Dr. Scott, a distinguished healthcare leader, brings decades of clinical, operational, and business experience to the role. Since January 2024, he has served as Interim Chief Operating Officer at Direct Relief and Co-Chair of the organization’s Health Equity Fund, where he has played a pivotal role in advancing initiatives to address health disparities. He previously served on the Board of Directors at Direct Relief.

“Dr. Scott’s extensive healthcare leadership and commitment to advancing Direct Relief’s humanitarian mission make him uniquely qualified to guide the organization through this transitional period with focus and continuity,” said Mark Linehan, Chair of the Board of Directors. “We are grateful for his willingness to step into this critical role as we finalize the selection of a permanent CEO.”

This leadership transition follows Thomas Tighe’s decision to step down after an extraordinary 24-year tenure as CEO. Under Tighe’s leadership, Direct Relief grew into one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, delivering over $15 billion in medical aid across 100 countries and all 50 U.S. states.

Dr. Scott’s career spans leadership roles at some of the most prominent healthcare organizations. Before joining Direct Relief, he served as Deputy Chief Health Officer at IBM Watson Health, where he advised global healthcare organizations on performance improvement and strategy. He also held leadership positions at Truven Health Analytics and EmCare, where he oversaw quality and operational performance across hospital-based contracts nationally. He previously practiced emergency medicine for over 25 years and has also served as Medical Director, Chief of Staff, and hospital board trustee.

In addition to his operational leadership, Dr. Scott is a respected educator, serving as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University, College of Population Health, and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Isenberg School of Management. He holds multiple certifications in healthcare quality management, physician leadership, and corporate governance; along with serving on the Board of Directors for a children’s hospital, health plan, and medical device company.

“It’s a privilege to support Direct Relief’s critical mission during this transition,” Dr. Scott said. “I look forward to working with the exceptional team and partners to ensure the organization continues to deliver life-saving aid and uphold its commitment to advancing its mission.”

The Board of Directors is in the final stages of a comprehensive search for a permanent CEO to build on Direct Relief’s legacy of innovation and excellence to advance its humanitarian mission.

The post Direct Relief Appoints Dr. Byron Scott as Interim CEO  appeared first on Direct Relief.

The announcement was made at a July 23rd event at Ukraine House in Washington D.C., hosted by Direct Relief, The Ukrainian Ministry of Health, and the Ukrainian Embassy.

“The international non-profit organization Direct Relief has united powerful private companies and philanthropists in order to support Ukraine,” said Maryna Slobodnichenko, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine for European integration. “Thank you for such unceasing support.”

“Direct Relief remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting health services for the Ukrainian people as they continue to encounter enormous difficulties from the ongoing Russia attacks, said Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief.

Direct Relief’s $10 million philanthropic commitment will support vital organizations including Unbroken, The Protez Foundation, and The Ukrainian American House. These funds will be allocated to address the following healthcare priorities, as identified by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health:

• Prosthetics and rehabilitation services for injured persons, now estimated to be more than 100,000 persons
• Resilient power solutions for healthcare facilities to ensure uninterrupted services, which are compromised by attacks on the country’s critical energy infrastructure
• Flexible primary care approaches to manage the health needs of displaced persons
• Access to essential medications, with a focus on rare diseases and specialty therapies
• Mental health and psychosocial support services for people who continue to be subjected to extreme risk, constant threat, and daily tragedies.

This new commitment builds upon Direct Relief’s ongoing support for Ukraine, which has included over $42 million in financial assistance and 2,480 tons of medical aid valued at $1.3 billion.

The medical material contributions total more than 341 million defined daily doses of medicines including insulin, cancer therapies, vaccines, cardiovascular drugs, respiratory treatments, and other resources, all in response to requests from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and local Ukrainian healthcare providers.

The post Direct Relief Announces Additional $10 Million Financial Commitment to Bolster Healthcare Services in Ukraine appeared first on Direct Relief.

Hurricanes disproportionately impact certain populations, including children, older adults, individuals without access to transportation, and those with disabilities. Particularly at risk are individuals with chronic conditions who may be displaced and lose access to necessary medications. Chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure can lead to increased emergency room visits during times of high volume for acute injuries.

Two days after Beryl first struck the Texas coastline, over 1.5 million residents remain without power or air conditioning as extreme heat and humidity engulf the region. These power outages pose life-threatening risks for individuals dependent on electricity-powered medical devices, such as ventilators. Additionally, health facilities rely on power to refrigerate vaccines, insulin, and other temperature-sensitive therapies, as well as to power electronic health records and other essential equipment.

Healthcare partners in the affected areas have reported severe service disruptions and closures due to power outages, which have also delayed needs assessments and damage reports. This lack of information is common after major disasters and underscores the importance of Direct Relief’s annual hurricane preparedness initiative. Through this initiative, the organization prepositions Hurricane Prep Packs in hurricane-prone regions of the U.S. and the Caribbean before hurricane season.

Direct Relief’s Hurricane Prep Packs, developed in collaboration with experts from frontline clinics and health centers, contain 220 types of medicine to treat trauma and other acute conditions, as well as chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension. These packs also include first aid supplies, basic diagnostic equipment, and personal protective gear. Each pack is designed to support the care of an estimated 100 people for 72 hours, allowing Direct Relief to prioritize additional deliveries of emergency medical resources during critical times.

Before Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas, Direct Relief had strategically staged Hurricane Prep Packs at 11 healthcare facilities serving communities impacted by the storm. According to Texas health providers, these medications and supplies are already being dispensed to patients affected by the hurricane.

As response and recovery efforts continue, Direct Relief remains committed to providing targeted support to replenish medical inventories at health centers, clinics, and other nonprofit health providers to help meet the increased demand for services and ensuring the health and well-being of the affected communities.

The post Direct Relief Sends Aid for Texas in the Aftermath of Hurricane Beryl appeared first on Direct Relief.

• Hurricane Beryl: After clearing a devastating path through the Caribbean, Beryl struck Texas Monday morning as a Category 1 storm, flooding streets and cutting off power for 1.5 million residents.
• Western Wildfires: A series of fast-burning wildfires ignited across California over the 4th of July weekend, as the state withered under record-breaking heat.

Direct Relief’s Response to Hurricane Beryl

Texas Hurricane Relief

• Direct Relief has pre-positioned medical supplies in the path of the storm. The supplies, which include more than 200 medical items and supplies to support care for up to 100 people for 72 hours, are staged at healthcare facilities in Texas and throughout the Gulf, ensuring immediate availability post-storm.
• Direct Relief is preparing to deliver an initial ten shipments of requested medical aid to health facilities in communities affected by Beryl.
• Direct Relief has offered additional medical resources to the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC), the Texas Association of Charitable Clinics (TXACC), and other local partners.
• Direct Relief is in close contact with healthcare organizations and emergency responders in Texas to address medical needs that arise.

Caribbean Hurricane Relief

• Direct Relief has dispatched medical packs to St. Vincent and Grenada from its stockpile in St. Lucia.
• Twenty medical tents and patient beds are bound for Grenada and St. Vincent from Direct Relief’s logistics hub in Puerto Rico.
• Direct Relief is preparing a substantial delivery of acute care medications to Jamaica in response to a request from the Ministry of Health.
• Direct Relief is collaborating with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to supply oral rehydration salts (ORS), medical-grade refrigerators, and other crucial supplies to St. Vincent, addressing urgent healthcare needs.

Assessing Beryl’s Impact and Post-Storm Needs

• Across Jamaica and Grenada, the storm has resulted in significant power outages, disrupting healthcare services.
• Several hospitals and health facilities were damaged by the storm, and much of the population is cut off from essential services due to damaged roads and other infrastructure.
• Direct Relief is working with local and regional health agencies to restore medical services and supply essential medicines.
• Direct Relief continues to monitor Beryl’s impact to assess health and emergency needs on the ground and is prepared to respond as needed.

Wildfires Impacting California

Twenty wildfires are burning across California, stretching emergency resources, forcing thousands to evacuate, and blanketing much of the state in a fog of smoke.

