are often filled with hazardous ash. During past fires, including the 2023 Maui wildfire, Direct Relief equipped people returning to their homes with protective respirators, coveralls, goggles, gloves, and shoe covers to protect them from ash that can contain heavy metals and other harmful chemicals.

The organization is in contact with the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, California Primary Care Association, and California Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, and will continue to respond to medical needs as they become known.

The post Thousands Evacuated as Mountain Fire Threatens Homes in California appeared first on Direct Relief.

In what some experts are calling Spain’s worst natural disaster in living memory, flash floods deluged towns in eastern Spain, including Valencia, with the waters inundating roadways with debris, floating vehicles, and downed power lines.

The country has been in a multi-year drought, with hardened ground unable to absorb the rain failing late Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Rains have continued this week, and search and rescue operations are ongoing.

Direct Relief has offered support to Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras, a Spanish search-and-rescue NGO. Direct Relief has worked with the group in the past, including during search and rescue operations after earthquakes destroyed communities in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where the organization supported response.

Direct Relief will respond to needs as they become known.

The post Direct Relief Offers Support After Spain’s Deadly Floods appeared first on Direct Relief.

Medications and supplies shipped this week included field medic packs for triage care, thyroid medications, anti-inflammatory medications, personal protective equipment, rare disease therapies, and more.

Mobile Health Services Reach Hurricane-Battered Communities

Emergency response continues for Direct Relief as communities in the southeastern U.S. recover from back-to-back hurricanes.

As of October 25, Direct Relief had dispatched 111 shipments of specifically requested emergency medical aid valued at nearly $2.5 million to 26 healthcare providers responding to the needs of storm-affected communities in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Among medical items shipped are antibiotics, emergency medical backpacks, hygiene kits, over-the-counter products, personal protective equipment, and medications to manage chronic diseases, as well as tetanus vaccine, hepatitis A and B vaccines, epinephrine for allergic reactions from bee and yellow jacket stings, oral rehydration salts, and water purification tablets.

Recently, Dr. Yousef Motii, a clinician for Oceana Community Health who has been providing medical outreach in the Spanish Lakes community, which was hard-hit by tornadoes during Hurricane Milton’s path, delivered Direct Relief-donated hygiene items to the community. Dr. Motii also used a Direct Relief field medic pack to support the triage care of patients.

This week, Direct Relief announced $700,000 in direct cash support to 28 organizations providing healthcare services in hurricane-impacted communities. These grants are designated to individual health centers, charitable clinics, and other nonprofit providers responding to these crises, in order to keep health care services accessible to low-income patients affected by these disasters.

Critical Anti-Infection Therapies Arrive in Gaza

An eight-pallet shipment of antibiotic therapies recently arrived for cancer patients in Gaza living with reduced immunity. The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital has historically treated thousands of patients with cancer in Gaza, but the hospital became non-operational until a recent relocation of services to Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

NGO Anera, which worked with Direct Relief to transport the donation into Gaza, delivered the medication to the hospital’s relocated facility, which includes a cancer treatment center.

Direct Relief continues to provide humanitarian support to Gaza and regionally. So far in 2024, Direct Relief has provided more than $255 million in requested aid across the region, including to Egypt, Gaza, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, West Bank, and Yemen.

California Free Clinics Convene at Direct Relief

Representatives from more than 33 free clinics across the state of California convened this week at Direct Relief.

The California Association of Free and Charitable Clinics Annual Conference and Membership meeting met in Direct Relief’s Hatch Hall on Friday morning, kicking off a two-day conference, covering topics including sustainable funding strategies, legal and policy issues, and the current landscape in the state for free and charitable medical care.

Direct Relief staff welcomed the clinic representatives, briefing attendees on the history of the organization, Direct Relief’s work to support free clinics in the state during wildfires, floods, and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as product support available for request.

Since 2008, Direct Relief has supported 71 free and charitable clinics throughout California with more than $30 million worth of medicines and medical supplies. Fifteen clinics across the state have also received $1.29 million in cash grants to support programs focused on health equity and mental health.

Operational Snapshot

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 445 shipments containing 1.8M doses of medication during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

Around the World

Globally, Direct Relief shipped over 1.7M defined daily doses of medication totaling 22,179 lbs., to countries including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 20.3K shipments to 2,269 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 88 countries. These shipments contained 349.5M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.4B (wholesale) and totaled 4.3M lbs.

In the News

After Hurricane Helene, Pop-Up Microgrids Powered Medical Clinics, Water Generators, Communications Equipment, and Other Critical Resources – Microgrid Knowledge

Familiar with disaster, New Orleans-area residents step up to help after Hurricanes Helene, Milton – NOLA.com

As Hurricane Milton hits Florida, how New Yorkers can help loved ones in harm’s way – CBS News

Hurricane Milton: How to donate, receive help in Palm Beach County – The Palm Beach Post

This San Diego Health Center Offers Patients a Career Focused on Community – Angels in Medicine

Solon Schools’ Comet Care initiative seeks to provide relief for hurricane victims – Cleveland.com

Amid Haiti Turmoil, Direct Relief and Partners Test New Pathways for Insulin Donations – Angels in Medicine

The post After Hurricanes, Mobile Medicine Meets Patients Where They Are appeared first on Direct Relief.

The storm presents “danger of life-threatening storm surge… along the entire Florida Peninsula and Florida Big Bend, where a storm surge warning is in effect,” according to the National Hurricane Center.

More than 32 million people are under flood watch, and 61 counties in Florida are currently under a state of emergency declaration.

Direct Relief has a long history of responding to hurricanes in the U.S., including Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in 2022 in the Fort Myers area, and Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm that had devastating impacts in 2018 on the Mexico Beach community, which is currently near Helene’s projected path.

In advance of the storm, Direct Relief is in contact with national, regional, state, and local organizations about potential medical needs expected from Helene’s impacts.

These include the Florida Association of Community Health Centers, the Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, the Mobile Healthcare Association, as well as Direct Relief-supported health facilities in the expected area of impact.

In advance of hurricane season, Direct Relief pre-positions caches of essential medicines in storm-prone areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Caribbean. These hurricane preparedness packs are designed to contain medical essentials needed to sustain health services. Multiple clinics in the storm’s projected path are equipped with these modules, and have access to these medications if needed.

The organization also maintains a medical inventory to address health issues that often arise from a hurricane’s aftermath. People who depend on medication to manage chronic diseases, including diabetes and high blood pressure, can end up in medical crisis without access to these medications, which can be left behind during evacuation. Field medic packs are often requested for those providing triage care outside of clinic walls, and personal protective equipment, including masks and gloves, have been used during the recovery phase of a storm, as well as tetanus vaccine and other protective measures for those involved in debris and storm cleanup.

Direct Relief will respond to needs as they become known.

The post Hurricane Helene Strengthens As It Tracks Towards Florida Coastline appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief is awarding a grant of $50,000 to the nonprofit Jericho Road for mpox response, which will be used to fund prevention and treatment programs in the three IDP (internally displaced people) camps near their facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC. Jericho Road plans to operate and equip health checkup stations, temporary isolation units for mpox patients that are awaiting hospital transfer and hold mpox awareness and preventative health training.

The commitment comes as Direct Relief continues to coordinate vaccine delivery to countries most impacted by the mpox outbreak. On Sept. 12, officials from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 107 new deaths and 3,160 new cases had been recorded over the preceding seven days.

“We are extremely grateful for our continued partnership with Direct Relief. It is our mission to bring quality healthcare to our most vulnerable neighbors. We are committed to that effort, especially in this moment,” said Chantal Mandro, Clinic Director for Jericho Road’s Wellness Clinic in Goma, DRC. “The most recent financial support from Direct Relief will allow us to further support the folks living in the camps near our clinic and to keep our staff and their families safe, as we do so. At Jericho Road we strive to love our neighbor, as best we can.”

Direct Relief has worked with Jericho Road during previous outbreaks, including during the 2019 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC. Direct Relief and Jericho Road worked to deliver PPE to the North Kivu provincial Department of Health, and the organizations are exploring the same approach as North Kivu is experiencing some of the highest rates of mpox in Africa.

The Jericho Road Wellness Center is based in Goma, DRC, near three large IDP camps in North Kivu, and the spread of mpox in these camps was noted as an area of concern by Africa CDC. The province of North Kivu is home to over 2.5 million internally displaced people, and conflict and insecurity throughout the region have caused the additional displacement of over 500,000 people in North Kivu over the last year, which has played a factor in the recent mpox outbreak.

“Direct Relief is honored to support Jericho Road’s Wellness Center, where staff are deeply committed to providing care to the community each day, and now are stepping up even more to help patients impacted by this outbreak,” said Jeffrey Samuel, Direct Relief’s Regional Director for Africa. “Protecting and equipping health workers is a top priority, and these funds and medical support will help staff deliver care at a time when it is urgently needed.”

Jericho Road’s Wellness Center receives an average of 200 patients per month from the camps, and through their relationship with the regional ministry of health, has access to the camps and the Provincial Hospital, which is the main referral center for mpox patients in Goma.

In addition to funds, Direct Relief is assembling comprehensive kits for medical providers and patients affected by mpox. Each kit includes personal protective equipment such as gloves, gowns, N-95 masks, goggles, and shoe covers to protect 100 healthcare workers. The kits also contain medications for pain management and skin irritation, wound care supplies, and disinfectant wipes for up to 1,000 patients.

The post Mpox Response: Direct Relief Channels Funding, PPE to Support Health Efforts in Africa appeared first on Direct Relief.

The storm made landfall as a Category Two hurricane on Wednesday, but no fatalities were reported in Louisiana as of Thursday morning, according to Gov. Jeff Landry, who addressed the public during a press conference.

A large amount of rainfall inundated the New Orleans metropolitan area, with some pockets of the city recording as much as seven inches of water.

With widespread power outages continuing, Direct Relief is in contact with health facilities in the area and was fulfilling requests for medical aid from New Orleans area health centers on Thursday. Requests included N-95 masks, diabetes management supplies including glucose test strips, naloxone, respiratory medications, and over-the-counter products.

The organization has been responding to needs this week, including a shipment of field medic packs to health staff in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.

Direct Relief will continue to monitor requests for medications and other needs as power remains intermittent in the region.

The post Medical Shipments Pulse Into Hurricane Francine-Impacted Areas as Hundreds of Thousands Still in the Dark appeared first on Direct Relief.

“Our youth education programs cultivate that sense of love for place in our youth from a young age,” said No’eau Peralto, executive director of Hui Mālama i ke Ala ʻŪlili, or huiMAU. The nonprofit has been focused on decreasing food insecurity by transforming acres of former sugar plantation into Hawai‘i’s largest regenerative breadfruit agroforest. Breadfruit is a culturally significant food and was once a primary starch in the traditional Native Hawaiian diet.

Food insecurity became more apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, Peralto said, and the group is focused on sustainable food production so that “when something like this happens again, it won’t be such a crisis, in terms of food, at least.”

HuiMAU was one of two groups Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity supported with $450,000 through the Consuelo Foundation. The foundation has worked with communities across Hawai‘i since 1986, focusing on promoting well-being and preventing abuse and neglect.

The foundation funneled that financial aid, as well as infrastructure and in-kind support, to two Native Hawaiian organizations, huiMAU (featured in the video above) and Moloka‘i Child Abuse Prevention Pathways on the island of Moloka‘i. Both are collaborating on interventions to support children, adults, and the communities on two islands to improve their health and well-being.

The organizations are working to positively impact the social determinants of health through a holistic approach, viewing culture as a protective factor that can help children and families thrive. Both nonprofits are working to reduce health disparities and promote wellness in their respective rural communities.

“My hope is that we’re able to envision a future of abundance, and we’re bringing that vision into reality for our next generation to then take the vision further beyond what we could ever imagine in our time now,” Peralto said.

Video directed, produced, and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith
Director of Photography – Will Jobe
Additional footage – Anianikū Chong
Featuring – No’eau Peralto, ‘Elika Jardin, Tim Garren
Special thanks to Dawn Mahi, Haley Kailiehu, Martha Lee

The post Nurturing a Future of Abundance on Hawai‘i’s Big Island appeared first on Direct Relief.

On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern.

Direct Relief’s Response

On Monday, Emergent announced that Direct Relief would receive a donation of 50,000 doses of a vaccine for mpox, as well as diluent solution, needles, and syringes required for administration. The donation includes 50,000 doses of ACAM2000®, (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live) for potential deployment across often difficult-to-reach locations, and as informed by local and regional health authorities.

Direct Relief is preparing to send the vaccines and other aid to health facilities and organizations in impacted countries that include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and others. Direct Relief is working with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations to coordinate in-country storage, logistics, and distribution of the vaccines.

The vaccine will require ultracold temperature transport of -15 °C throughout shipment, and cold storage upon arrival. Direct Relief specializes in cold-chain medication transportation and logistics, and built robust cold-chain storage capabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic, which required temperature-sensitive vaccine and medication management.

Direct Relief is also in communication with other manufacturers of vaccines for mpox, as well as other companies that manufacture mpox non-vaccine products. The organization is also assessing the need for additional medical aid to support vaccine administration, including portable ultracold storage units. Equipment for disease prevention and treatment, including personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, goggles, and gowns, is also being offered to support vaccination efforts.