These include:

• The Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County: Burning in a rugged area of Santa Barbara County, about fifty miles north of Direct Relief’s headquarters, the Lake Fire has scorched 20,320 acres to become the largest wildfire of the season. As of Monday morning, the fire was 8% contained.
• The Thompson Fire in Butte County: Over 13,000 residents were under evacuation orders over the July 4th weekend due to a wildfire in Butte County, California, which was more than 80% contained as of July 7. The Thompson Fire, which broke out on the morning of July 2, burned over 3,700 acres near the City of Oroville.
• The Royal Fire in Tahoe National Forest: Burning in remote and difficult to reach location, the Royal Fire spans 168 acres and was 0% contained as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire.

Direct Relief’s Response to California Wildfires

• Direct Relief is in contact with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to offer support and has extended offers of medical aid to community health centers, clinics, and other healthcare providers within fifty miles of the fires.
• The organization is also in touch with national, state, and regional health centers, as well as free and charitable clinic associations.
• Direct Relief maintains a stockpile of medications ready for rapid deployment, including emergency medical packs and wildfire kits.
• In partnership with 3M, Direct Relief is making N95 respirators available to those affected by wildfire smoke, including individuals with chronic conditions and others most at risk during extreme heat and wildfire events. On Monday, Direct Relief provided more than one thousand N95 masks to the Santa Barbara Office of Emergency Management. More masks are available for residents should air quality deteriorate further.
• To avoid the consequences of power loss to healthcare providers and patients, Direct Relief has worked to equip healthcare facilities in communities at high fire risk with resilient power systems, including battery backups and solar panels, ensuring continuous care.

The post Hurricane Beryl and California Wildfires: Direct Relief Mobilizes Aid for Dual Crises appeared first on Direct Relief.

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Addressing a National Crisis

The opioid crisis continues to be a devastating public health emergency in the United States. Over 150 deaths occur daily due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, with overdose deaths quadrupling in the past decade.

“The opioid crisis is a public health crisis,” said Caroline Roan, Senior Vice President of Global Health and Social Impact at Pfizer Inc. “As part of our commitment to advancing breakthroughs that change patients’ lives, we’re proud to partner with Direct Relief to make Pfizer-donated opioid overdose reversal medication available at no cost to qualified U.S. nonprofit healthcare providers and local public health departments on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic.”

Direct Relief supports around 1,500 community health centers and clinics nationwide to ensure life-saving medications reach those who need them most. Since 2017, over 2.6 million doses of opioid-reversing medication have been delivered by Direct Relief through its initiative with Pfizer.

“These medications are crucial for treating substance use disorders,” said Katie Lewis, Regional Director of U.S. Programs at Direct Relief. “Providing them consistently has been transformative.”

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“This latest round of more than $7 million in grants, made possible by generous support from MacKenzie Scott, the AbbVie Foundation, and Eli Lilly and Company, is the most recent infusion of funding for organizations deeply committed in eliminating health disparities and improving healthcare quality in their communities,” said Dr. Byron Scott, Direct Relief COO and Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity. “Direct Relief is proud to support and grateful for the work they do every day.”

The AbbVie Foundation committed $10 million over five years to the Fund for Health Equity in 2020.  Since then, the AbbVie Foundation distributed grants to twenty organizations, and this year, the foundation is awarding $1.6 million in grants to 10 organizations, including: Central City Concern, Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, Family Health Centers of San Diego, Food Well Alliance, Kee Cha-E-Nar Corporation, Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, Minority Behavior Health Group, National Black Nurses Association, University of Texas – El Paso, and Vecinos, Inc.

“The AbbVie Foundation is proud to support the 2024 Fund for Health Equity grant recipients and we’re grateful for their work addressing health disparities in historically marginalized communities across the United States,” said Claudia Carravetta, President, AbbVie Foundation; Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & Global Philanthropy, AbbVie. “We believe meaningful change begins with communities, and we look forward to listening and learning from all our grant partners who are identifying innovative solutions that further advance health equity.”

Lilly also supported the Fund with a $5 million commitment in early 2021 as part of its Racial Justice Commitment, a robust endeavor to deliver resources like education, health care, economic stability, and jobs within the communities where it operates. Direct Relief distributed a portion of this initial funding to eight awardees across the U.S. since 2021.

This year, $880,000 from Lilly’s commitment will be split between four new awardees: Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Cheyenne River Youth Project, GirlTREK, Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center.

“Lilly’s commitment to social impact goes back nearly 150 years and we remain committed to eliminating disparities that prevent people from living the healthiest life possible today,” said Cynthia Cardona, Head of Social Impact at Lilly. “We sincerely appreciate Direct Relief’s efforts to identify and contribute to worthy organizations that are working to create real change in their local communities around the U.S.”

Since the start of the Fund in 2021, more than $50 million has been provided to support 160 organizations across the U.S.

The awardees were selected by the Fund for Health Equity’s Advisory Council, which includes the following members:

• Co-Chair Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, 18th US Surgeon General of the United States, Founder Bayou Clinic, Inc.
• Co-Chair Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Direct Relief COO
• Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, RN, FACHE, President and CEO President of the National Black Nurses Association, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Jane Delgado, Ph.D., MS, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health
• Gail Small, JD, Head Chief Woman, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Full list of 2024 Awardees:

• Alabama Interfaith Refugee Partnership, Birmingham, AL
• Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Inc., San Francisco, CA
• Camarena Health, Madera, CA
• Central City Concern, Inc., Portland, OR
• Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
• Cheyenne River Youth Project, Inc., Eagle Butte, SD
• Children’s Village, Birmingham, AL
• Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Denver, CO
• DuPage Health Coalition, Carol Stream, IL
• East Harlem Council for Human Services, Inc., New York, NY
• Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, Inc., Worcester, MA
• Family Health Centers of San Diego, Inc., San Diego, CA
• Family Reach Foundation, Boston, MA
• Food Well Alliance, Inc., Atlanta, GA
• GirlTREK Incorporated, Washington, DC
• Health Outreach Prevention Education, Inc. (HOPE), Tulsa, OK
• Hispanic Health Coalition, Inc., Houston, TX
• Kee Cha-E-Nar Corporation, Klamath, CA
• La Plazita, Inc. DBA La Plazita Institute, Albuquerque, NM
• Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, Inc., Dallas, TX
• Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, Montebello, CA
• Minority Behavioral Health Group, Akron, OH
• Multi-Cultural Health Evaluation Delivery System, Erie, PA
• National Association of Hispanic Nurses, Inc., Lexington, KY
• National Black Nurses Association, Silver Spring, MD
• Native Action, Inc., Lame Deer, MT
• REACH, Las Vegas, NV
• Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA
• Shared Harvest Foundation, Inc., Culver City, CA
• Tell Every Amazing Lady about Ovarian Cancer (T.E.A.L.®), Brooklyn, NY
• The Concilio, Dallas, TX
• The Night Ministry, Chicago, IL
• The Texas International Institute of Health Profession DBA VCare Clinics, Houston, TX
• University of Texas Foundation/University of Texas
• Vecinos, Inc., Cullowhee, NC
• Vida Senior Centers, Washington, D.C.
• Vincent Chin Institute/Asian Health Services, Oakland, CA
• Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, Aloha, OR

The post Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity Awards $7 Million to 38 Organizations Across the U.S. appeared first on Direct Relief.

The emergency operating grant of $100,000 will support Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras (United Firefighters without Borders), an organization based in Spain that is conducting search and rescue efforts in Morocco at the request of the Moroccan government.

Their in-country team, which includes firefighters, canine units, and emergency health professionals, is conducting search and rescue activities in Amizmiz, approximately 35 miles south of Marrakesh, where people are still being rescued from damaged and collapsed buildings.

Morocco is accepting specific forms of foreign assistance from countries including Britain, Qatar, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Many countries, including the United States, have offers of support pending; however, Morocco has not requested broader international assistance at this time.

Direct Relief has also offered its available medical inventory to health officials in Morocco, including the Ministry of Public Health, and is prepared to deploy needed items based on specific requests.

In the days immediately following an earthquake of this magnitude, the priority is to bolster the availability of medical items needed to treat a range of traumatic injuries caused by falling debris, crush injuries, fractures, lacerations and search and rescue activities. A continued flow of primary care items to help keep people with chronic health conditions will also be necessary, especially while local resources are reallocated for emergency response.

While disaster response operations require the rapid mobilization of resources, help must be of the right type. To ensure the most efficient use of resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and prevent logistical bottlenecks, Direct Relief’s efforts are always in direct response to specific requests from local healthcare providers and coordinated with all appropriate organizations and agencies.

Direct Relief will continue to track the situation closely and respond to requests for support as needs arise in the coming days and months.

The post Direct Relief Boosts Search & Rescue Efforts in Morocco with $100,000 USD Emergency Grant appeared first on Direct Relief.

The wildfires in Lahaina – the deadliest disaster in Hawaii’s history – have resulted in the loss of over 2,000 structures and claimed the lives of more than 80 individuals. With thousands seeking refuge in shelters across Maui and Honolulu, Direct Relief is actively addressing the pressing medical needs of these evacuees and aiding search and rescue operations.

The organization’s initial deliveries of emergency medical essentials were deployed in shelters in Maui earlier this week, and Direct Relief staff today are delivering additional requested medical essentials to Maui via ROAM air.

Today’s shipment includes numerous wildfire kits. These kits, developed in consultation with medical and emergency-response experts, aim to prevent emergency room visits during significant wildfire events. They contain vital medications, including inhalers, nebulizer solutions, irrigation solutions, antibiotics, analgesics, wound care products, and chronic disease medications.

Beyond the immediate risks of burns, wildfires can exacerbate pre-existing health issues. Airborne particulates can worsen respiratory or cardiovascular problems, even sending those affected to the emergency room, and people with chronic conditions can face acute medical crises if they evacuate without their medications.

At the request of Maui Search and Rescue, Direct Relief is also dispatching 20 emergency medical backpacks to bolster on-the-ground relief efforts.

Based on years of disaster response experience, the packs are tailored for paramedics and health professionals to use in the field and are the standard for the State of California’s Medical Reserve Corps.

Today’s delivery follows a series of emergency shipments deployed by Direct Relief this week, including requested medical resources that arrived with the local organization Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i.

The supplies were put to immediate use by medical personnel in Maui shelters and via a mobile medical unit caring for pregnant and post-partum individuals, newborns, and their families.

Direct Relief has also made available its medical inventory, valued at over $300 million wholesale, to healthcare providers across Hawaii.

How Direct Relief Responds to Disasters

Direct Relief’s approach to disasters relies on long-standing collaborations with vetted local groups serving vulnerable communities. Their expertise, community trust, and existing protocols provide a foundation for the organization’s activities.

Over the past ten years, Direct Relief has provided local Hawaiian organizations with 15.6 tons of medical resources totaling 415,305 defined daily doses, as well as $2.14 million in grant funding.

With a history of responding to wildfires across the US, Direct Relief also is leveraging its expertise and technological resources for this crisis.

The organization’s data-driven tools, such as wildfire mapping applications and the CrisisReady initiative in partnership with Harvard, offer insights into wildfire risks and social vulnerability. Such tools inform emergency response officials and assist Direct Relief in its targeted efforts.

Direct Relief will continue to respond as the situation unfolds, coordinating with local clinics, Hawaii state health and emergency response officials, FEMA, and associations like the Society for Critical Care Medicine.

The post Direct Relief Commits Initial $500,000 for Maui Fire Response, Continues Emergency Medical Deliveries appeared first on Direct Relief.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to Pelion and Direct Relief for launching the Health4Ukraine initiative,” said Ambassador Brzezinski. “As we gather here today, we celebrate the tireless efforts and dedication of all the individuals and organizations involved in this noble cause through their unwavering commitment to alleviate suffering and providing aid to those in need. They have shown that when we come together as a global community, we can overcome even the most significant challenges.”

Health4Ukraine received 15 million USD in funding from Direct Relief last year.

“This highly efficient program, which puts a layer of innovation on top of existing systems, personnel and logistical infrastructure, allowed us to provide tailored assistance to meet the medical needs of every refugee covered by the program, no matter where in Poland they are,” said Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief.

Other funders included the Polish Red Cross, ING for Children Foundation, Deloitte Foundation Poland, Bristol Myers Squibb, and LOGEX.

“At Pelion, we got involved in helping immediately,” said Jacek Szwajcowski, CEO of Pelion S.A. “We didn’t have a second thought. From the first day refugees started showing up in our country, we knew we wanted to help them, as strongly as we could. And preferably together with others who have the same goal. We ended up with the best partners we could think of. It is a phenomenon on a global scale that we are able to account for such a large aid campaign to every cent donated, indicating to whom, when and for what the amount was transferred.”

Since its launch in April 2022, the program supported 316,894 Ukrainian refugees in Poland with more than 17 million USD (70,706,000 PLN).

Nearly 70% of the funds were used to purchase medicine. The remaining purchases included personal care products such as dental hygiene and soap.

Women and children comprised most fund recipients (92%), with ages ranging from as young as five days up to 97 years.

An analysis by epruf found that demand for prescription medications varied according to age, with children mostly requiring medications for temporary use like anti-infectives (32%) and respiratory therapies (30%).

Women aged 55 or younger were more likely to purchase medications for the digestive tract and metabolism (15%) and the genitourinary system and hormones (13%). In comparison, men in the same age group mainly required digestive system and metabolism (22%) and cardiovascular (16%) medications.

Older patients tended to buy medications for chronic illnesses, with cardiovascular drugs (34%) being the dominating category for men and women aged 55 or older, followed by prescriptions for the digestive system and metabolism (18%).

Health4Ukraine also includes free online medical consultations for Ukrainian refugees provided by doctors of the Dimedic Clinic, one of the largest telemedicine clinics in Poland. Thanks to $1 million in funding provided by Pelion, Dimedic doctors have helped more than 30,000 patients, including prescription renewals for chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension).

“In addition to providing information, we tried to provide emotional support to the participants of the program,” said Olena Sydoruk, Health4Ukraine, Hotline consultant. “We intuitively knew they needed it. In my opinion, the Health4Ukraine hotline played an important role as a link between the organizer and the Participants. We received valuable feedback from them about the initiative, which helped us optimize the program and make it even better.”

Editor’s note: Since the war began in 2022, Direct Relief has deployed more than 1,350 tons of medical aid, 254.1 million defined daily doses, $32.2 million in financial assistance, and $899 million in material aid assistance to Ukraine.

The post After One Year, More than 300,000 Ukrainians in Poland Received Funds For Medical Costs appeared first on Direct Relief.

At least 4,000 people in Turkey and 1,500 people in Syria are reported dead, and the number of casualties is expected to rise significantly as rescue workers continue the search for survivors.

To help meet the urgent needs on the ground, Direct Relief is preparing more than 25 pallets (approximately one semi-truck full) of medical supplies from its facilities in the US and Europe for Turkey and Syria.

Items include medication and supplies to treat people with injuries and pre-existing medical conditions, such as field medic packs, antibiotics and other essential medicines, as well as oral rehydration solutions and hygiene items for those displaced from their homes.

The shipments follow $200 thousand in grants issued Monday by Direct Relief to support search and rescue efforts — $100k each to AKUT (Turkish Search & Rescue Team) and Syrian American Medical Society.

Injury and Disease Risks From Earthquakes

Harsh weather, including snow and rain, is hindering search and rescue operations in various locations and causing flight disruptions across a number of airports, including Istanbul.

People whose homes were destroyed in the quake are particularly vulnerable to hypothermia and other exposure-related conditions.

In an earthquake’s aftermath, people often become ill due to their lack of shelter, compromised water and sanitation systems, lack of refrigeration, and untreated injuries. These circumstances can lead to bacterial infections and disease outbreaks among people forced into temporary shelters. People also frequently lose access to the medicine they need to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and mental health issues.

Initial reports indicate as many as 2,818 buildings have collapsed in Turkey, with the most affected districts including Malatya, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Diyarbakır, Sanliurfa, Gaziantep, Kilis, Adana.

The Turkish Ministry of Health is reporting at least 15 hospitals were significantly damaged by the earthquake – about half of all hospitals located in the severe impact zones.

In northwest Syria, a region already impacted by a deadly cholera outbreak and home to 4.1 million people who rely on varying levels of humanitarian assistance, the earthquake adds further devastation.

Based on the most recent data, the outbreak that began on August 25, 2022, has seen 84,607 suspect cases, with just over a 2% positivity rate. More than 100 were attributed to cholera, with a case fatality rate of .12%. Without clean water and due to crowded conditions resulting from the quake, those numbers may climb.