New Variants Prompt Another Global Health Emergency

Mpox saw an outbreak from 2022-2023 in multiple countries and was declared a global emergency. The current outbreak is believed to have been caused primarily by new variants considered to be more virulent than the one responsible for the 2022 outbreak. Mpox transmission occurs through close contact with infected animals, exposure to bodily fluids, and skin-to-skin contact, including sexual activity.

Since the beginning of 2024, more than 15,000 cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported, with most of the transmission focused in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and neighboring countries in central Africa.
Outside of the continent, cases of the newer variant of mpox have also been recorded in several countries.

The current outbreak has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, including children. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children under 18 comprise approximately 70% of cases in the DRC, with those under 15 accounting for 85% of fatalities. Low immunity to the disease and prevalence of malnutrition could put children at increased risk. Also at heightened risk are displaced people in refugee camps in eastern DRC due to increased transmission risks associated with overcrowding and inadequate sanitation, and healthcare workers, particularly in areas with limited access to personal protective equipment.

Mpox has been reported in the DRC for more than a decade, and the number of cases reported each year has increased steadily over that period, according to a statement from the World Health Organization. The WHO reported that over 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new variant, known as clade 1b, have been reported in four countries neighboring the DRC that had not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

The WHO Director-General triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing for mpox vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access for lower-income countries which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval, according to the statement.

Emergent, which is providing the 50,000 vaccine dose donation to Direct Relief, has submitted an Expression of Interest for the vaccine to be added as an Emergency Use Listing, according to a statement from Emergent published this week.

Past Outbreaks, Experience Guide Emergency Approach

Beyond response in Africa, Direct Relief is also strategically positioned to respond globally with cold chain support, and has standing agreements with coordinating regional agencies across the world, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), International Office for Migration (IOM), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and more.

Direct Relief has an extensive track record addressing infectious disease outbreaks globally – from Dengue Fever, to Emergency Use Authorization Covid-19 vaccines and therapies, to Ebola in various parts of Africa, as well as shipping cold-chain and ultra-cold-chain prescription medication shipments globally.

The organization has also worked in Africa for decades, including during the Ebola epidemic, during which the organization was one the world’s largest providers of PPE to protect health workers treating patients with the highly virulent disease.

Direct Relief maintains an office in South Africa, and has staff in Africa that coordinate ongoing shipments to more than 35 countries.

Direct Relief’s Tom Roane and Rachel Green contributed to this report.

The post As Case Numbers Climb from Deadly Mpox Outbreak, Direct Relief Secures Critical Vaccine Donation appeared first on Direct Relief.

“When the disaster happened, our Maui partners called us and said, ‘we need you to come,’ and so we brought the mobile clinic here and we were able to provide critical medical care and services,” she said. “That’s the amazing thing about midwives and nurses. We just do whatever it takes, and we adapt.”

The organization’s midwives and nurses were some of the first medical responders to reach the island after the fires and continue to provide care for families.

As the one-year anniversary of the Maui wildfire approaches, this video, produced by Direct Relief, spotlights Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i and the vital role it played during the crisis. The organization’s efforts build on its 30 years of dedicated work to improve maternal, child, and family health across the state, ensuring safe pregnancies, reducing cesarean birth rates, decreasing postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, and increasing breastfeeding rates, particularly among high-risk pregnant and birthing individuals, with a particular focus on Native Hawaiians, Indigenous peoples, and COFA migrants.

In the fire’s aftermath, Direct Relief provided Healthy Mothers, Health Babies of Hawai’i $550,000 in emergency operating funds to support the coalition’s critical work.

Direct Relief’s support for the coalition dates back years. Since 2020, Direct Relief has provided the organization with medical aid and support, including grants through its Fund for Health Equity totaling $675,000 to expand mobile services and maternal and child health care into the community.

From the immediate medical care provided by mobile clinics to the long-term support for displaced families, the coalition’s work highlights the indispensable role of midwives and nurses in disaster recovery.

“When you take care of mothers and pregnant and parenting people, you really take care of a whole community,” she said. “The mothers will call you to where you need to be.”

This video was directed, produced, and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith Cinematography.

The post After a Disaster, “the Mothers Will Call You to Where You Need to Be” appeared first on Direct Relief.

The event was moderated by Andrew Schroeder, co-founder of CrisisReady and Vice President of Research and Analysis for Direct Relief. CrisisReady, a research-response initiative at Harvard and Direct Relief, has been tracking trends in Haiti, where Schroeder said the current situation is the most dire since the 2010 earthquake, with violent attacks on hospitals, police stations, and financial institutions becoming increasingly commonplace, along with widespread food insecurity. Nearly 5 million Haitians are experiencing acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations.

“It’s impacted every area of society and caused a mass displacement event,” he said.

Dr. Natalie Colas, Internist and Medical Director at St. Luke Family Hospital in Port-au-Prince, described challenges at every level of the health system in Haiti, from health providers leaving the island to patients putting off coming to the hospital to existing staff being unable to get to work due to kidnapping risk.

St. Luke Foundation operates 10 health facilities, about half of which are in the capital. The organization has taken safety measures for employees, including allowing them to stay at a guest house for up to a week if demonstrations prevent them from getting home safely.

When able, health providers will give patients a three-month supply of prescription medication instead of monthly to limit trips that could put them at risk of gang violence, she said. But supplies and medications are scarce.

“Without an immediate option to refill them in the coming days, I don’t know what we’re going to do… It’s really difficult for us to run the hospital,” she said. “For now, we have a little bit of reserve for emergency patients.”

Only two or three public hospitals in the metro area remain open, she said.

St. Luke’s has oxygen production capability, an asset that allows them to continue treating patients with respiratory needs without having to make dangerous trips outside the facility to fill up oxygen canisters. Direct Relief supported the facility with oxygen canisters during the Covid-19 pandemic, and recently supported the hospital with emergency operating funds.

A noticeable spike in gang-related violence and fatalities has occurred in the country since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, said Sandra Pellegrini, Latin America and Caribbean Regional Specialist with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, or ACLED. The nonprofit has been tracking news events in the country to identify trends.

Pellegrini said that civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence of armed groups and increased use of kidnapping and sexual violence, which is underreported but still “striking” in the data set.

The number of active gangs has also increased in recent years, and violence has expanded beyond the capital into the Artibonite and Centre regions, where violence has doubled. Gangs have focused on taking control of major highways and sea access with interceptions of supply boats.

Xavier Vollenweider, Director of Mobile Data Partnerships with Flowminder.org, a platform that has processed mobile data from cell provider Digicel, the main cell provider in Haiti, and has been monitoring population movement. Port au Prince has seen its population decrease since 2021, while cities like Cap Haitien and Les Cayes have increased.

Marie Rose Romain Murphy, Co-Founder and Board President of the Haiti Community Foundation and ESPWA Inc., focused on humanitarian and disaster response. The International Office of Migration has been monitoring displacement, and more than 116,000 people have fled the capital for Haiti’s southern peninsula, where Roman Murphy’s foundation operates.

The destabilization and destruction of infrastructure have been decades in the making and compounded by natural disasters, she said. Romain Murphy encouraged keeping local communities and organizations at the table where decisions are being made instead of from a distance. “It starts with community and ends with community,” she said

Direct Relief, which has a long history of supporting Haitian health facilities through crisis and natural disasters, recently committed $1 million to local health facilities to support operating expenses and staff costs.

The post In Haiti, Conflict, Displacement, and Health Challenges Converge appeared first on Direct Relief.

Residents of Slidell, Louisiana, a city about an hour from New Orleans, experienced impacts consistent with at least one EF-2 tornado, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses in the area and displacing dozens. Several temporary shelters have been activated in the area, and thousands experienced power outages last week. New Orleans and surrounding areas also experienced flash flooding from the storm, with some roadways becoming inundated with heavy rains.

People displaced from their homes after natural disasters, including tornadoes, can be at medical risk if they evacuate without prescription medications needed to manage their health. On Thursday, Direct Relief shipped requested personal care items to people residing in shelters.

Staff from Baptist Community Health Services reported at least 50 families in the community lost everything, and the organization requested personal care kits from Direct Relief. The kits contain items including soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, and more, and are created for people displaced from their homes during times of disaster. The kits were dispatched last week and have since been distributed to people at local shelters.

Direct Relief will continue assessing needs in the area and responding as requested.

The post Shipments Reach Community Rocked by Destructive Tornado in Louisiana appeared first on Direct Relief.

Several tornadoes were reported in Florida’s Panhandle on Tuesday morning, including in the Panama City area, and more than a dozen counties were under tornado warning conditions as the storm moved eastward.

Snow and icy conditions had swept through many areas of the Midwest and Plains regions, with some recording blizzard conditions. Heavy rains and high winds were also present in many areas of the U.S, including the Northeast, prompting flash flood warnings.

Health needs during extreme weather can vary, from risks of hypothermia due to extreme temperature swings to health risks associated with power outages. Evacuations and displacement from tornadoes and other storms can bring risks if evacuees are without medications to manage chronic conditions for extended amounts of time.

Direct Relief is in communication with health centers, free clinics, primary care associations and other organizations about potential needs and maintains an emergency stockpile of essential medicines often requested.

The organization is ready to respond to requests as needed.

The post As Severe Weather Sweeps Across U.S., Direct Relief Offers Support appeared first on Direct Relief.

As a support organization, Direct Relief works to equip medical providers in their own communities. Often, this occurs during times of unimaginable crisis, when people step into the unknown to help.

A 23-year-old in eastern Ukraine deciding to stay and help his community. A midwife reaching patients by watercraft after land routes were destroyed or cut off by wildfire. A mother, with her two children in tow, leading her family through the jungle to receive life-saving medical care in the U.S.

These, and many others, are a few of the individuals Direct Relief’s work has overlapped with over the past 12 months, and they reveal the creativity required to survive — and help others — along the way.

Here are some of their stories.

Jungle, Thieves, and Worse: A Mom’s Epic Journey To Save Her Daughter

 Alejandra Jimenez, 27, her husband, and her young daughter stayed in their hometown of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, for as long as they could. But when her daughter’s serious medical needs exceeded the care available, Jimenez made the decision to undergo the perilous journey from Venezuela to the United States. She and her family are among the 100,000 migrants who arrived in New York City from spring 2022 to August 2023.

To meet the health needs of those new arrivals, Ryan Health, a federally qualified health center, part of a national safety net clinic system that provides care for everyone who requests it regardless of their ability to pay, has stepped up.

“We reached out to the mayor’s office, catholic charities, and shelter providers in the area to offer our services because we suspected individuals would need health care,” said Daniel Pichinson, executive director of Ryan Health’s Chelsea-Clinton clinic, estimating that Ryan Health has onboarded about 3,000 migrants in the past year. Direct Relief’s Noah Smith and freelance photojournalist Oscar Castillo met Jimenez, as well as health providers meeting the needs of those seeking asylum in the United States.

Read more.

After Fighting Erupts in Eastern Ukraine, a Young Volunteer Steps Up

In May, Direct Relief’s Nick Allen met with a young volunteer in Eastern Ukraine, who was one of many whose world had been turned upside down after the Russian invasion but who quickly swung into action to help fellow Ukrainians.

“I want to be useful,” said 23-year-old Pavlo, whose last name was withheld for security reasons. Pavlo works with the Yevgen Pyvovarov Charity Fund to deliver aid to besieged communities in Eastern Ukraine.

Covid-19 had forced him to return home from a study abroad program in China, and the attack on Ukraine upended his plans once again. Pavlo and his family found themselves in occupied territory and eventually made it to Ukrainian territory. Declared unfit for military service because of a long-time knee injury, Pavlo had a decision to make: To endure the constant bombardments in Kharkiv city or head elsewhere, abroad even. “I had an opportunity to leave, but I declined. This is a decisive point for my country,” he said.

Read more of Pavlo’s story here.

Supporting Physical and Financial Health in Mississippi

Health providers screening for the social determinants of health — information about the conditions of a person’s life, from housing and transportation to access to clean air and water — is nothing new. Adding a picture of a person’s financial health and stressors, like debt burden, is a new angle.

It’s one the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Center, located in Clarksdale, Mississippi, is asking about to help their patients more holistically. It’s also the goal of the center’s Health Wealth program to address financial insecurity and its direct impact on health.

Aaron E. Henry received $100,000 from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, via the AbbVie Foundation, to launch the program with the goal that it serves patients across the Mississippi Delta, and could be replicated in health centers across the U.S.

Read more.

After the Fires, Providing Community Care in Maui

After devastating fires swept through Maui in August, local groups quickly mobilized to help those impacted. One of those groups, based in Oahu, worked to get medical care to people in any way possible.

The women of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i and the nonprofit’s partners arrived at the site of the wildfire by jet ski, boat, and car to help those in need. Direct Relief has funded the group with emergency operating grant and has also shipped requested medicines to the group so they can continue their work providing care.

Read more.

Medical Interpreters Improving Health for Patients, One Conversation at a Time

During a medical visit, communicating the symptoms and state of one’s health is essential to receiving sound treatment and a diagnosis. For patients communicating in a language different than that of their medical provider, medical interpreters can help bridge the language gap, as well as advocate for their patients.