Aleppo, which is both one of the hardest hit cities by the earthquake on the Syrian side and mired in conflict, has recorded one of the highest totals of suspect cases at 19,438 as of January 21 – accounting for just over 22% of the total cases – and 46 deaths, roughly half of all attributed cholera deaths.

Direct Relief dispatched a shipment of cholera treatment medication and supplies to Syria two weeks ago, which are now needed in even more significant quantities.

Ensuring Efficiency and Avoiding Bottlenecks

Following best practices for responding to major disasters, Direct Relief is mobilizing its medical aid deliveries in coordination with local officials and agencies to ensure efficiency and avoid the bottlenecks that often occur when efforts to bring in personnel and material assistance converge in an area with damaged infrastructure.

Over the next several weeks, the priority will be to bolster the availability of medical items needed to treat traumatic injuries caused by falling debris, crush injuries, fractures, and lacerations and to support search and rescue activities.

A continued flow of primary care items to help people with chronic health conditions will also be necessary, especially while local resources are reallocated for emergency response.

Direct Relief is committed to providing critical medical aid to affected communities and will continue to provide updates and respond as the situation evolves.

These guys are the best #directrelief #earthquake pic.twitter.com/AD2pizyio3

— Craig De Meillon (@craigoz82) February 7, 2023

The post Delivering Urgently Needed Meds to Help Earthquake-Impacted Turkey, Syria appeared first on Direct Relief.

Immediately after the quake, Direct Relief began mobilizing medical aid and has committed an initial $200,000 to local partners in Turkey and Syria.

• Direct Relief is supporting search and rescue efforts, committing $100,000 to AKUT, the leading search and rescue team in Turkey with over 400 staff and volunteers. AKUT has deployed its teams to the earthquake zone, and their early reports detail over 1,700 collapsed buildings, no power, and below-freezing temperatures. Southern Turkey is home to 3.6 million refugees, many of whom live in camps, at risk of plunging temperatures and an impending storm looming off the Mediterranean Sea.
• Direct Relief has also committed $100,000 to the Syrian American Medical Society, which operates health facilities in northwest Syria, and those facilities have already received over 1,000 patients impacted by the earthquake. 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. Syria is already experiencing a cholera outbreak, a threat often magnified by an earthquake’s destruction. More than 77,000 suspected cholera cases had been reported in Syria since August 25, 2022, including more than 6,500 in camps for internally displaced persons.

Immediate and Near-Term Response

The Turkish government requested international assistance within hours after the quake, and Direct Relief is connecting with medical responders in the region, including the Syrian American Medical Society, which has based its Syria and Turkey operations out of Gaziantep, near the epicenter.

Direct Relief is mobilizing medical aid deliveries to help address immediate and near-term medical needs. It is doing so in coordination with local officials and agencies to ensure efficiency and avoid bottlenecks that can occur when efforts to bring in personnel and material assistance converge in an area with damaged infrastructure.

Over the next several weeks, the priority will be to bolster the availability of medical items needed to treat a range of traumatic injuries caused by falling debris, crush injuries, fractures, lacerations and search and rescue activities. A continued flow of primary care items to help keep people with chronic health conditions will also be necessary, especially while local resources are reallocated for emergency response.

Injury and Disease Risks From Earthquakes

Earthquakes typically cause various blunt trauma and orthopedic injuries, such as broken bones, lacerations, and crush syndrome from being trapped under heavy debris. An overwhelming number of injuries in the initial moments of an emergency can create an acute need for health personnel, medical supplies, blood, and medicines.

In addition to the acute medical needs resulting from the earthquake, people can become ill due to their lack of shelter, compromised water and sanitation systems, lack of refrigeration, and untreated injuries. These circumstances can lead to bacterial infections and disease outbreaks among people who are forced into temporary shelters.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to requests in the region as they become known.

For more information, see: https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/turkey-syria-earthquake/

The post Mobilizing Relief for Turkey, Syria in Response to Major Earthquake appeared first on Direct Relief.

To ensure the availability of medical oxygen to patients in West Africa, SCCM is launching the Africa Infrastructure Relief and Support (AIRS) project, made possible by a $5.5 million grant from Direct Relief.

Under SCCM’s global health initiative, AIRS—in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Global Alliance of Perioperative Professionals (GAPP) and the Institute of Global Perioperative Care— officials in The Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will identify specific medical oxygen-related needs, including hospital-based infrastructure, oxygen-generating plants, and solar energy.

SCCM plans to expand the initiative to additional countries eventually.

The World Health Organization notes that oxygen is an essential lifesaving medication with no substitute. It is used to treat respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and pneumonia, during surgery, and trauma, and often is needed for vulnerable patients, including elderly patients, pregnant patients, and newborns. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the severe lack of access to medical oxygen in various parts of the world, including several countries in West Africa.

“The Gambia, for instance, had no medical oxygen at all until last year and was relying on industrial oxygen, which is not suited for patient care,” said John B. Sampson, MD, chair of the SCCM AIRS project and an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “In most hospitals, healthcare professionals take it for granted that they can turn a knob or push a button and provide patients with oxygen, whether through a face mask, cannula, or ventilator.”

Officials and healthcare professionals from the three countries have informed project staff about their oxygen needs and are working closely with SCCM AIRS leaders. The project will involve the development of oxygen-generating plants, installation and maintenance of solar panels to ensure an ongoing power supply to the equipment, installation of oxygen piping within facility walls, and in-depth training for workers who will operate solar and oxygen-generating systems to ensure the sustainable provision of benefits for years to come. The projects will vary based on each country’s specific needs:

• The Gambia: Only one hospital in the country has medical oxygen, so the government and medical community have requested the development of an oxygen-generating facility at another hospital.
• Liberia: Because the country has ongoing oxygen access issues, officials are requesting the development of an oxygen-generating facility for a rural hospital. Because of an unstable power grid, the project will develop a solar-based renewable energy system to power the oxygen-generating supply.
• Sierra Leone: Because the country has plans to create an oxygen-generating facility, officials have requested the development of renewable solar energy.

SCCM will offer complimentary memberships and Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) training for critical care professionals in the three countries once the oxygen and solar infrastructure are developed.

“The SCCM AIRS project is unique and exactly the type of program that is needed in areas throughout Africa and the world to fund in Africa,” said Thomas Tighe, president and chief executive officer of Direct Relief. “It’s uniquely positioned to centralize resources and talent to meet these needs, and it’s a privilege to support this vital work.”

Direct Relief’s investment in the AIRS project represents its single most significant investment in oxygen availability to date, building on its efforts in recent years to equip healthcare professionals across 65 countries with oxygen generation plants, ventilators, and oxygen concentrators, in coordination with organizations such as Every Breath Counts.

“This new partnership has all of the ingredients for success – a smart funder (Direct Relief) with a strong track record of delivering the right oxygen supplies to the countries in greatest need in record time, a network of clinicians (Society of Critical Care Medicine) fully engaged with government and local hospitals to ensure the operation and maintenance of the new equipment, and the use of solar power to overcome the energy challenges that are often the major barrier to sustained oxygen access,” said Leith Greenslade, coordinator for Every Breath Counts. “This is the type of oxygen access model we need to see in many more countries. Bravo to the partners.”

The post SCCM Africa Infrastructure Relief and Support Project Will Improve Access to Lifesaving Oxygen in West Africa appeared first on Direct Relief.

Forbes awarded Direct Relief a score of 100% for both charitable commitment (how much of a charity’s total expenses go directly to the charitable purpose) and 100% on fundraising efficiency (the percent of private donations remaining after deducting fundraising costs).

Top 5 Charities 2022 – Forbes

Top 5 California Charities 2022 – Forbes

Headquartered in California, Direct Relief is the largest of the five California charities included in the 2022 Forbes ranking.

Top 5 International Charities – Forbes

Direct Relief, one of the world’s largest channels for humanitarian medical assistance to underserved communities and victims of disasters, also ranks as the largest charity in the “International Needs” category, according to Forbes.

Direct Relief Activities – 2022

In its fiscal year 2022, Direct Relief provided more than $2 billion in medical aid and $58.2 million in financial assistance to healthcare providers and other local organizations in 98 countries and 52 US states and territories.