That’s exactly what a group of young interpreters with Centro Hispano de East Tennessee are accomplishing. They’ve expanded to include medical interpretation, one of the most requested services by both the Latino community, as well as the medical facilities in the area.

Centro Hispano received $186,000 from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, via Eli Lilly and Company, to develop a pilot program of medical Interpreters that will address current inequities by recruiting and training a group of multi-lingual youth seeking to learn new skills, join the healthcare workforce and serve their community.

Read more.

Direct Relief Equips Doctors Providing Care After Hurricane Otis

When Hurricane Otis, a devastating Category 5 storm inundated Mexico’s west coast, local groups jumped into action, including Medical Impact. After the storm left more than 100 hospitals and clinics damaged or destroyed, the group took medical care into the community to meet needs.

Read more.

Rehabilitation Effort in the Twin Cities Helps Ukrainians Recoup from War

Direct Relief’s Olivia Lewis traveled to Oakdale, Minnesota, to see the efforts of the Protez Foundation in action, which connects Ukrainians living with amputations to customized prosthetics and rehabilitation. Yakov Gradinar, a certified prosthetist and orthotist with the foundation, was working to fit people with prosthetics when Direct Relief visited the foundation in August.

Protez provides prosthetics to children and soldiers who have lost limbs during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and had provided over 260 high-quality prostheses and over 90 prosthetics. At the time of Direct Relief’s visit, six patients and their families were participating, the thirteenth group to take part in the program.

Read more about their work.

‘Death Just Beneath You’: Doctor Describes Turkey Earthquake, Ongoing Challenges

Dr. Yusuf Çekmece, 40, is a family medicine specialist based in Antakya, Turkey, which was hard hit by the devastating earthquakes on February 6, 2023, that killed more than 50,000 people.

Dr. Çekmece is part of the Turkish Medical Association, which Direct Relief has supported with grant funding to meet the needs of earthquake zone-impacted doctors, many of whom were displaced by the damage from February’s quake, including Dr. Çekmece. His home and office were destroyed, so he practices medicine from a shipping container and continues serving the community.

Read more.

“Providing Dignity to Humanity,” Free Clinics Expand Mental Health Care

About 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles, in the high desert, sit the ruins of George Air Force Base. From World War II through the end of the Cold War, activities on the site helped prepare pilots for battlefields worldwide. But today, a new fight is taking place at the decommissioned base.

Symba Center is a free clinic that operates out of a former gym that was converted into a wellness center for the community during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, Symba Center was among 11 free and charitable clinics which received a $75,000 grant to expand mental health care access to some of the most vulnerable populations in the United States. Over $17 million worth of mental health-targeted Teva pharmaceuticals were also made available to over 400 free and charitable clinics.

As a result of the grants, free and charitable clinics have been able to hire additional staff, launch internship programs, offer educational resources, including group sessions, increase collaborative efforts with local organizations and providers, and implement mental health screening programs for their patients. In total, these clinics have reached, directly and indirectly, about 22,000 people.

Read more.

The post Throughout a Tumultuous 2023, Ordinary People Achieved the Extraordinary appeared first on Direct Relief.

One free clinic located in the epicenter of the opioid crisis has gone above and beyond to save lives and connect those with substance use disorder to lifesaving resources, including opioid-overdose-reversing naloxone.

This video, produced by Pfizer and Direct Relief, highlights the efforts of Milan Puskar Health Right, a free clinic that offers harm reduction services in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The state has the highest opioid overdose death rate in the U.S., according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To address demand, the clinic has expanded to offer comprehensive harm reduction services, including the distribution of naloxone to those with substance use disorders and their families.

Over the past five years, more than 2.6 million doses of naloxone have been provided at no charge to organizations in all 50 U.S. states and three territories.

The post Responding to the Opioid Crisis in West Virginia appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity provides financial support to community health centers, free and charitable clinics, educational institutions and other community-based organizations fighting the inequities that further health disparities. Since 2021, Direct Relief, through the Fund, has granted more than $42.5 million to 145 organizations across the U.S.

This week, representatives of these organizations are coming together to meet and share their learnings in Santa Barbara, California. Their efforts, which span the country, include serving refugee populations in North Dakota, providing medical translators in Tennessee, operating a mini nurses academy in Alabama, running a clinic focused on health and financial health in Mississippi, conducting street medicine outreach in Chicago, and offering indigenous health services on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.

The summit’s agenda includes sessions on diverse topics such as data-driven storytelling, community health worker strategies, mobile health services, street medicine, maternal care, mental health, and prevention strategies, all viewed through a health equity lens.

Dr. Regina Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General during the Obama administration and Founder and CEO of BayouClinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, addressed the audience Tuesday morning, emphasizing the importance of health equity and the critical roles nonprofits play in advancing health equity.

Dr. Benjamin also serves on the advisory council of Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity.

“You are part of an entire movement to make this a healthier nation,” she told the audience.

Daniel Dawes, Senior Vice President of Global Health & Executive Director of the Global Health Equity Institute and Founding Dean of the School of Global Public Health at Meharry Medical College, delivered the keynote address examining the country’s 400-year history of health inequities.

The inequalities seen in U.S. society — past and present — were not an accident and will take concerted political effort to undo and rectify, he said.

Dawes spoke about the “political determinants of health,” constructed barriers that keep people from living healthy lives. Dawes stressed that effective policy change is essential for rectifying these long-standing issues. Social determinants of health, like access to housing, clean food and water, and timely medical care, are often discussed, but “underlying each one is a political determinant that we can no longer ignore,” he said.

Policies that intentionally excluded healthcare for people who worked in agricultural industries and as domestic workers, highway planning that placed roads through under-resourced communities, exposing them to air contaminants, and housing policies like redlining are all examples.

“Only policy can fix what policy created,” he said.

Dawes encouraged the audience to continue their work and pointed to examples of change occurring when policy and local efforts combine. “It gives me a sense of hope about how much we can accomplish together,” he said. “This movement is not for the faint of heart. It takes tremendous courage.”

Dawes also took part in a panel discussion on the importance of collaboration and proactive health strategies with Dr. Benjamin and two other advisors of Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity Advisors, including Gail Small, Head Chief Woman and citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Martha Dawson, President and CEO of the National Black Nurses Association and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Benjamin encouraged the conference participants to continue the work at the local level.

“Leadership starts in this room,” she said.

The post Fund for Health Equity Summit Convenes Health Leaders from Across U.S. appeared first on Direct Relief.

More than 15,000 people were without power on Monday, and shelters have been activated for people displaced from their homes due to the infrastructure damage and power interruptions. Three people were killed in Davidson County, which includes Nashville, and there other deaths were recorded in Clarksville in Montgomery County, located on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

Direct Relief has offered assistance to health centers and free clinics in impacted areas. Direct Relief is in communication with the Faith Family Medical Clinic, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, Neighborhood Health, Siloam Health, and University Community Health, all located in Davidson County, Tennessee. The organization is also reaching out to facilities in Montgomery County about potential needs.

In addition to acute injuries from flying debris and structural damage, tornado impacts can also create a host of other health concerns, including a lack of access to chronic disease medications, which can result in emergency room visits.

Direct Relief maintains an inventory of medications commonly requested after disasters and has responded to past tornadoes in the region, most recently in December 2021, when tornadoes wreaked havoc across multiple states, including several of the areas impacted by this week’s storms.

The organization will continue to respond to needs as they become known.

The post Direct Relief Assesses Medical Needs After Deadly Tennessee Tornadoes appeared first on Direct Relief.

The storm’s death toll has risen to 45 people, and 47 people are still missing, according to Evelyn Salgado, Guerrero state governor. She added that about 274,000 homes throughout the region had been destroyed from the storm’s high winds and flood surges. Clean water shortages and a dwindling food supply are also impacting the region.

More than 100 hospitals and clinics have been damaged, and medical care is scarce.

Direct Relief issued $200,000 in financial support last week, including to groups responding in Guerrero with emergency health services.

Medical Impact, an organization that Direct Relief supported last week with a $25,000 emergency operating grant, deployed 12 doctors to Acapulco to provide medical care in the area. Field medic packs for triage care outside clinic walls and an emergency health kit, which contains medical essentials commonly requested after disasters, are outfitting the medical providers during their trip.

The week before Hurricane Otis made landfall, Direct Relief had shipped requested medical essentials, including medications for chronic disease management such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma, as well as first aid items for wound care and other medical needs.

Direct Relief is also coordinating with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, or IMSS, one of the largest providers of healthcare in the country, and has shared a list of available medications.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to Hurricane Otis throughout the coming days.

The post Direct Relief Equips Doctors Providing Care After Hurricane Otis appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 11.5 million defined daily doses of medication, including cardiovascular medicines, vitamins, PPE, diabetes supplies, and more.

Supporting Medical Needs After Terror Attacks in Israel

In response to the terror attacks that occurred one week ago in Israel, Direct Relief has committed $1 million to support Israeli organizations providing emergency health and social services, several of which have requested assistance to secure needed health and medical essentials.

This commitment follows an initial grant announced this week to the Ashkelon Foundation, a nonprofit focused on health and well-being in southern Israel near the border with Gaza.

The foundation is supporting Barzilai Medical Center, a 600-bed hospital that received 250 patients in the first 12 hours of the attack, fifty of whom were in critical condition.

In addition to the $1 million in cash assistance, Direct Relief has offered its extensive medical inventories and other resources, including international logistics assistance needed to mobilize additional medications or medical commodities to assist with the crisis in Israel.

The blockade resulting from the terrorist attack has interrupted the long-established channels through which humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza under the supervision and control of Israeli authorities. It is through these approved channels that Direct Relief has provided extensive ongoing humanitarian health assistance in recent years. When authorized humanitarian channels are reestablished to help innocent civilians in Gaza caught in the crossfire, Direct Relief is prepared to assist.

Read more here.

Tornadoes Touch Down in Florida

Tornados swept through areas of west Florida Thursday, with damage reported near the Tampa area, in Citrus, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Several buildings have been significantly damaged, and roads are closed across the region. A clinical site of Langley Health Services, located in Crystal River and which receives Direct Relief support, was destroyed.

Direct Relief has been in communication with the Florida Association of Community Health Centers, and will offer assistance as needs become known.

Direct Relief Hosts Emergency Responders for Training

On Oct. 11, 2023, Direct Relief hosted emergency responders from Los Angeles County EMS Agency Region I, which conducted a training onsite at Direct Relief’s Santa Barbara headquarters. During the session, Direct Relief’s Director of Operations Doug Froelich briefed the group about Direct Relief’s mission and operational capacity.

Safety-Net Clinics, Primary Care Groups Gather in California

This week, the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics convened its 2023 Charitable Healthcare Symposium, which gathered free and charitable clinics from across the U.S. Direct Relief staff attended the conference, including President and CEO Thomas Tighe, who spoke at the closing session for the event on Friday.

NAFC and its members are part of the nation’s healthcare safety net, and Direct Relief has supported their work with donations of medicines and other medical products, emergency support, and funding. In total, Direct Relief has provided $1 billion in medical aid and $12.5 million in grant funding to hundreds of free & charitable clinics and charitable pharmacies.

Direct Relief staff also attended the California Primary Care Association’s annual conference in Los Angeles, where staff had the opportunity to connect with health centers across the state. In the past 15 years, Direct Relief has supported health centers in California with 15,300 shipments of prescription medicines and over-the-counter items, collectively valued at $125.7M, and $20.6M in cash grants for disaster response, health equity, and resilient power, and chronic disease management programs.

Speedrun Colosseum Raises Support for Emergency Response

More than $35,000 was raised for emergency response efforts after speedrunners convened in Las Vegas for the the second annual Speedrun Colosseum live-streamed gaming event. The event featuring some of the world’s best video game speedrunners and was streamed on Twitch, the leading social video platform and community for gamers.

This year’s event was hosted by longtime speedrunner Asa “Spikevegeta” Tims and featured 30 of the world’s most talented gamers who perform intense challenges and complete games as quickly as possible, including top performers for the popular new releases Elden Ring and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The event has raised $100,000 for Direct Relief since it began last year.

OPERATIONAL SNAPSHOT

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped 9.8 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 433 shipments containing more than 8.6 tons of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

YEAR-TO-DATE (GLOBAL)

Since January 1, 2023, Direct Relief has delivered 16,600 shipments to 2,296 healthcare providers in 55 U.S. states and territories and 85 countries.

These shipments contained 435.8 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.7 billion (wholesale), totaling 5.3 million lbs.

in the news

Israel–Palestine: How to Help the Victims of This Week’s Deadly Attacks – Harper’s Bazaar

Israel-Hamas conflict: here’s how you can help – TimeOut

Gaza–Israel Conflict: Top-Rated Charities Providing Aid – CharityWatch

How aid groups are responding to the Israel-Hamas war, and where to donate – ABC 7 Chicago

The Artists Behind Hypeart’s ‘Love Letters to LA’ Charity Exhibition – HypeArt

How to help victims of war in Israel, Gaza – WPTV

Here’s how you can help those impacted by the Israel-Hamas war – Boston.com

How to help victims of the deadly Israel-Hamas conflict – ABC News

Sea Glass Festival donates to Maui relief – Coastal View News

LogiPharma USA 2023: Jenifer Smith Talks About Direct Relief – Pharmaceutical Commerce

Comcast Donating $2M to Support Humanitarian Relief Amid Israel Crisis – The Hollywood Reporter

How to help relief efforts in Israel, Gaza – DC News Now

How to Help Civilian Victims of the Israel-Hamas War – The Cut

Israel-Palestine: How to Help the Victims of Yesterday’s Deadly Attack – Elle

Israel-Palestine: How to Help the Victims of the Deadly Attacks – Men’s Health

Trusted charities supporting the citizens of Israel and Gaza – Cool Mom Picks

The post Aid Departs for 13 Countries appeared first on Direct Relief.