Ukraine was the largest recipient country of Direct Relief’s assistance in 2022, receiving 1,099 tons of medicine and medical supplies from Direct Relief, valued at $640 million, at the request of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and other healthcare providers after Russia invaded the country in February. This includes extensive supplies for treating traumatic injuries and a broad range of medications ranging from cancer therapies, insulin, and antidotes for chemical attacks to those needed for chronic health conditions.

In addition, through the generosity of donors worldwide, Direct Relief provided $29.4 million in cash assistance for programs benefiting Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees.

Direct Relief’s other recent activities include:

• Awarded $22.7 Million to 71 US healthcare and other nonprofit organizations through Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity
• Delivered 12.5 tons of emergency medical essentials to fight a cholera outbreak in Haiti, including IV fluids, oral rehydration salts, antibiotics and water purification tablets. Direct Relief also is actively responding to cholera outbreaks across the globe in Lebanon, Syria, and Malawi.
• Donated 273,312 doses of the lifesaving drug naloxone, which counteracts opioid overdoses, to public and private healthcare providers in 45 US states
• Distributed medicines to treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to 536 healthcare facilities in 438 US cities in 2022
• Responded to Hurricanes Fiona and Ian with more than $4.5 million in medical aid to 127 healthcare providers throughout the US and Caribbean

2022 Charity Ratings

In addition to its top ranking from Forbes, Direct Relief earned a four-star rating for the 12th consecutive year from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator.

Direct Relief received a 100% rating in Charity Navigator’s Accountability & Finance category, which “provides an assessment of a charity’s financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies,” Charity Navigator says.

Direct Relief also received an A+ rating from Charity Watch, the highest score given by the independent charity watchdog.

Direct Relief is supported only by private, charitable contributions, accepting no government funding. The vast majority of the value of donations received and aid distributed is in the form of medicine and medical supplies donated by their manufacturers (in-kind contributions). Direct Relief values donated medicine and supplies at wholesale value; see https://www.directrelief.org/about/finance/cash-and-in-kind-contributions/ for more information.

To learn more, please read the Direct Relief 2022 Impact Report.

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The financial support announced this week is the most recent infusion of support from Direct Relief, which has provided more than 1,000 tons and $640 million of medical material aid requested by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and other healthcare providers, including extensive supplies for treating traumatic injuries and a broad range of medications ranging from cancer therapies, insulin, and antidotes for chemical attacks to those needed for chronic health conditions.

The latest round of financial commitments brings Direct Relief’s total cash aid for Ukraine and Ukrainians to $29.4 million and will assist the following organizations and efforts:

• Ukrainian Ministry of Health: In support of the national medical material distribution managed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, Direct Relief will provide up to $2 million to facilitate and sustain medical logistics operations in-country through December 2023.
• League for Mental Health: Direct Relief is providing $1.5 million to the League for Mental Health in Slovakia to extend mental health services to Ukrainian refugees residing in Slovakia, focusing on those in shared housing facilities. The organization has mobilized a team of 126 Ukrainian refugees as psychologists and social workers to provide individual counseling and peer support groups for at-risk populations, including children and the elderly.
• Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center: Direct Relief granted $1 million to Unbroken to procure critically needed rehabilitation equipment and create training for center personnel. Unbroken, the largest facility of its kind in Ukraine, provides comprehensive treatment to patients from frontline hospitals, including surgeries, orthopedic therapy, prosthetics, and long-term rehabilitation.
• Ukrainian Frontline Medical Responders: $800,000 from Direct Relief will purchase ten refurbished ambulances for non-profits in Ukraine after the country’s medical emergency fleet was reallocated at the start of the war for military use, significantly diminishing frontline healthcare services.
• Dobrobut Medical Network: A $500,000 grant from Direct Relief to Dobrobut, the largest network of private medical facilities in Ukraine, will enable it to continue providing services freely to patients with war injuries and those requiring highly specialized oncology, cardiovascular, or surgical services care, as it has since February 2022.
• Razom for Ukraine: A $980,000 grant from Direct Relief to Razom, a non-governmental agency delivering emergency medical supplies on the ground in Ukraine, will support a range of efforts, including equipping hospitals with generators, deploying medical mission teams, and funding a mental health and psychosocial initiative.
• Hromada: A $320,000 grant from Direct Relief to Hromada, which provides humanitarian medical aid to medical facilities throughout Ukraine, will support the training and deployment of 300 emergency psychologists and social workers in the country’s most war-affected regions.
• Ukraine Brokers without Borders: $300,000 from Direct Relief will supply 15 hospitals with generators and smaller heating equipment. Ukraine Brokers without Borders, a nonprofit initiative run by members of the Ukrainian diaspora, focuses on the importance of backup power and the correlation between power and health at the most in-need healthcare facilities.
• Fire Medical: $300,000 from Direct Relief will help sustain the operations of Slovakian nonprofit ambulatory services organization Fire Medical through March 2023. Fire Medical operates hospital transportation services free of charge for the 1,000 Ukrainian refugees currently living at the Gabčíkovo humanitarian center outside of Bratislava.
• Organization Motanka: $120,000 from Direct Relief will allow Motanka to procure medical and personal care products, surgical equipment, and medicines for doctors and surgeons on the frontline of the war.
• Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital: $80,000 from Direct Relief to PFVMH, a non-governmental organization of civilian healthcare professionals saving lives by treating and evacuating injured Ukrainians on the frontlines of the war, will facilitate the procurement of an armored all-terrain vehicle to provide a mobile, heated and sheltered stabilization point for performing surgeries in the field.

Direct Relief announced the grants this week at events in Ukraine and Slovakia. Attendees included leadership from Direct Relief, the city of Lviv, the Ukrainian organization Unbroken, the US Embassy in Slovakia, the Slovak Ministry of Health and Crisis Management Department, and Slovakian organizations that included the League for Mental Health and Fire Medical.

“The Ukrainian people need all the help that can be mustered,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief president and CEO. “This unprecedented private humanitarian health assistance from Direct Relief reflects the generosity and participation of people and businesses worldwide seeking simply to stand with and assist the people of Ukraine. It was a privilege to convey that message, which carries its own special meaning of the depth of concern that exists in addition to the practical, essential services the support enables.”

“The unprecedented support by Direct Relief is truly appreciated, said Andrej Vrsansky, the CEO of League for Mental Health Slovakia. “In our experience, this is an exceptional case where support was provided when it was most needed and on a scale that can make a difference. Being flexible is the prerequisite for any impact in a situation that dynamically changes every week and where any forecasts are unreliable. Direct Relief is a game-changer in this respect.”

“Seeing U.S. charitable organizations like Direct Relief stand with their Slovak counterparts makes me incredibly proud to be an American and to serve in Slovakia,” said US Ambassador to Slovakia Gautam Rana. “Announcements like these are proof that that though we are separated by an ocean, we are united by our shared humanity.”

“We are very grateful to Direct Relief for the support of unbroken Ukrainians,” said Oleg Samchuk, General Director of the First Lviv Medical Union. “With this funding, we will get even more opportunities for the treatment and rehabilitation of our people. I hope that our cooperation, at the heart of which is helping people, will be extended.”

The post Direct Relief Announces $7.9 Million Humanitarian Aid Package for Ukraine appeared first on Direct Relief.

During the full-scale invasion, more than 7,000 wounded citizens received help at the Unbroken Center, including military, civilians, adults, and children.

“We are very grateful to Direct Relief for the support of unbroken Ukrainians,” said Oleg Samchuk, General Director of the First Lviv Medical Union. “With this funding, we will get even more opportunities for the treatment and rehabilitation of our people. I hope that our cooperation, at the heart of which is helping people, will be extended.”

The World Health Organization estimates that 14.5 million people in Ukraine need health assistance, while more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have suffered injuries since the war began, according to the United Nations. While many of the injured will require long-term rehabilitative care, Ukraine’s healthcare infrastructure is severely diminished, with more than 600 medical facilities destroyed in the fighting.

“Ukraine is facing multiple challenges that extend beyond the battlefield, including those experienced by healthcare providers targeted by shelling and people injured in the fighting,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “We recognize that, for many, these injuries and trauma will last a lifetime, and that is why Direct Relief is committing substantial resources to supporting the important work of the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center.”

Direct Relief, among the largest charitable providers of medicines to Ukraine in 2022, has delivered more than $640 million in medical aid totaling more than 1,000 tons to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and local healthcare providers.