The death toll on Monday exceeded 2,400 and the quakes had left entire villages destroyed in the area 20 miles northwest of the city of Herat, located near Afghanistan’s western border with Iran.

Direct Relief has provided $16.3 million in medical aid since 2008, including to Afshar Hospital run by the Alliance for Medical Outreach and Relief. Direct Relief last shipped to the group in June 2023, and sent requested multivitamins and personal care items.

Shipments to the region have occurred on a much more limited basis since the country’s takeover by the Taliban in 2021. Direct Relief is contacting organizations still operating in the country to assess medical needs.

The organization will respond to requests for medical aid as they become known.

The post Deadly Earthquakes Rock Afghanistan, Direct Relief Assesses Needs appeared first on Direct Relief.

Emergencies disproportionately impact certain populations, including pregnant women and very young children. Midwives, trained and equipped for care, can facilitate safe births outside a hospital setting, which is particularly important when hospitals are scarce or overwhelmed with patients due to disasters.

Direct Relief supports midwives on an ongoing basis and also during emergencies, including post-disaster after earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, and Indonesia, as well as other disasters. Interruptions in prenatal care, lack of clean water and food access, and the stress of displacement and lack of housing can all impact pregnant women and young children during and after a disaster.

Two groups will receive funding to support midwifery in the aftermath of the earthquakes. Of the $75,000 disbursed, $50,000 will go to the International Confederation of Midwives, which has chapter organizations of local midwives working in Morocco. Direct Relief is also providing $25,000 to the Association Marocaine des Sages-Femmes, which also represents midwives in the country.

In the search and rescue phase of the emergency, Direct Relief provided Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras (United Firefighters without Borders) with an emergency operating grant of $100,000. The NGO, based in Spain, is conducting search and rescue efforts in Morocco at the request of the Moroccan government.

Direct Relief is working to help route needed supplies to Morocco. Among the donations in process, in coordination with a local manufacturer and The High Atlas Foundation, are 20,000 units of requested nutritionals for affected communities in Morocco. The High Atlas Foundation has a long history of working in Morocco’s mountainous communities near the earthquake’s epicenter.

The post Emergency Funding Reaches Midwives in Morocco, Post-Earthquake appeared first on Direct Relief.

It’s one the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Center is asking about to help their patients more holistically. It’s also the goal of the center’s Health Wealth program to address financial insecurity and its direct impact on health.

The federally qualified health center is located in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and has served the community for over 40 years. The center operates 12 sites and provides medical and dental care services, behavioral health services and more. The center began the Health Wealth program after gathering input from people across six counties to hear about obstacles to health outcomes in the community. Addressing all barriers to better health, including financial ones, was listed as a need.

So clinic staff and staff from Southern Bancorp worked to modify the clinic’s social determinants of health patient screening tool by adding questions about banking status, debt burden, and other indicators of financial distress. If patients say they’re interested, they can meet with a credit counselor on-site at the clinic.

Aaron E. Henry received $100,000 from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, via the AbbVie Foundation, to launch the program with the goal that it serves patients across the Mississippi Delta, and could be replicated in health centers across the U.S.

The post Supporting Physical and Financial Health in Mississippi appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 10.8 million defined daily doses of medication, including first aid kits, vitamins, PPE, antibiotics, and more.

Emergency Medicines Dispatched to Baja Ahead of Hurricane Hilary

Hurricane Hilary, expected to make landfall as a Category 1 storm in Baja over the weekend, has communities bracing for impact. In advance of the storm, Direct Relief has been in communication with state and local organizations in Mexico about potential medical needs. Recently, Direct Relief provided 18 emergency medical backpacks to the State of Baja to equip first responders, and the packs contain medical essentials for triage care outside of clinic walls. The packs, provided with support from FedEx, were requested as the region endures seasonal wildfires and is frequently affected by hurricanes like Hilary.

On Friday, Direct Relief dispatched another infusion of medical support to Baja, including 10 emergency medical backpacks and an emergency health kit, which contains essential medicines and supplies often requested after hurricanes and other disasters. The shipment is en route to Fundacion Astra in Baja California Sur, a nonprofit that delivers acute and preventive health services to vulnerable populations, including children, at-risk youth, mothers, the injured, the chronically ill and the elderly. Direct Relief is also sending an emergency health kit to the Tijuana Civil Protection Agency in coordination with the State of Baja California.

Direct Relief was incorporated in Mexico as a Civil Association in 2014 and has been an authorized donee since 2015. As the only humanitarian wholesale distributor of pharmaceuticals operating in Mexico that is fully compliant with COFEPRIS regulations, it can receive in-country and process internationally donated goods and is positioned to respond to both immediate public health requirements and long-term healthcare service needs in underserved communities.

In the United States, many areas of California are under flood watches and warnings due to Hilary’s projected path. Direct Relief has opened communications with the California Primary Association, the California Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, Healthcare Partners of Southern California, the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County to coordinate any medical needs that become known.

The organization will continue responding to medical needs from Hurricane Hilary as they become known.

Response to Fires in Hawai‘i Underway

On Thursday, shipments departed for groups in Maui, including Project Vision Hawaii, a nonprofit that operates 10 mobile health screening units across Hawai’i. A wildfire response kit, with medical essentials including chronic disease management medications, respiratory therapies, and other essentials, departed for the group, as well as N-95 masks.

N-95 masks and goggles also departed for Maui Emergency Management. Imua Family Services, an organization providing emergency childcare and therapy services for those impacted by the fires, also will receive 500 N-95 respirator masks from Thursday’s shipments. Portable refrigeration units for temperature-sensitive medications were also shipped out to Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i.

To date, Direct Relief has sent over 2,500 lbs. of specifically requested medicines and supplies to address health concerns that commonly arise during fires and mass evacuations. In addition to the groups supported Thursday, these shipments support the relief efforts of Malama I Ke Ola Health Center (Community Clinic of Maui), Maui Search and Rescue, and Hawai’i Island Community Health Center.

Direct Relief has also disbursed $200,000 in direct cash assistance in the form of $50,000 emergency operating grants each to Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, Malama I Ke Ola Health Center (Community Clinic of Maui), Maui Search and Rescue, and Hui No Ke Ola Pono (Native Hawai’ian Health Center.)

OPERATIONAL SNAPSHOT

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped 7.1 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

• Pakistan
• Lebanon
• Sri Lanka
• Ukraine
• India
• Nepal
• Syria
• Ecuador
• Macedonia
• Uganda

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 388 shipments containing more than 9,067 pounds of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

• Welvista, South Carolina
• NC MedAssist, North Carolina
• Open Door Health Center, Florida
• Center for Family Health and Education, California
• St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy, Texas
• Tarzana Treatment Center, California
• Greenville Free Medical Clinic, South Carolina
• CommunityHealth, Illinois
• UNC Health Care, North Carolina
• Mayflower Clinic, Kansas

YEAR-TO-DATE (GLOBAL)

Since Jan. 1, 2023, Direct Relief has delivered 12,800 shipments to 2,100 healthcare providers in 55 U.S. states and territories and 79 countries.

These shipments contained 352 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.3 billion (wholesale), totaling 4.2 million lbs.

in the news

Maui Fire Survivors are Battling Shock, Anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress—Many Without Medication or Mental Health Care – Associated Press: “Global medical aid organization Direct Relief has been working with groups like Lucio’s to distribute medication to people who fled without their antidepressants and antipsychotic prescriptions, said its director of pharmacy and clinical affairs, Alycia Clark. In a natural disaster, people often leave their medication behind during sudden evacuations. Downed cellphone towers and power outages can prevent them from contacting their doctors, and damage to health care clinics and a lack of transportation can all combine to complicate medical access, she said.”

Relief Donations Starting to Trickle into Hawaii Following Deadly Fires – Fox Weather: “Direct Relief said some donations and supplies have started to arrive in Maui following deadly fires in Hawaii almost one week ago.”

‘This Comes from the Heart’: How Volunteers Help Lahaina Amid Slow Government Response – The Guardian: “The California-based humanitarian nonprofit worked with local groups to bring requested items to the Island – PPE, insulin, nebulizers and hygiene items, among others. Upon landing, members immediately shuffled into vans to deliver medical supplies to distribution hubs in Lahaina, and wildfire kits for the local Maui search-and-Rescue group.”

How People Can Help Maui Wildfire Victims – Noozhawk: “Direct Relief, which is headquartered in Goleta, has been sending medical aid and financial assistance to Maui since the fires began. The nonprofit organization focuses on helping community health centers by supplying medicine and aid so medical professionals can better treat their patients. For people who want to help Maui residents with monetary donations, Chris Alleway, Emergency Response Manager for Direct Relief, suggests that everyone research organizations they trust when deciding to donate financially to help Maui wildfire victims.”

Direct Relief Provides Aid to Hawaii in Response to Deadly Wildfires – Pacific Coast Business Times: “Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe said while federal and state aid will be needed for clearing public areas and rebuilding infrastructure, the immediate support needed by people is best met by “fast-moving non-profits.””

From Santa Barbara to Maui: Aid Shipments Being Sent to the Island to Help Wildfire Victims – KCLU: “The 75-year-old non-profit is known for helping people hit by disasters, and crisis around the world with medicine, and medical supplies. Direct Relief has been sending aid to Maui for the last week, including a major shipment over the weekend.”

Home Improvement Center Launches Matching Donation Drive to Help Victims of the Maui Fires – KEYT: “The ACE Home Improvement Center in Santa Barbara is collaborating with Direct Relief to help the victims of the Maui fires. Beginning today the Home Improvement Center will take customer donations directly or take a donation in the form of rounding up a transaction to the next whole dollar. Owner Gary Simpson says the goal is to match the donations and raise $10,000 in the next week. That money will go to the non-profit Direct Relief to help with badly needed medical supplies in Lahaina. Many shipments have already arrived.”

Santa Barbara–Born Maui Resident Among Volunteers Helping Those Displaced by Deadly Wildfires – Santa Barbara Independent: “From the Central Coast, Santa Barbara–based charity Direct Relief is mobilizing assistance to those in need in Maui, delivering medical supplies, hygiene products, and lifesaving equipment, as well as working directly with health-care providers and emergency responders to offer supplies and support for the injured and those suffering from smoke-related health issues.”

The post West Coasts of U.S., Mexico Brace for Hurricane Hilary appeared first on Direct Relief.

Thousands remain displaced from their homes on the island, and though the fires are moving towards full containment, health risks remain, beyond burns and injuries from the initial blaze.

Health providers on the island are working to keep people out of medical crisis and connected with medications needed to manage chronic diseases, like diabetes and high blood pressure.

A stream of medical aid aimed at those needs has been pulsed out of Direct Relief’s warehouse since last week, and Direct Relief’s Director of Pharmacy and Clinical Affairs Alycia Clark has been coordinating with local medical providers to understand their needs and quickly ship them requested medications.

Disasters that displace people from their homes often interrupt access to medications needed to manage their health, and Clark said that the primary requests from health providers continue to be respiratory medications, insulin, and antibiotics.

“The goal is to complement the work of providers and officials on the ground by providing essential medications and supplies that may be in short supply due to the nature of the disaster, and to prevent emergency room visits when services are overwhelmed, and transportation barriers may be present,” Clark said.

In response to the devastating fires in Maui, Clark said that Direct Relief is sending products to address the main health issues that commonly arise during fires and mass evacuations. Those include inhalers, nebulizer solutions, and masks for respiratory irritation and to control asthma. Irrigation solutions and antibiotics for dermal and ophthalmic injuries, analgesics for pain from minor injuries and headaches are also included, as well as wound care items for cuts, sprains, and strains, and personal care items, including soap and toothpaste for displaced individuals in shelters.

Clark said that her team has also been in contact with various associations about specific medical needs, including the American Society of Nephrology, Hawai’ian Medical Association, Society of Critical Care Medicine, as well as individual providers and heads of hospitals, to assess what patients may be needing.

Certain types of insulin are temperature-sensitive and require consistent temperatures while in transit, and Direct Relief shipped requested amounts of insulin this week to Malama I Ke Ola Health Center (Community Clinic of Maui) via cold shippers. The clinic also received inhalers, diabetes medications, cardiovascular treatments, anti-infectives, and other requested medications.

Since the fires broke out, Direct Relief has sent over 2,500 lbs. of specifically requested medicines and supplies to address health concerns commonly arising during fires and mass evacuations. These shipments support the relief efforts of four organizations:

• Community Clinic of Maui (Malama I Ke Ola Health Center)
• Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i
• Maui Search and Rescue
• Hawai’i Island Community Health Center

In addition to medical support, Direct Relief is immediately disbursing $200,000 into four $50,000 grants to help fund operations by local medical responders.

• Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i
• Malama I Ke Ola Health Center (Community Clinic of Maui)
• Maui Search and Rescue
• Hui No Ke Ola Pono (Native Hawai’ian Health Center)

The organization will continue responding to needs throughout the immediate, near-term and long-term phases of the recovery.

The post With the Fires Contained in Many Areas, Medical Needs Remain in Maui appeared first on Direct Relief.

More than 1,000 people were recorded in shelters across Maui and Honolulu on Thursday, and Direct Relief is focused on meeting immediate medical needs, including those of evacuated people staying in shelters, and supporting search and rescue efforts.

The organization is preparing an air support flight for Maui, with a planned departure from Los Angeles on Saturday morning. The flight will contain wildfire response kits, emergency medical backpacks, N-95 masks and more.

Included in upcoming shipments are 20 emergency medical backpacks for Maui Search and Rescue, which has requested the packs to assist volunteer search and rescue teams working to locate those still missing from fires.

The organization has also committed $500,000 in financial support for emergency response and recovery needs.

Direct Relief has been in contact with health providers, including those providing care at the War Memorial Complex in Lahaina, where people have sought shelter. Pharmacists operating in the shelter have reported a need for prescription medications, including albuterol inhalers and other requests for respiratory medications. Antibiotics, skin creams, and other medications were requested and fulfilled Friday.

Direct Relief is also communicating with the Society of Critical Care Medicine, a group supporting high-quality critical care with members in 85 countries. SCCM is in contact with health facilities providing trauma care on the Hawai’ian Islands about medical needs.

Earlier this week, local organization Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i, received medical aid from Direct Relief to support medical care in Maui shelters and community outreach.

The organization has a mobile unit that has been deployed to provide supportive care to those who are pregnant and post-partum, newborns, and their families.

The post Medical Supplies for Maui Search and Rescue, Shelter Care Prepped for Departure appeared first on Direct Relief.

On Wednesday, emergency shipments containing emergency medical backpacks for triage care departed for Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island. Respiratory medications, N-95 masks, and chronic disease management medications also departed from Direct Relief’s California warehouse for the islands.

The organization has opened up its $360 million (wholesale) medical inventory in California for emergency response and will fulfill medical requests.

Medical shipments are on the way to local organizations, including Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, a group responding to needs, including those of pregnant women, newborns, and their families that have been displaced or impacted by the fires.

A shipment for the group departed Wednesday and included emergency medical backpacks, for triage care outside of clinic walls, and a wildfire response kit, specifically built with medical essentials commonly requested during wildfires, which includes respiratory medications and PPE.

More than 300 personal care kits, with hygiene items, including soap and toothpaste, for people displaced due to evacuation, have also been sent.

Shipments will continue this week, and Direct Relief is in contact with the Hawaii Department of Health, the Federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response (ASPR) Region 9, the Hawaii Primary Care Association, and more than 15 other healthcare facilities in Hawaii in response to the recent outbreak of wildfires.

In addition to acute medical issues such as burns and smoke inhalation, wildfires can also prompt mass evacuations, creating further health risks. When people are suddenly displaced from their homes, they may leave without critical medications to manage chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. If unmanaged, these conditions can escalate, leaving the person requiring emergency care at a time when urgent care centers and emergency rooms are already inundated.

Fires can also create massive power outages (about 13,000 service addresses are currently without power on Maui, according to poweroutage.us), leaving large amounts of people without electricity, which can be deadly for those dependent on medical devices, including ventilators and medical oxygen.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to medical needs as requested.

The post Critical Aid Dispatched for Wildfire First Responders in Maui appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 11.4 million defined daily doses of medication, including first aid kits, vitamins, cardiovascular medicines, antibiotics, and more.

New Search and Rescue Vehicle Unveiled

This week, a specialized vehicle was unveiled at Direct Relief headquarters to strengthen search and rescue operations in Santa Barbara County, California, where Direct Relief is based. The Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue team, a group of volunteers that operates under the auspices of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, is often called upon to conduct rescue and recovery missions throughout the county, including the steep terrain of the Santa Ynez mountains.

The vehicle can access flooded areas because of its high clearance and 40-inch wheels, and has specialized features, like 600-foot ropes for mountain rescues, and will enable the rescue team to access hard-to-reach areas during times of disaster or rescue calls in challenging conditions. The truck was funded by Direct Relief’s Search and Rescue Fund, established during winter storms this year in California. Direct Relief mobilized private resources to help equip search and rescue volunteers throughout California with the necessary gear and equipment. The initial focus will support SARs in the six counties that were identified this year under the Presidential Major Disaster Declaration: Merced, Monterey, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. The organization also purchased a high-water rescue vehicle for the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), which is responsible for SAR units in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties. This vehicle will be a shared resource among the three units.

Five years ago, after the 1/9 Montecito Debris Flow in Santa Barbara County, Direct Relief purchased vehicles and equipment for a number of first responder agencies, including UTVs, specialized rescue gear, and a new rescue truck for Santa Barbara County SAR. These vehicles and equipment were critical in their efforts to get to people who were injured or stranded after the devastating event.

Medical Aid Departs for Flooded Vermont

Shipments to flooded communities in Vermont departed Direct Relief’s warehouse Thursday, and included essential medications to manage conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as hygiene items for people displaced from their homes due to the floodwaters. More than 100 people were rescued from floodwaters this week as rivers rose, inundating communities throughout the state.

The Rutland County Free Clinic, located in Rutland, Vermont, serves uninsured adults living in the area, which was badly flooded. Some areas of the community are reachable only by helicopter, but clinic staff is working to provide outreach in accessible areas, and working to connect patients with needed medications, including those in local shelters.

On Thursday, Direct Relief shipped an emergency health kit, filled with essential items often requested for medical needs during and after disasters occur. The clinic also requested five field medic packs, which contain first aid items needed to provide medical care outside of clinic walls.

Vitamins, medications for high blood pressure, steroids and other medications were also shipped to the clinic. Fifty personal care kits, filled with items like soap and shampoo, were also shipped for people who have been displaced from their homes.

Midwife Kits Reach Birthing Center in Malawi

Direct Relief-donated Midwife Kits arrived recently at Pothawira Birthing Center, in Salima, Malawi. The birthing center provides obstetric and neonatal services in the region, and includes a women’s shelter where women can await their labor and delivery.

Dr. Anne Alaniz, co-founder of the Pothawira Project, which operates the birthing center, reported that the recently received Midwife Kits, which contain over 50 essential items to assist with safe births, have helped the facility increase capacity and serve more women.

OPERATIONAL SNAPSHOT

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped 9.5 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

• Ukraine
• Fiji
• Uganda
• Malawi
• Philippines
• Syria
• Bangladesh
• Liberia
• Haiti
• Dominican Republic

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 443 shipments containing more than 11 tons of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

• Clearwater Free Clinic, Florida
• The Health Hut, Louisiana
• Sierra Health Center – Fullerton, California
• The Naloxone Project, Colorado
• Eunice Community Health Center, Louisiana
• Community Health Northwest Florida, Florida
• St. Petersburg Free Clinic, Florida
• Health Partners Free Clinic, Ohio
• Madison Free Clinic, Virginia
• Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition, Virginia

YEAR-TO-DATE (GLOBAL)

Since Jan. 1, 2023, Direct Relief has delivered 10,100 shipments to 1,955 healthcare providers in 55 U.S. states and territories and 71 countries.

These shipments contained 299 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.1 billion (wholesale), totaling 3.6 million lbs.

in the news

KEYT: New search and rescue vehicle unveiled at Direct Relief Headquarters

Santa Barbara News-Press: Designed to Save Lives – “A new, custom-designed truck — complete with spools of 600 feet of thick ropes and other special features — is making it easier for search-and-rescue volunteers to save lives in Santa Barbara County. The new Ford F-450 truck has been used since February by the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team. And it was officially unveiled on a sunny Thursday afternoon outside the Direct Relief headquarters in Goleta.”

Fox Weather: Aid Organizations Prepare for Disaster Responses – Summer weather patterns can lead to extreme events, including floods and hurricanes. A look at how aid organizations prepare for disaster response.

Santa Barbara Independent: Santa Barbara Airport Terminal Improvement Project Open House July 18: “The community is invited to join Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) for an informational open house regarding the proposed Terminal Improvement Project [at Direct Relief headquarters].”

Rabies Vaccines Arrive in Northwestern Syria: “The US organization Direct Relief recently provided northwestern Syria with a quantity of rabies and tetanus vaccines as part of the necessary medical aid to areas still suffering from the effects of the February 6 earthquake.“

US NGOs Donate Medicines Worth Over US$53.3 mn (Colombo, Sri Lanka): “A stock of medicines worth US$ 53.3 million needed for cancer patients and children was handed over to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella by US Ambassador in Colombo Julie Chung yesterday. This stock of medicine includes about 16 types of medicines for skin diseases among small children, arthritis and cancer. This stock of medicine was donated by US-based NGOs Medical Help International and Direct Relief.”

More Than 100,000 Usage Sessions Recorded Per Year in the Dobrobut Mobile Application: “Dobrobut medical network launched a mobile application in 2016. The application allows you to access digital medical services on your phone: making an appointment with a doctor at any medical center “Dobrobut”, viewing advisory opinions, research results, paying for services, making an appointment for an online doctor’s explanation and much more. Thanks to cooperation with international charitable organizations Direct Relief International, Children of War Foundation, International Medical Corps and University of Miami Global Institute, as well as thanks to the work of the charitable foundation of the Dobrobut Foundation network, the network’s clinics, which continued their work even during hostilities, provided a significant part of medical services free of charge for months.”

The post Search and Rescue Vehicle Unveiled, Flood Response in the U.S., and More appeared first on Direct Relief.

The Rutland County Free Clinic, located in Rutland, Vermont, serves uninsured adults living in the area, which was badly flooded. Some areas of the community are reachable only by helicopter, but clinic staff is working to provide outreach in accessible areas, and working to connect patients with needed medications, including those in local shelters.
“When the storms hit, it was like Irene all over again,” Clinic Manager Laurie Krupp told Direct Relief Thursday, referring to the 2011 tropical storm that inundated much of the U.S. Northeast, killing at least 40 people in 11 states, including Vermont. Krupp said needs are particularly high for people who are homeless and displaced from their living situations.

On Thursday, Direct Relief shipped an emergency health kit, filled with essential items often requested for medical needs during and after disasters occur. The clinic also requested five field medic packs, which contain first aid items needed to provide medical care outside of clinic walls.

Vitamins, medications for high blood pressure, steroids and other medications were also shipped to the clinic. Fifty personal care kits, filled with items like soap and shampoo, were also shipped for people who have been displaced from their homes.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to requests as needed.

The post Critical Medical Supplies Depart for Flooded Vermont Communities appeared first on Direct Relief.

More than 100 people have been rescued from floodwaters this week in Vermont, and one person has died due to the flooding in New York. Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, is under a boil water advisory, and air and water rescues continued for residents trapped in their homes.

Flooding and Health

Flooding can create many health concerns, including health conditions that can worsen when people are evacuated from their homes. During mass evacuations, road closures and infrastructure damage, people can be cut off from supplies of medication needed to manage chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. Lack of access to these medications can become life-threatening, with people requiring emergency care when medical resources may be strained.

Access to water and power can also be compromised during major storms, and power outages can be particularly dangerous for people dependent on electricity-powered medical devices like ventilators.

In the recovery phase, clean-up can also pose health risks as people re-enter homes and buildings with water damage. Mold can cause respiratory issues, and cleanup activities can expose people to bacterial infections like tetanus.

Direct Relief’s Response

Direct Relief has been communicating with the Primary Care Associations of New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, as well as FEMA, about potential needs at local health facilities impacted by flooding and will review any requests for assistance.

The organization maintains a stockpile of medications commonly requested after disasters and to support ongoing health services. Direct Relief is ready to respond as needs become known.

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The death toll from the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquake has risen to more than 50,000, with more than 200,000 injured. Direct Relief is focused on mental health services and psychosocial support for people impacted by the quakes, maternal and child health, surgery services for those injured and needing rehabilitation, and bolstering primary care services.

This week, Direct Relief committed $2 million in cash support for the earthquake response efforts. This is in addition to $1.9 million already disbursed earlier this year. As part of this week’s commitment, Direct Relief is issuing the following emergency grants:

Financial support for Turkey:

The Association of Public Health Specialists, or HASUDER, will receive $275,000 to expand sexual and reproductive healthcare services to women and children affected by the earthquake in the Hatay region of Turkey. The funds will support the staffing of a physician and two midwives, as well as an Arabic translator to support services to Syrian refugees. The grant will also fund the purchase of a van to provide mobile healthcare services.

The Psychiatric Association of Türkiye will receive $175,000 to deploy volunteer psychiatrists to the earthquake areas to provide psychosocial services for earthquake victims, local first responders, and healthcare workers who have suffered high rates of burnout and PTSD. To ensure that Syrian refugee communities also have access to these services, the organization aims to employ four trained Arabic translators who will base out of refugee settlements in the earthquake zones.

The Turkish Society of Surgery of the Hand and Upper Extremity will receive $100,000 to provide surgical services for people who were injured or disabled by the earthquakes. The project will establish a mobile rehabilitation suite outside of Malatya University Hospital, which has been operating in a limited capacity since the earthquake.

World Human Relief will receive $100,000 to support face-to-face psychological services to those impacted by the earthquakes, and the funding will go toward the purchase of modular units to house part-time staff and hire one full-time staff position focused on capacity building and organizational strategy.

Ankara Medical Chamber will receive $50,000 to establish a fully equipped women’s health center in Malatya Province to be staffed by volunteers from the Ankara Medical Chamber to restore primary care services. To support women living in the surrounding areas, this project includes a rental van to conduct mobile health screenings in rural areas with hospital referral support when necessary.

Financial support for Syria:

Independent Doctors Association will receive $800,000 to train 140 health staff over eight months to strengthen the health system in Syria, purchase healthcare equipment, and strengthen the health management system to ensure efficiency and medical record capacity.

Syria Relief and Development will receive $500,000 to expand medical warehousing capacity in Azaz and Idleb and warehouse management systems to track inventory and distribution. The organization will also be purchasing medical equipment needed to continue health services.

Since the earthquake reverberated throughout the region, Direct Relief has shipped or is shipping more than 429 tons of medical aid for Turkey and Syria, including antibiotics, wound care dressings, protective gear, and other requested medical resources.

The post Direct Relief Disburses $2 Million in Funding for Groups Continuing Earthquake Response in Turkey, Syria appeared first on Direct Relief.

On Tuesday, Sinan Kuzum, Turkey’s Consul-General in Los Angeles, visited Direct Relief’s Santa Barbara, California, warehouse before the shipment departed. Kuzum received a tour of Direct Relief’s warehouse and met with staff for a briefing on the organization’s earthquake response.

The shipment will depart from Los Angeles next week before arriving in Istanbul and contains antibiotics, respiratory medications, anti-seizure therapies, vitamins for children and adults, personal protective equipment, hygiene items, and more. Turkey’s Ministry of Health specifically requested all items.

Earlier this week, a charter flight with 75 tons of medical aid for Syria touched down in Turkey. The aid will be trucked across the Syrian border via U.N. convoy and distributed to groups providing health services in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian American Medical Society, the Independent Doctors’ Association, and Syria Relief and Development will receive aid as part of the delivery.

In the weeks since the initial quake, Direct Relief has disbursed $2.66 million in immediate emergency grant funding to enable and sustain the emergency response operations of seven local healthcare and search and rescue groups working across Turkey and northwestern Syria.

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Direct Relief has been supporting community groups and healthcare facilities in flood-impacted areas across the state, including Monterrey County, where a levee breach displaced thousands in the farming community bordering the Pajaro River Valley.

Direct Relief shipped 1,000 personal care kits to the area last week, which were distributed to community members displaced by flooding and a local levee break earlier this month. Across Monterrey County, where the Pajaro River Valley is located, thousands were forced to evacuate, including many farmworkers that live and work in the area. Two hundred people were rescued from the rising flood waters.

The organization also shipped masks, gloves, tents and air purifiers to the Universal Community Health Center in Los Angeles, which had a portion of its roof damaged from recent rains. More shipments are slated to depart this week.

A recently donated high-water rescue vehicle has already been in use for search and rescue efforts in Mammoth, where over 600 inches of snow have been recorded this season, burying homes and trapping residents.

The high water rescue vehicle was deployed to Mammoth last Thursday for a mutual aid mission and transported a crew of two Sheriff’s Office Tactical Response Team members and a Ventura County Fire Department paramedic, supplementing a crew of eight other Ventura County Sheriff’s Department members that were already there. “Due to the amount of snow, there was difficulty in responding to calls for service, but also they began having roofs collapsing due to the weight of the snow,” said Shane Matthews, of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which maintains the Direct Relief-donated vehicle.

The vehicle allowed law enforcement to complete calls for service, as well as search and rescue and even transported one person to the hospital, and the vehicle was being prepped for storm response this week to the latest rains.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to requests for medical support this week.

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The shipments contained 11.8 million defined daily doses of medication, including antibiotics, field medic packs, diabetes management medications and supplies, cancer therapies, personal care products, and more.

Turkey-Syria Earthquake Response

More than 111 tons of medical aid has been shipped to Turkey and Syria since the earthquake on Feb. 6. This week, 500 field medic packs arrived in Adana, Turkey.

Groups supported with medical aid include Turkey’s Ministry of Health, Ahbap, AKUT, Syrian American Medical Society, Independent Doctor’s Association, and Syrian Relief and Development.

In addition to continuous deployments of medical aid, Direct Relief is infusing cash support to local organizations scaling up to meet the needs of the moment. More than $2.5 million in financial aid has been committed.

Read more here.

Expanding Emergency Contraception Access in the U.S.

This week, a new effort was announced to expand emergency contraception to underserved women across the U.S.

Curae Pharma360 Inc., a mission-driven pharmaceutical company, announced a partnership with Direct Relief to provide Curae’s OTC emergency contraception product free of charge to clinics that serve the most vulnerable women in the U.S.

Direct Relief is committed to increasing access to family planning, ending period poverty, and equipping health providers to facilitate safer births. In partnership with Curae, Direct Relief will provide more than 120,000 emergency contraceptives for free to its participating clinics.

Read more here.

International Women’s day

In honor of International Women’s Day, volunteers and Direct Relief staff packed 2,000 women’s hygiene kits on March 8, 2023, in Direct Relief’s volunteer center. Each kit contains soap, shampoo, razors, lip balm, toothbrushes, fingernail clippers, period products and more for distribution globally.

Dr. Steve Arrowsmith, International Medical Advisor to Direct Relief, also spoke to staff and volunteers about his work focusing on women’s health and fistula repair. Dr. Arrowsmith has treated fistula throughout Africa and Asia for nearly 30 years and is an esteemed mentor and trainer for new fistula surgeons. The presentation can be seen below.

This week, Organon announced new funding and product donations for Direct Relief to help improve access and outcomes related to unplanned pregnancy in select communities in the U.S.

“Empowering women with broad contraceptive access and education is a fundamental driver of equity and helping women decide when – and if – they decide to start a family,” said Kevin Ali, CEO of Organon. “Organon is proud to launch ‘Her Plan is Her Power’ and work with others to focus our resources and target responses to help ensure all women and girls can plan their future.”

Read more here.

Material aid for Ukraine

Several NGOs focused on health in Ukraine received medical aid from Direct Relief over the past seven days, including Ukrainian Soul, which received critical antibiotics and other medications to treat infections.

Since Feb. 24, 2022, Direct Relief has provided medical aid to Ukraine weighing more than 2.6 million pounds, or 1,300 tons, with more on the way.

OPERATIONAL SNAPSHOT

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped 11.8 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

• Ukraine
• Fiji
• Sudan
• Honduras
• Sri Lanka
• India
• Lebanon
• Pakistan
• Nepal
• Jordan

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 216 shipments containing 4.5 tons of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

• Greater Killeen Free Clinic, Texas
• Community Health of East Tennessee, Tennessee
• Good News Clinics, Georgia
• Siloam Family Health Center, Tennessee
• HIV Alliance, Oregon
• Washington State Department of Health, Washington
• Dr. Gary Burnstein Community Health Clinic, Michigan
• Free Medical Clinic of America, Tennessee
• Scotland Community Health Clinic, North Carolina
• Faith Family Medical Clinic, Tennessee

YEAR-TO-DATE (GLOBAL)

Since Jan. 1, 2023, Direct Relief has delivered 2,596 shipments to 1,080 healthcare providers in 52 U.S. states and territories and 52 countries.

These shipments contained 121.6 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $307.7 million (wholesale), totaling 1.5 million lbs.

In The News

International Women’s Day: Direct Relief prepares 2,000 hygiene kits for women around the world – KEYT: “A local humanitarian organization is celebrating International Women’s Day 2023. On Wednesday, March 8, Direct Relief will welcome world-renowned fistula surgeon Dr. Steve Arrowsmith.”

Startup Curae Pharma360 partners with Direct Relief to distribute free contraceptives to safety-net clinics – Fierce Healthcare: “Curae Pharma360 was founded a year ago as a for-profit subsidiary of Medicines360, a nonprofit pharma company focused on R&D, to commercialize its products. Now, its first product—OTC emergency contraceptive levonorgestrel—is being distributed in partnership with Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization. The partnership began at the start of the year, and the product is free to the safety-net clinics.”

Gamers Raise $2 Million For Turkish And Syrian Earthquake Relief – The Gamer: “The gaming community has been rallying together in support of those affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, raising more than $2 million for disaster relief through participation in a popular program launched last week by Humble, the Turkiye-Syria Earthquake Relief Bundle. The proceeds will be going to the charities Direct Relief, International Medical Corps, and Save the Children.”

The post Medications for Ukraine, Fourteen Additional Countries Delivered This Week appeared first on Direct Relief.

More than 44,000 people have lost their lives due to the earthquakes, and more than 2.2 million people have been displaced or evacuated, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

More than 9,000 aftershocks have occurred and continue, including a 5.2-magnitude quake that rattled southern Turkey on Monday.

More than 9 million people were directly affected by the earthquakes, and more than 520,000 housing units collapsed or were destroyed.

Since the earthquake reverberated throughout the region on Feb. 6, Direct Relief has shipped or is shipping more than 109 tons of medical aid for Turkey and Syria, including antibiotics, wound care dressings, protective gear, and other requested medical resources.

Groups supported with medical aid include Turkey’s Ministry of Health, Ahbap, AKUT, Syrian American Medical Society, Independent Doctor’s Association, and Syrian Relief and Development.

A recent shipment for the Syrian American Medical Society was announced over the weekend and is supporting the medical supply chain for hospitals operating in the area.

The organization has been responding to the series of earthquakes that continue to rock the region. SAMS posted that five of the organization’s hospitals in Syria received at least 30 injured from the early evening 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 20.

“SAMS’ 2,400 staff in the region–nearly half of whom were displaced by the disaster–continue to provide urgent medical and other assistance to the thousands of casualties, many requiring long-term therapeutic as well as mental health support,” the organization stated.

“Despite four of SAMS’ hospitals being significantly damaged in the February 6 earthquake, rendering one inoperable, SAMS continues to provide comprehensive medical care.”

Direct Relief committed an additional $1 million to SAMS to offset costs needed to purchase medicines and supplies in country. The amount adds to a prior $600,000 granted to the organization for emergency operations funds, expand capacity for trauma response and cover costs for diesel fuel for ambulances and generators.

Financial support

In addition to continuous deployments of medical aid, Direct Relief is infusing cash support to local organizations scaling up to meet the needs of the moment. More than $2.5 million in financial aid has been committed.

In Turkey

• The Society of Critical Care Medicine will receive $500,000 to support specialized procurement of trauma care needs and supplies. The organization has active members working in hospitals in Turkey and Syria and is also mobilizing ICU specialists from multiple countries to provide emergency medicine and critical care services in support of the Turkish health system.
• The Turkish Midwifery Association will receive $100,000 to obtain UN delivery kits. The association has 3,910 members who provide pre- and post-natal home care as well as childbirth services at Turkish hospitals throughout the country. Pregnant women and newborns are particularly vulnerable to health risks in disaster settings, and the funding will pay for supplies to facilitate safe births, as well as personal care supplies for pregnant women and those recovering from birth.
• AKUT, the leading search and rescue team in Turkey with over 400 staff and volunteers, has received $100,000 for urban search and rescue efforts. The group will also receive 100 Direct Relief field medic backpacks for triage care.
• Turkish Society of Nephrology – Renal Disaster Task Force will receive $20,000 for converted shipping containers to shelters for specialized teams cycling into Adiyaman, Hatay, and Kahramanmaras to provide medical care for crush wounds and resulting kidney issues that occur after acute traumas.

In Syria

• The Syrian American Medical Society will receive $1 million for emergency procurement of in-country medications and surgery supplies, bringing total cash support to the organization to $1.6 million from Direct Relief.
• Syria Relief and Development has received $100,000 for emergency operating expenses. This grant follows years of support from Direct Relief to Syria Relief and Development, including financial assistance and donations of medical resources.
• Independent Doctors Association has received $100,000 for emergency operating expenses. This grant builds on years of in-kind support from Direct Relief – more than 10 million doses of medicine since 2021.

The post Strengthening the Humanitarian Supply Chain, Post-Earthquake appeared first on Direct Relief.

The death toll from the quakes has risen to 43,000 across Turkey and Syria, with dozens of health facilities damaged or destroyed. Direct Relief has focused on medical aid to strengthen the health system, as well as financial aid to local groups to support medical care and search and rescue efforts.

The 89-pallet shipment departed for Los Angeles International Airport, where it will be flown to Istanbul and then trucked to Adana, Turkey. It is expected to arrive in Adana mid-next week.

The shipment contains chronic disease medications, trauma supplies, mental health therapies, oral rehydration salts, micronutrient vitamins, and protective gear, which were specifically requested by Turkey’s Ministry of Health and will be used to support the country’s health system as it treats people impacted by deadly earthquakes.

Another 25-pallet shipment for Turkey’s Ministry of Health is being trucked from Direct Relief’s warehouse in the Netherlands and contains anti-infective medications and antibiotics.

On Friday, Ali Said Dolu, Commercial Attache of Turkey, visited Direct Relief’s California warehouse before the shipment departed. Dolu received a tour of Direct Relief’s warehouse and met with Thomas Tighe, CEO and President of Direct Relief, and other key staff involved in the shipment’s creation.