About Unbroken: Treatment of the war-affected Ukrainians takes place within the framework of the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center. This is a unique place where adults and children affected by the war can receive comprehensive qualified medical care. It includes reconstructive surgery, orthopedics, and robotic prosthetics. Here, prostheses are not only fitted but also manufactured. In addition, the Center provides physical, psychological, and psychosocial rehabilitation of injured military and civilians. The project is implemented by the First Lviv Medical Union and the Lviv City Council with the support of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Learn more by visiting https://unbroken.org.ua/.

About Direct Relief: A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies, Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources throughout the world to communities in need—without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. In 2022, Direct Relief has provided more than $1.8 billion in medical aid and $50 million in cash funding to healthcare providers in more than 90 countries — from the U.S. to Ukraine. 

The post Direct Relief Awards $1 Million Grant to Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center in Ukraine appeared first on Direct Relief.

Among the buildings destroyed was Kiamichi Family Medical Center in Idabel, Oklahoma. The Federally Qualified Health Center serves 8,808 patients across southeast Oklahoma, including in the designated medically underserved areas of McCurtain and Choctaw Counties.

According to the most recent data from the Health Resources and Services Administration, 75 percent of the patients served by Kiamichi Family Health Center have a medical condition such as hypertension and diabetes, and 77 percent are below 200% of the federal poverty level, earning an income of $27,180 or less.

For these patients, losing their primary medical provider is devastating, especially as unmanaged chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure can result in medical emergencies.

In response, Direct Relief has committed an initial emergency operating grant of $50,000 to Kiamichi Family Health and will continue to support their efforts to recover and rebuild.

Hurricane Nicole

Tropical Storm Nicole is projected to land as a Category 1 storm on Florida’s east coast early Thursday morning with 75 mph sustained winds and 90 mph gusts.

Hurricane warnings are currently in place from Daytona Beach south to Boca Raton, while hurricane and tropical storm watches cover most of the rest of Florida.

The forecast then moves the storm northwest across the state over metro Orlando before shifting to the north late Thursday and heading up through the Tallahassee area and into the southern US at the end of the week. There is also potential for wind and rain impacts from this storm system along the entire East Coast, all the way up through Maine.

Direct Relief is in communication with state-level healthcare agencies in Florida and will continue to monitor the storm over the next few days.

Disasters like hurricanes disproportionately impact vulnerable people, including children, older adults, people without access to transportation, people with disabilities, and those for whom English is a second language.

To help mitigate the risk to vulnerable patients, Direct Relief prepositioned a dozen Hurricane Prep Packs in Florida at the start of hurricane season. The packs contain over 210 different products and have been refined and updated based on feedback from health centers and other medical providers. They include a range of antibiotics, syringes, basic first aid supplies, and medications to treat conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and severe allergic reactions.

Hurricane Ian

As Florida’s East Coast prepares for Hurricane Nicole, residents across the state are still recovering from Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in the Fort Meyers area on Sept. 28 as a Category 4 storm and caused widespread devastation.

More than 120 people were killed, thousands were displaced, and homes and infrastructure were damaged, amounting to an estimated $67 billion in losses.

Direct Relief has provided more than 435 emergency shipments containing 32 thousand lbs of requested medications and medical supplies in the weeks since. Direct Relief is also providing health centers and clinics in affected areas with emergency funding to cover a range of urgent expenses.

The post Hurricanes and Tornadoes Prompt Emergency Response Activities Across U.S. appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief is coordinating with the government of Baja California to supply the state Civil Protection Agency and other first responders with 40 emergency field medic packs and other hurricane and flood-related medical supplies for deployment to affected and difficult-to-reach areas, including trauma care items, antibiotics, and medications for diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions.

Hurricane Readiness

Direct Relief operates an extensive hurricane preparedness network across the U.S., the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific.

Direct Relief in Mexico

Direct Relief, a registered nonprofit in Mexico, maintains Donataria Autorizada status, allowing companies and residents in Mexico to receive tax benefits for donations they make to Direct Relief.

Direct Relief’s work in Mexico involves helping hospitals, clinics, and foundations gain access to medical products needed by patients with serious diseases or illnesses or who are affected by disasters or emergencies.

Tracking Tropical Storm Kay

As Kay moves northward as a tropical storm, it poses a flash flooding risk to Southern California and southwest Arizona.

Direct Relief will remain in close communication with Mexico and U.S.-based agencies and health facilities along the storm’s projected path and will provide additional information as the situation evolves.

The post Emergency Update: Hurricane Kay appeared first on Direct Relief.

KARPACZ, POLAND—Direct Relief and Pelion S.A. today announced an infusion of $5 million (USD) into Health4Ukraine, a direct cash assistance initiative enabling Ukrainian refugees in Poland to obtain medications at no cost.

“The Health4Ukraine program is a great example of how the close work between US private actors like Direct Relief and Polish counterparts like Pelion offer real hope for people in crisis,” said Mark Brzezinski, US Ambassador to Poland, in a written statement.

The initiative, implemented by Pelion S.A., Poland’s largest healthcare sector business, through its electronic payments company, epruf, leverages Poland’s existing pharmaceutical distribution and payment systems to cover 100% of prescription co-payments and 85% of non-prescription drug costs.

“Building on our 30-year commitment to improving health and quality of life, it’s been an honor to partner with Direct Relief on the Health4Ukraine program,” said Jacek Szwajcowski, President of the Management Board of Pelion S.A. “Together, with our American friends, we can make a difference in the lives of Ukrainians who have found refuge in Poland.”

The $5 million commitment follows an initial $10 million investment by Direct Relief in April, resulting in 100,000 electronic epruf codes, each worth PLN 500, issued to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

Participants can redeem the codes at any pharmacy in Poland to pay for a range of healthcare products, from diabetes and cancer medications to baby formula and wound care items.

“Direct Relief is deeply grateful to Pelion for its leadership in creating this direct, innovative and highly efficient means of assisting people fleeing war,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe.

The expanded $5 million commitment, made possible by a donation from LetterOne, was announced at the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland, where Direct Relief was recognized with an award for its efforts to support Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees.

“Today’s award for a non-governmental organization is a joint step, a statement and a presentation of how we, Poles, appreciate the support of American non-governmental organizations for Ukraine,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski, Polish Member of Parliament, to an audience that included heads of state and top officials from Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Croatia and other countries.

Direct Relief, a recognized partner of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, has secured and shipped more than 900 tons of requested medicines and supplies to more than 400 healthcare delivery sites in Ukraine and neighboring countries since the war broke. Direct Relief has also committed more than $20 million in cash assistance to organizations serving Ukrainians in Ukraine and neighboring countries.

The post Direct Relief, Pelion Expand Program Covering Medicine Costs for Ukrainian Refugees in Poland appeared first on Direct Relief.

In those six months, Direct Relief, as a recognized international partner of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, is continuing its scaled-up response along the two parallel tracks of supporting those affected by war in Ukraine and those forced to flee their homes to neighboring countries.

In large-scale crises, Direct Relief always aims to safely and securely deliver emergency medical resources – that are requested, approved by the responsible government authority, and appropriate for the circumstances – where they are most needed and as fast and efficiently as possible.

MEDICAL MATERIAL SUPPORT

Over the past six months, Direct Relief’s close relationships with Ukrainian healthcare facilities and agencies; its strong partnership with corporate donors, including FedEx and dozens of medical manufacturers; and its ability to securely deliver large quantities of medical goods – including temperature-sensitive products that require the use of cold-chain supplies and technologies – have resulted in the organization becoming the main channel for the delivery of medical goods to benefit the people of Ukraine.

The medical product donations originated in locations in the U.S. and Europe as well as within Ukraine itself and are a result of working in partnership with leading pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturers and distributors, all of which stepped up in a historic manner to assist the besieged country.

In total, Direct Relief has secured and shipped more than 890 tons of requested medicines and supplies to more than 400 healthcare delivery sites in Ukraine and neighboring countries. That includes 155 million defined daily doses of medication to address a wide range of acute and chronic health needs.