Since the earthquake 11 days ago, more than 46 tons of medical aid has been staged, is en route, or has arrived in Turkey and Syria.

Earlier this week, shipments arrived in Syria for the Syrian American Medical Society, which is operating a network of health facilities in northwestern Syria. Direct Relief is also shipping medical support to the Independent Doctors’ Association and Syria Relief and Development, which also support medical efforts in the country.

In the week since the initial quake, Direct Relief has disbursed $1.52 million in immediate emergency grant funding to enable and sustain the emergency response operations of seven local healthcare and search and rescue groups working across Turkey and northwestern Syria.

The organization will continue to meet requests for medical needs.

The post More than 23 Tons of Medical Aid Departs for Turkey appeared first on Direct Relief.

The 6,800-pound shipment was trucked from Adana, Turkey, and transported into Syria, and contains more than 64,000 defined daily doses of requested antibiotics for infection treatment and other essential medicines.

Tuesday’s shipments are the latest to arrive in Syria, and Direct Relief currently has 22.5 tons of emergency medicines and supplies valued at $4.5M that is ready for shipment, en route or has arrived in the region. In addition to the Syrian American Medical Society, Direct Relief is also shipping medical support to the Independent Doctors’ Association and Syria Relief and Development, all of which support medical efforts in the country.
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In the week since the initial quake, Direct Relief has disbursed $1.52 million in immediate emergency grant funding to enable and sustain the emergency response operations of seven local healthcare and search and rescue groups working across Turkey and northwestern Syria.

The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in the early hours on February 6 has now exceeded 40,000, and the head of the United Nations relief effort on the ground, Martin Griffiths, stated publicly that this total will likely double or more.

More than 24,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the affected areas, and 8,400 of these structures have collapsed. In northwestern Syria 7,400 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including 57 hospitals and primary health facilities damaged, and 1,700 of that total have collapsed.

Major concerns include emergency medical and surgical supplies for hospitals, disease outbreaks due to numbers of displaced people without shelter and access to proper water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and winterization needs, including for medical shelters.

After 12 years of conflict and an ongoing cholera outbreak, 4.1 million Syrians in the northwest already relied on some level of humanitarian assistance before the earthquake, with recent events overwhelming the capacity of local health facilities.

The UN estimated that almost 9 million people have been affected by the earthquake across Syria, and the Syrian American Medical Society has reported that many people are now exposed to the winter weather, lacking adequate shelter and that they are preparing for surges in communicable diseases and potentially cold-induced injuries.

“This shocking event in such an already devastated region has refocused the world’s attention on Syria, but the truth is the humanitarian situation in Syria was desperate and unsustainable even before the earthquake,” SAMS wrote in a statement on its website last week. “A series of challenges to the health sector: dwindling access, COVID-19 and a cholera outbreak across Syria all degraded a humanitarian environment, and these challenges are now exacerbated by this shocking natural disaster.”

SAMS had called on the United Nations to reopen all border crossings into northwest Syria to increase the flow of aid in response to the earthquake’s sweeping impacts. Direct Relief is supporting SAMS and other organizations primarily operational around northwestern Syria, in the catchment areas of Aleppo, Idleb, Lattakia, Hama governorates.

“In the coming weeks, Northwest Syria and those impacted in Turkey will need a level of aid unprecedented in the last few years of the conflict,” SAMS stated.

The post Essential Medicines Arrive in Syria, Post-Earthquake appeared first on Direct Relief.

The death toll from the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquake has risen to more than 36,000, with more than 200,000 injured. Direct Relief is focused on two tracks of immediate response: financial support to bolster immediate rescue efforts and medical material to backstop stressed health facilities in the region.

Last week, Direct Relief committed $3 million in cash support for the earthquake response efforts. As part of that commitment, Direct Relief is issuing the following emergency grants:

Financial support for Turkey:

The Society of Critical Care Medicine will receive $500,000 to support specialized procurement of trauma care needs and supplies. The organization has active members working in hospitals in Turkey and Syria and is also mobilizing ICU specialists from multiple countries to provide emergency medicine and critical care services in support of the Turkish health system.

The Turkish Midwifery Association will receive $100,000 to obtain UN delivery kits. The association has 3,910 members who provide pre- and post-natal home care as well as childbirth services at Turkish hospitals throughout the country. Pregnant women and newborns are particularly vulnerable to health risks in disaster settings, and the funding will pay for supplies to facilitate safe births, as well as personal care supplies for pregnant women and those recovering from birth.

AKUT, the leading search and rescue team in Turkey with over 400 staff and volunteers, has received $100,000 for urban search and rescue efforts. The group will also receive 100 Direct Relief field medic backpacks for triage care.

Turkish Society of Nephrology – Renal Disaster Task Force will receive $20,000 for converted shipping containers to shelters for specialized teams cycling into Adiyaman, Hatay, and Kahramanmaras to provide medical care for crush wounds and resulting kidney issues that occur after acute traumas.

Financial support for Syria:

The Syrian American Medical Society has received $600,000 to support operations in northwest Syria, where the organization has 1,700 medical staff providing medical care. A portion of the support was used for generator fuel to power hospital operations and fuel for ambulance response.

Syria Relief and Development will receive $100,000 for emergency operating expenses. This grant follows years of support from Direct Relief to Syria Relief and Development, including financial assistance and donations of medical resources.

Independent Doctors Association will receive $100,000 for emergency operating expenses. This grant builds on years of in-kind support from Direct Relief – more than 10 million doses of medicine since 2021.

Since the earthquake reverberated throughout the region, Direct Relief has shipped or is shipping more than 22 tons of medical aid for Turkey and Syria, including antibiotics, wound care dressings, protective gear, and other requested medical resources.

The post Trauma Support, Maternal Care, and More Receive Funds During Earthquake Response appeared first on Direct Relief.

Today’s announcement comes after $200,000 was issued earlier this week by Direct Relief—$100,000 to AKUT, the leading search and rescue team in Turkey with over 400 staff and volunteers, and $100,000 to the Syrian American Medical Society, which operates health facilities in northwest Syria treating patients impacted by the quake.

The increased funding commitment is possible because of the spontaneous outpouring of public support that has occurred this week, including over 10 thousand contributions from more than 70 countries and all 50 U.S. states through Direct Relief’s website and pledges made by several corporations.

“The massive scale of destruction, tragic loss of life, and enormous needs and ongoing threats that arose in the course of a few moments this week call for a response that is commensurate with the circumstances,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief’s President and CEO. “The actions of private people and businesses around the world to participate in the assistance effort help enormously and are inspiring to see.”

Direct Relief’s emergency response approach is two-pronged, with financial support to bolster immediate rescue efforts and medical material to backstop stressed health facilities in the region.

An infusion of more than nine tons of requested medical supplies, including 100 field medic packs for triage care, departed Direct Relief’s warehouse on February 8 for multiple groups in the region, including the Syrian American Medical Society, Syrian Relief and Development, and the Independent Doctor’s Association.

More medical aid shipments are scheduled to depart Direct Relief warehouses in the U.S. and the Netherlands and include antibiotics, wound care dressings, protective gear and other requested medical resources.

The region contains a large population of internally displaced people and refugees at particular risk of disaster and impacts from interrupted power, health services, food and water access, and limited shelter.

Health concerns in the immediate phase of the response are numerous. Crush injuries and wounds can lead to severe infections without proper care. Debris and airborne particulates can cause or worsen respiratory and ocular conditions. Contaminated water can lead to gastrointestinal illness and spark or exacerbate cholera outbreaks, like in Syria, where the disease has infected tens of thousands over the past year.

Cardiovascular, kidney and respiratory diseases and diabetes were among the primary causes of death in Turkey and Syria before the earthquake. In the coming days and weeks, acute medical needs are likely to include medications for chronic diseases, without which someone who relies on them can quickly find themselves in a crisis.

Besides infrastructure damage and population displacement preventing people from accessing medication, power outages often compromise the integrity of cold-chain drugs while simultaneously decreasing the ability to communicate with providers. Transportation restrictions and infrastructure damage will limit access to pharmacies and other medication refill channels.

In response, Direct Relief is working to secure and deliver large quantities of diabetes, cardiovascular, asthma and other chronic disease medications.

Direct Relief is modeling potential quantities needed on baseline disease rates, with examples of rates in Turkey and Syria before the earthquake: hypertension 30-40%, diabetes 14-15%, epilepsy 0.5-1.4%.

The organization will continue responding for as long as its services are needed, with support from people and businesses whose participation fuels Direct Relief’s humanitarian efforts.

The post Direct Relief Commits $3 Million for Turkey and Syria Earthquake Response appeared first on Direct Relief.

Turkish government officials said at least 8,500 of those reported dead are in Turkey, with another 50,000 reported injured in the region. The quake is one of the strongest to rattle the area in a century, and more than 100 aftershocks rumbled through Turkey and Syria since the initial 7.8-magnitude quake occurred on Feb. 6.

In Syria, more than 2,500 are estimated to have been killed, and the impacted zone is split between rebel-held areas and government-held zones, which complicates humanitarian relief and coordination. Even before the earthquake, more than 4 million people were relying on some sort of humanitarian assistance, with the most recent disaster making them even more vulnerable to health risks. The country is also experiencing an active cholera outbreak, and more than a decade of civil conflict has weakened Syria’s health infrastructure.

A Race Against Time

The critical window 72-hour post-earthquake window for search and rescue is rapidly closing, and rescue teams from Turkish Search and Rescue group AKUT are actively responding to impact sites. AKUT has more than 700 members and received a $100,000 infusion of financial support from Direct Relief this week.

More than 111 people have been rescued by the group, according to an online update from AKUT.

With thousands of buildings collapsed or destroyed, with many as high as 15 stories, the death count is still coming into focus, said AKUT’s Dr.Gülçin Güreşçi. She said that over 13 million people have been directly impacted by the earthquake.

“We know that the number will be higher. People are still waiting to be rescued under the cold weather and snowfall. We have very little time to reach them before they go into hypothermia.”

In addition to hypothermia risks, other immediate medical concerns include trauma and crush injuries and wounds where a delay in care could lead to more infections. Interrupted supplies of clean water are also a concern, as are issues with chronic disease complications. The electrical grid has also been disrupted, hindering hospital operations.

Earthquakes create a huge spike in the need for health services with all the injuries, even as there is a huge contraction of available health services. At the same time, there is often an information vacuum and breaking of the supply channels through which resources can be moved efficiently to address the huge gap that develops.

This scenario means that huge gaps immediately arise with fewer channels available to address them. Damaged roads and bridges have caused supply chain disruptions, with the UN-sanctioned border crossing Bab al-Hawa between Turkey and Syria currently closed.

An Infusion of Medical Support

Air charter shipments were prepared on Wednesday for multiple groups responding in the region, including the Syrian American Medical Society, Syrian Relief and Development, and the Independent Doctor’s Association.

Emergency medicines were staged, including antibiotics, chronic disease medications for high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma, prenatal vitamins, diagnostic and surgical equipment, wound care dressings, PPE and more.

More than 100 field medic backpacks with medical supplies for triage care are included in the shipments and personal care kits with hygiene items for people who have been displaced from their homes.

Wednesday’s shipments included therapeutics for cholera patients, including oral rehydration salts to prevent dehydration, which can become deadly in cholera patients, particularly in young children.

In addition to the medical aid prepared, Direct Relief was able to issue $100,000 to the Syrian American Medical Society this week, part of which was used for generator fuel to power hospital operations and fuel for ambulance response.

“Our hospitals are overwhelmed with patients filling the hallways,” according to a statement from the Syrian American Medical Society. “There is an immediate need for trauma supplies and a comprehensive emergency response to save lives and treat the injured.”

“Across our operational facilities, we’ve been receiving victims of the quake as they come into our hospitals while simultaneously working to guarantee the wellbeing of our over 1,700 staff in Syria, and 90 at the epicenter near Gaziantep, Turkey,” said SAMS’ President Dr. Amjad Rass.

Many hospitals are full, the group reported, but some critical facilities, including Al Dana Hospital, had to evacuate patients after sustaining severe damage from the earthquake. “Likewise, the Idleb Maternity Hospital was forced to transfer all newborns to a nearby hospital. Additionally, we have since evacuated an additional two hospitals to maintain the safety of patients and staff and protect them from the damage caused by the quake,” the group reported.

Direct Relief’s response to the earthquake is ongoing.

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The tornado cut a wide path through Selma, Alabama, where Rural Health Medical Program is located, a community health center that requested medicines from Direct Relief after the storm.

Shipments departed Tuesday for Rural Health, and included specifically requested chronic disease medications for diabetes and asthma, medications for high blood pressure, antibiotics, and more.

Continued Response to California Storms

Deliveries of medical aid continued through the weekend to areas of California impacted by winter storms and flooding. Direct Relief has been actively offering support to storm-impacted communities and delivered medication support to the County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency on Saturday. That organization has been receiving shipments of medications and supplies for the past five years from Direct Relief, primarily for its Homeless Persons Health Project.