The following are among the items supplied by Direct Relief:

• Antibiotics –693,871 bottles/vials
• Insulin – 1,456,908 pens/vials
• Cardiovascular medications – 1,001,774 bottles/vials
• Hypothyroid agents – 367,499 bottles
• Respiratory inhalers – 201,385
• Mental health medications – 117,509 bottles
• Oncology agents –104,542 bottles/vials
• Prenatal vitamins – 91,596 bottles
• Chemical warfare medication/antidote– 308,836 vials
• COVID-19 tests – 99,000
• COVID-19 treatments –253,231 courses
• Field medic backpacks – 790
• Field hospital kits – 7
• Wound care bandages and dressings – 3,830,730
• Oxygen concentrators – 987
• PPE items – 5,636,999 (masks, shields, goggles, gloves)

Direct Relief Works with Ukrainian Ministry of Health and Global Drug Makers to Deliver 890 Tons of Medical Aid to Ukraine

Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began six months ago this week, Direct Relief has secured and delivered more than 890 tons of medicine and medical supplies…

Ukraine Receives Seven-Week Supply of Long-Acting Insulin from Direct Relief

Responding to a call for help from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, Direct Relief has secured and delivered to Ukraine enough long-acting insulin to meet the country’s estimated need for seven-plus weeks…

FedEx and Direct Relief Deliver 52 Tons of Critical Medical Aid for Ukrainians

Fifty-two tons of critical medical aid arrived in Poland from the United States via a FedEx humanitarian relief flight. This follows FedEx and Direct Relief’s first charter flight of aid for Ukrainian refugees…

DIRECT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Thanks to the outpouring of financial support from thousands of individuals, companies and foundations across 80 countries, Direct Relief is also providing cash assistance to help facilities and organizations effectively respond to the massive surge of patients at a time when many healthcare facilities have been damaged.

Consistent with Direct Relief’s focus on supporting persons who are most vulnerable, financial assistance has been directed to the Ukrainian Diabetes Foundation and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, among other reputable and vetted groups.

To date, Direct Relief has awarded emergency financial support totaling $15.9 million to help sustain and bolster the provision of health care in Ukraine and to support healthcare services for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and Moldova.

Medicine Costs for Ukrainian Refugees Covered by New Direct Cash Program

For Pregnant Women in Ukraine, A New Kind of Support

Supporting Mental Health as Ukrainian Refugees Navigate Life in Slovakia

Meeting the Needs of Ukrainian Women and Children through a New Grant

LOOKING FORWARD

Direct Relief will maintain its commitment to bolster and sustain existing healthcare organizations and systems in Ukraine and support the healthcare workers that run them by ensuring the continued flow of medical materials, funding, and information.

Direct Relief was able to provide the assistance detailed in this report as a result of its existing strong relationships with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and non-governmental organizations that were already receiving Direct Relief medical product shipments; ongoing work with clinical experts in the field to guide distribution and procurement decisions; existing partnerships and contracts in place to quickly request and receive high-quality medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors; and strong track record of shipping large volumes of product, including those requiring cold chain packaging and storage, to difficult-to-access places to reach the most vulnerable patients.

In the coming months, Direct Relief will continue to work closely with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and on-the-ground healthcare organizations by supporting areas identified in the Government’s Ukraine Recovery Plan.

Specifically, Direct Relief will help:

• strengthen access to primary healthcare to address the rising burden of non-communicable conditions
• bolster rehabilitation services, including equipment and provider training, for people who have been injured
• address mental health and psychological support among healthcare providers and the general population as a result of war-related trauma

The post Ukraine: Six-Month Report – By the Numbers appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 3.7 million defined daily doses of medication, including rare disease therapies, medication for hypothyroidism, syringes, PPE and more.

This past week, Direct Relief also delivered to Ukraine 673,000 quick-injection pens, manufactured and provided to Direct Relief by the drug maker Eli Lilly and Company—enough to cover Ukraine’s estimated needs for more than seven weeks. The insulin will be allocated by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to hospitals, clinics, and programs treating people with diabetes around the country.

UKRAINE RESPONSE

This week’s donation of insulin is the latest action in Direct Relief’s extensive aid for Ukrainians with diabetes since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Since then, Direct Relief has secured and delivered 1.4 million insulin quick-injection pens, 733,800 insulin pen needles, 188,833 10 ml insulin vials, nearly 25,000 glucose meters with 400,000 test strips, and over 3.2 million oral diabetes tablets equivalent to almost 1.5 million daily defined doses. Direct Relief has also provided a $150,000 grant to the Ukrainian Diabetes Federation (UDF) for managing and distributing insulin and diabetes-related medical supplies and testing equipment.

Under a bi-lateral partnership agreement, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health is working with Direct Relief to secure medicine donations from pharmaceutical manufacturers, leveraging Direct Relief’s existing relationships, smoothing the processes of securing the drugs, and ensuring their timely delivery. Lilly supplied the insulin to Direct Relief, which arranged cold-chain transportation to Kyiv to benefit Ukrainian patients. Since the war erupted, Ukraine’s government has been covering access to insulin for its population with diabetes.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped more than 1.8 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 492 shipments containing 1.9 million doses of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE (GLOBAL)

Since January 1, 2022, Direct Relief has delivered 12.3K shipments to 1,834 healthcare providers in 53 US states and territories and 84 countries.

These shipments contained 380.3M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.2B (wholesale), totaling 9.5M lb.

IN THE NEWS

• Expert offers advice to stay prepared for emergencies – Spectrum News 1: “When emergencies happen, it’s important to be prepared. That preparation takes place at the community level but also at the family and individual levels, said Thomas Tighe, the CEO of Direct Relief, a humanitarian nonprofit organization.

• Thomas Tighe the CEO of Direct Relief Talks Having an Emergency Plan – Ross Kaminsky, KOA News: “Thomas Tighe is the CEO of Direct Relief. He’s been on the show twice before talking about specific initiatives he was involved with, most recently delivering aid to refugees from the war in Ukraine. Today’s focus is different: the importance of having an emergency preparedness plan, including for people who are often most vulnerable during emergencies, especially those reliant on medication and medical equipment.”

• S.C. has more than climate vs. wildfires – The Times and Democrat: “South Carolina and Georgia are glad to be the exceptions. Nearly 70% of the U.S. population across parts of every state in the continental United States, except for Georgia and South Carolina, experienced at least one day of heavy- or medium-density wildfire smoke in July, according to an analysis by Direct Relief’s research and analysis team of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
• Vanguard Charitable forecasts another record-giving year with 14% increase in first half-year granting – Vanguard Charitable: “Vanguard Charitable donors, leveraging the fast and responsive nature of DAFs, has granted nearly $60 million to Ukraine relief nonprofits in the first half of 2022. Overall, the top nonprofits supported were Doctors Without Borders, World Central Kitchen, International Rescue Committee, Direct Relief, and UNICEF.”
• Power out after a storm in New Orleans? Here’s a map of local emergency resource centers – WWNO New Orleans Public Radio: “CrescentCare is expected to be the first lighthouse completed because it received a special, standalone grant of $750,000 to jumpstart construction specifically at that location from one of its longtime funding partners — the California-based humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief,” Riegal said. “Direct Relief has done solar- and battery-powered resilience hubs in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria and believes very much in the solution.”
• City of Santa Barbara Firefighter Sends Life-Saving Missions to Ukraine – Santa Barbara Independent: “To date, Project Joint Guardian has dispatched 21 firefighters and about 10,000 pounds of safety equipment in two separate missions to Ukraine. Another one — 10 more firefighters and as much as 15,000 more pounds of equipment — is scheduled to be sent this September, courtesy of Direct Relief.”

The post 506 Medical Aid Shipments, 11 Countries, 47 US States appeared first on Direct Relief.

According to a newly released survey commissioned by Direct Relief, most people (53%) expect disasters to get worse where they live but are largely unprepared for these increasingly severe and frequent emergencies.

With more than half of Americans foreseeing an uptick in the severity of disasters, thinking through a preparedness plan is critical.

Continue reading to view the survey results.

Emergency Planning Resources

Medications and medical conditions

Many Americans either take medication or have an ongoing medical condition, and findings suggest a significant portion of these people would either have difficulty continuing their medications or finding aid for their illness during an emergency.