Through a contact there, Direct Relief was able to provide medical support for the county’s emergency operations center, which was supporting multiple shelters and temporary evacuation centers housing several hundred people. Direct Relief staff delivered emergency medicines, field medic packs for triage care outside of clinic walls, overdose-reversing naloxone, personal care items for displaced people, pen lights, and air purifiers.

Other deliveries were prepped on Tuesday, including the County of Santa Barbara Public Health, Doctors without Walls – Santa Barbara Street Medicine, SLO Noor Foundation, a free clinic serving patients in San Luis Obispo County and northern Santa Barbara County, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, which has 13 health centers in the Salinas Valley and greater Monterey Bay, and Rotacare Bay Area which has ten free clinics in Northern and Central California.

Direct Relief will continue filling medical requests and has provided financial support for impacted groups as well as emergency response equipment for first responders.

The post Rapid Response Kicks In for Alabama Tornadoes, California Floods appeared first on Direct Relief.

In the last ten days, 12 people have died in California storms and flooding — more than the number of civilians who died in wildfires in the last two years, according to CalMatters. More than 138,000 people were without power in California on Monday, and outages are likely to continue as rainfall is expected through Tuesday.

At a mid-day press conference in Santa Barbara County, Eric Boldt of the National Weather Service in Oxnard said that significant rainfalls would continue into Tuesday. “We’re looking at rainfall totals approaching a foot of rain” in the county’s foothill and mountain areas, he said. Multiple roads and highways had been closed in the county, trees and powerlines were down in certain areas, and one active rescue had taken place, said Mark Hartwig, Santa Barbara County’s Fire Chief.

More than 200 first responders have been pre-positioned across the county. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown called the storm a “very rapidly changing event,” and urged people to shelter in place during the flash flood watch Monday until they could safely evacuate burn scar-adjacent areas.

Direct Relief’s Response

Located in Santa Barbara, California, for almost 75 years, Direct Relief has been operating at a high activity level since storms began moving through the state several weeks ago. Since Jan. 1, 2023, 80 shipments of medical aid, worth $579,000, have departed to health facilities across California, including to Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Humboldt and more.

Items shipped included personal care packs with hygiene items for people who have been displaced from their homes, medicines for chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, field medic packs for health care in shelter settings, and other medical essentials specifically requested by health providers. More shipments are departing today.

Among the shipments were 400 personal care kits to Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless. The organization’s grants manager David Modersbach told Direct Relief that the organization is particularly concerned with getting vulnerable people living outside into shelters. Shipments have also departed for the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics and Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health.

In Santa Barbara County, where Direct Relief headquarters are located, countywide flash flood warnings were issued, particularly concerning for those living near burn scar areas, including the Thomas Fire. That fire denuded the watershed behind the community of Montecito exactly five years ago, and a resulting debris flow killed 23 people and damaged more than 500 structures.

Direct Relief responded to both disasters, and funded recovery efforts, including search and rescue vehicles and gear for first responders, PPE distribution for those involved in clean-up, and emergency grants for community organizations providing critical services to residents. A victim’s fund was also established for those impacted by the loss of life, who were injured, or otherwise affected by the mudslide.

Direct Relief will respond to medical needs as they become known.

The post Medical Support Continues as Torrential Rainfall Inundates California appeared first on Direct Relief.

Andrew Schroeder, Direct Relief’s Vice President of Research and Analysis, is a contributor to the publication, and co-director of CrisisReady, a research-response initiative at Harvard and Direct Relief, supported by grants from the Harvard Data Science Initiative, Google.org, Data for Good at Meta, and the World Bank GFDRR.

“The data needed to make health systems and emergency management approaches more resilient to these hazards, and more responsive to the needs of affected populations, are sequestered in silos across private corporations and public agencies,” the report’s introduction states. “In two case studies, we describe how our research team at CrisisReady negotiated access to privately held and novel data sources like anonymized geolocation data from cell phones while striking a balance between data security and public health utility.”

Read the entire article here: CrisisReady’s novel framework for transdisciplinary translation: Case-studies in wildfire and hurricane response

The post New Article Explores Climate-Related Disasters and Mobility Data appeared first on Direct Relief.

An atmospheric river moved through the state Wednesday, causing major flooding in areas that were already saturated by earlier heavy rains. Northern California communities were particularly impacted, with power outages, infrastructure damage, and even several levee breaches.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, and Direct Relief has been in contact with numerous state and county agencies about medical needs.

Multiple shipments departed Direct Relief’s warehouse on Thursday, including the shipment of 400 personal care kits for Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless in Northern California. The kits contain items like soap, shampoo, and dental hygiene supplies.

David Modersbach, grants manager with Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless, said that the organization is concerned with how people who are unhoused will manage during and after the storms.

“We’re really focused on supporting unsheltered people immediately through helping unsheltered, and other weather-affected vulnerable people, access emergency storm/warming centers, which are being operated by local cities, and after the end of the storm, we will be working to help people dry their belongings and safely resettle after emergency warming facilities are closed,” Modersbach said.

“Hygiene kits will be important, as well as other supplies that we are sourcing, such as tarps, tents, access to laundry and dryers.”

Shipments also departed for the San Francisco Free Clinic, as well as Primary Care at Home in Oakland.

Direct Relief also received requests from North East Medical Services, which has operations across the Bay Area, as well as other health facilities in California and will be filling those shipments in the coming days.

The post Medical Aid Dispatched to Storm-Drenched Communities in California appeared first on Direct Relief.

Across the country, severe weather systems are also unfolding in the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida, and Direct Relief also offered its medical inventory to health facilities across California and other states that may be experiencing weather-related impacts.

On Wednesday, Direct Relief staff were on hand in Montecito to assist with sandbag distribution for residents concerned with flooding. That community was devastated nearly five years ago by a deadly mudslide that killed 23 people and caused major damage to structures.

Direct Relief headquarters have been located in neighboring Santa Barbara for nearly 75 years and the organization has responded to multiple disasters in the area, including the Thomas Fire, which was one of the largest fires in California history and preceded the mudslide.

Direct Relief responded to both disasters, and funded recovery efforts, including search and rescue vehicles and gear for first responders, PPE distribution for those involved in clean-up, and emergency grants for community organizations providing critical services to residents. A victim’s fund was also established for those impacted by the loss of life, who were injured, or were otherwise affected by the mudslide.

Ahead of the heavier rains expected in the coming days, the organization offered support to the California Department of Public Health, health centers and free clinics across the Bay Area, both the Santa Barbara County and City Fire Departments, as well as the Montecito Fire Department, Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue, Santa Barbara County Public Health, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, Santa Barbara City and County Office of Emergency Management and more.

Direct Relief will respond to medical needs as they become known.

The post “Atmospheric River” Deluges California as Winter Storms Impact Portions of U.S. appeared first on Direct Relief.

Courage took many forms this year, including a truck driver risking his life to get medical aid into Ukraine and a health worker journeying to communities in rural Mississippi that lack health care.

Here are a few of their stories.

In Haiti, Earthquake Traumas Give Way to Chronic Disease, Malnutrition…and Heroism

Impacts on Haiti’s health system could be felt months after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the country, and health organizations continued to reach people for care, reported Talya Meyers. “[Medical staff are] crossing through rivers, dirt roads, just to be sure they’re reaching people,” said Conor Shapiro, president and CEO of the nonprofit Health Equity International, a group that received a grant from Direct Relief and provided daily mobile clinics in remote communities in southern Haiti, where care is hard to access.

Read more.

The Night Ministry [Short Documentary]

Frigid Chicago winters aren’t enough to keep medical workers from the Night Ministry from reaching people experiencing homelessness. Direct Relief and Emmy-nominated Filmmaker Olly Riley-Smith joined The Night Ministry in January as they used their mobile clinic and outreach program to provide critical services to their clients during the dead of Chicago’s winter. The organization received a $250,000 grant to further its work from the Direct Relief Fund for Health Equity.

Read more.

To Treat Ukraine’s Injured and Sick, This Medical System Put Profit Aside

Kyiv-based Dobrobut Hospital was a for-profit medical facility before the war with Russia broke out in February, but quickly pivoted to treat patients, free of charge. Direct Relief supported the hospital with $750,000 to pay salaries and buy food for staff members. “We are able to provide surgical and hospitalization care to our patients in Ukraine for free, thanks to the generosity of Direct Relief,” Vadim Shekman, Dobrobut COO, told Talya Meyers.

Read more.

This Group Fixes Children’s Hearts, For Free

Save A Child’s Heart is an Israeli nonprofit started by an American in 1995 that brings children from all over the world to Israel and conducts cardiac surgeries, all free of charge. Direct Relief provided Save a Child’s Heart with a $100,000 Covid-19 grant to help support their work, and over 6,000 children from 63 countries have been treated by SACH, including countries with no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, such as Iraq and Syria, Noah Smith reported.

Read more.

In Rural Mississippi, Plan A Goes the Distance for Patients

Plan A Health brings reproductive health services to communities in Mississippi that often lack a brick-and-mortar clinic. The mobile clinic travels to about three destinations per week with Antoinette Roby at the wheel. Roby was a truck driver for 10 years prior to working with Plan A. She studied healthcare administration in school, which qualified her to be both the driver for the mobile clinic and a community health worker. “I felt like it was bigger than, you know, just me,” Norwood told Direct Relief’s Olivia Lewis. “To be a part of this organization where they’re going into communities that don’t have a lot of access.”

Read more.

Drivers in Ukraine Brave Bombs To Deliver Aid

Direct Relief’s Noah Smith spoke with 29-year-old Nazar Chorniy, one of the many Ukrainian drivers who have been transporting life-sustaining medications and medical supplies into Ukraine, at great personal risk. “It’s very true there is always fear, especially when the bombs fall, but understanding why you do it is the reason how you can do it,” he said, referring to his aid shipment deliveries to Ukrainian cities under direct attack. “We do this for good, we do this for a very positive reason.”

Read more.

The Invisible War – Healing the Spirit on Native Reservations [Short Documentary]

Gail Small, whose Northern Cheyenne name is Head Chief Woman, serves as a Health Equity Advisor to Direct Relief. Gail invited Direct Relief to visit her Cheyenne homeland and the Billings Urban Indian Health & Wellness Center in Montana, and speaks in this video about the challenges and opportunities unfolding today.

Read more.

For Newly Arrived Afghans, Prenatal Care, Vaccinations, and Open Arms

HOPE Clinic, a federally qualified health center located in Houston, Texas, expanded services to care for recent arrivals from Afghanistan. Children arrived without vaccination records, and some people had never seen a physician in Afghanistan, Talya Meyers reported. The health center brought a number of skills, such as linguistic and cultural sensitivity, to the table. “You could see the fear in their eyes until they had a language interpreter show up, and they just relaxed, and the way you could see them relax was very physical,” recalled Lulu Toumajian, an outreach specialist at HOPE. “Patients are more forthcoming when it’s their language and their culture, and when their culture is not just accepted but celebrated.”

Read more.

Mobile Clinic Responds in New Ways After Ian

Before Hurricane Ian, Premier Mobile Health Services, or PMHS, a free clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, had served over 7,000 patients in 2022 at their physical location and two mobile clinics, Direct Relief’s Noah Smith reported. Just after the storm passed, Executive Director Nadine “Deanie” Singh and her team were ready to respond but soon learned that all their inventory – medicines and supplies – had been damaged or lost, at a time when the community needed them most. With help from various nonprofits, including Direct Relief, which provided medical and financial support for the group after the storm, along with other agencies, PMHS was able to partially restock their medications and supplies, as well as an EKG machine, and resumed offering medical care.

Read more.

‘Professional Help’ Gets Meds, Care to Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, it did not take Zbigniew Molenda, founder and vice president of Pelion S.A., Poland’s largest healthcare sector business, and his colleagues long to decide whether or not to respond.

“This was nothing about business. We didn’t think to help or not; it was so natural. It was a natural consequence of so many people needing help. After February 24, a huge flow of people came to Poland and from the first hour, we, like very many Polish people, started to help,” he told Noah Smith during an interview at Pelion’s headquarters in Łódź. With funding from Direct Relief, the company administered the Health4Ukraine program, which funded prescription drug co-pays for Ukrainian refugees in Poland, free of charge.

Read more.

The post Despite 2022’s Dark Moments, Courage and Kindness Shined Through appeared first on Direct Relief.

The earthquake was recorded at 2:34 a.m., with an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, about 7.5 miles from the city of Ferndale, located about 280 miles north of Sacramento. Smaller quakes were reported throughout the morning hours, and damage assessments are still taking place.

Two hospitals in the area lost power and were running on generators, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. Damage to roadways and infrastructure was also reported.

Direct Relief is in communication with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the California Primary Care Association, the California Department of Public Health, the Health Alliance of Northern California, the North Coast Clinics Network, the Humboldt County Department of Health, Northern California VOAD and other agencies about any medical needs resulting from the quake. Direct Relief also provides ongoing medical support to health facilities in Humboldt and is coordinating around known needs.

After disasters like earthquakes, people are often displaced from their homes and lack access to medications needed to manage chronic conditions. Often, these conditions, if not managed, can force people into local emergency rooms that are already stressed by an influx of patients with acute injuries. Health systems can be particularly stressed in rural areas since there are fewer hospitals and health facilities available.

Direct Relief has responded to multiple emergencies in Northern California in recent years, including multiple large-scale wildfires, and is ready to respond to needs this week as they become known.

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