• Three in four people (76%) would worry about their health if they could not access their medications during an emergency, and concern increases with age. Nearly 9 in 10 (87%) people 77 or older would worry if they couldn’t access their medications in an emergency; yet, a little more than a third (37%) say that they would have a week (7 days) or less of medication on hand if they had to evacuate right now.
• Over seven in 10 (72%) Americans do not have a backup supply of critical medications.
• Nearly eight in 10 (78%) do not have accessible medical records and copies of prescription information.
• One in two (50%) Americans have not put their medical documents online in case they lose access to other forms of documentation during an emergency.
• Americans, on average, ranked their medication refills as their third most pressing concern (M=5.14) and getting access to medical care as their fifth most pressing concern (M=4.49), while people aged 65+ ranked medication refills as their second most pressing concern – above their pets.
• About half (47%) of Americans with a chronic medical condition (N=1,736) would not know where to access medication during an emergency.

Power and health

• Power outages are of concern to 94% of respondents who indicated they or someone in their household relies on medical equipment or appliances that require running electricity.
• Just over a third (34%) of respondents said they or someone in their household relies on medical equipment or appliances that would not be able to function without electricity. Yet, only 23% reported having a backup generator.
• The percentage of people with generators is uneven nationwide, with people in Louisiana (46%) and Florida (28%) more than two times as likely as Californians (13%) to own a generator.

Income disparities

Higher-income people have more access to the resources they need if an emergency arises. Survey data gleans the specifics on ways income disparities between higher and lower-income households affect people throughout the US.

Lower-income households were less likely to have an emergency supply of non-perishable food and cash. They also were more likely to report having smaller stockpiles of medication and to say their homes don’t have enough space to stockpile for an emergency.

• Almost three in five (58%) Americans in households making less than $50,000 each year (N=887) say they do not have a 3-day supply of non-perishable food. In contrast, 56% of Americans in households making $100,000 or more per year (N=359) say they have a 3-day supply of non-perishable food for emergencies.
• 72% of Americans in households making less than $50,000 annually (N=887) say they do not have cash on hand in case of an emergency. Unsurprisingly, well over one in two (54%) of Americans in households that bring in $100,000 or more per year (N=359) report having emergency cash on hand in case of an emergency.

• A third (33%) of Americans do not or are not sure they have enough room in their home to stockpile essentials for a potential emergency, but 67% say they do have the space.
• Four in five (80%) Americans in households that bring in $100,000 or more each year (N=359) claim they have enough room in their home to stockpile essentials for a potential emergency. In comparison, 41% of Americans in households with an income of $50,000 or less (N=887) report they would not, or are not sure whether they would, have enough room in their home to stockpile essentials for a potential emergency.
• Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) Americans do not feel they could rely on their neighbors in an emergency, compared to over half (54%) saying they could depend on their neighbors.
• Under half (49%) of Americans in households with incomes of less than $50,000 (N=887) feel they could rely on their neighbors in an emergency; however, almost two-thirds (64%) of Americans in households with incomes of $100,000 or greater (N=359) feel they could rely on their neighbors in an emergency.

Evacuation Planning

Findings suggest that many know where to go but don’t have an evacuation plan.

• Most people in the US (61%) say they would know where to evacuate, and nearly two in five (39%) would not know where they would go if they had to evacuate.
• About half of people living in the western US (46%; N=720) would not know where to go if they had to evacuate.
• Americans ranked “identifying escape or evacuation routes” as their top priority when preparing for an impending natural disaster (M=5.58). “Identifying places for shelter if evacuation is not possible” was ranked, on average, as the third highest priority (M=5.35) – just behind having enough water (M=5.46), which ranked second.

Methodology 

Direct Relief commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 2,009 Americans across various states with frequent weather-related emergencies (i.e., natural disasters).

Select states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington State.

The margin of error for the overall sample is +/- 2 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent. Fieldwork took place between July 22nd and July 27th, 2022. Atomik Research is an independent market research agency. 

The post Millions in the US Could Face Medical Crisis in a Disaster appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief has extended offers of assistance to Kentucky-based organizations and agencies, including the Kentucky Primary Care Association.

At least four clinic locations have been completely destroyed in the flooding, and several are without water or stable electricity. Staffing is also a challenge as many healthcare employees have sustained substantial personal losses of property and vehicles.

Immediate medical supplies needed include:

• Hepatitis A shots
• Tetanus shots
• Insulin, glucometers, strips, constant readers, supplies
• Oxygen, concentrators, tanks, masks
• IV fluids and tubing
• Nebulizer tubing
• CPAP machines
• EPI pens

The organization maintains a standing inventory of medical aid frequently requested during emergencies. In the past year, the organization has responded to crises from Louisianna to California with requested materials ranging from insulin to solar generators.

Since January 2022, Direct Relief has provided nonprofit health centers and clinics in Kentucky with more than $1.3 million in requested medical aid.

Direct Relief is preparing to mobilize needed medical supplies this week and will continue to provide updates as the situation evolves.

The post Direct Relief Commits an Initial $250,000 to Kentucky Relief Efforts appeared first on Direct Relief.

“Charitable givers should feel confident that these national institutions put their donations to good use.” – Charity Navigator.

Charity Navigator’s 2022 Best Charities List

The post Ten of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of – Charity Navigator appeared first on Direct Relief.

That includes a FedEx humanitarian relief flight with 76 tons of medicines and supplies from Direct Relief that arrived last week in Poland and was distributed throughout four Ukrainian cities.*

Aboard the FedEx Boeing 777 was a 50-bed emergency field hospital donated by the State of California and substantial quantities of trauma and wound care medications, drugs for chronic diseases, oxygen concentrators, and Covid-19 antiviral tablets, among other emergency medicines and supplies.

Supplies on the flight were donated by companies including 3M, AmerisourceBergen, Baxter, Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, Inc., Hikma Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., TEVA, Unilever, and Viatris, among others.

More than two tons of insulin also arrived in Ukraine last week and over the weekend. The diabetes meds were shipped from Direct Relief’s distribution center in Europe in special cold-chain containers with monitoring equipment inside.

All items were provided at the request of, and approved by, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health and other on-the-ground healthcare providers.

In Other News

Fortnite raised $144 Million for Ukraine Relief – The Verge

“The funds are being put towards several aid groups, including Direct Relief, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Programme.”

World-renowned Photographers Sell Stunning Prints – Washington Post

“Vital Impacts, a women-owned nonprofit based in Montana, has organized a print sale by National Geographic photographers to raise money for Direct Relief, an organization that works to provide humanitarian aid to those suffering from the numerous conflicts happening around the world.”

* Specific aid distribution locations within Ukraine are being withheld for security reasons

The post Humanitarian Aid Flows to Ukraine Accelerating appeared first on Direct Relief.

Aid aboard the FedEx Boeing 777 cargo aircraft included an emergency field hospital donated by the State of California and substantial quantities of emergency medicines and supplies, including trauma and wound care medications, chronic disease medications, oxygen concentrators, and Covid-19 antiviral tablets. Direct Relief team members were on site for the offload and final-mile distribution to Ukraine.

“Our hearts are with each person pushed into crisis by the war in Ukraine, and Direct Relief will continue responding to the urgent requests for medical support,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “Direct Relief is deeply grateful to FedEx for stepping up, yet again, to provide logistics and delivery of medical support so critically needed by families and people whose lives have been upended and face tremendous hardship and uncertainty.”

All items were provided at the request of, and approved by, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health.

Supplies on the flight were donated by companies including 3M, AmerisourceBergen, Baxter, Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, Inc., Hikma Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., TEVA, Unilever, and Viatris, among others. 

Direct Relief and FedEx have been collaborating to deliver critical aid for more than 28 years. Together, the organizations are able to assist communities in need around the world by leveraging logistical expertise to transport critical aid where and when it is needed most.

“The humanitarian crisis in Eastern Europe is devastating as millions of Ukrainians flee the conflict in their country, seeking refuge in communities across Poland and other neighboring countries,” said Karen Reddington, regional president of Europe, FedEx Express. “We are grateful to be able to use our global network to offer logistics support for organizations like Direct Relief who have long been committed to sourcing and delivering critical supplies in times of crisis. This situation impacts many, including our own Ukrainian team members, and we remain committed to helping during this devastating time.”

Since February 24, Direct Relief has provided more than 125 tons of medical aid in response to the crisis, from field medic packs — which contain items to address trauma, including tourniquets and wound dressings — to diabetes and cancer medications.

FedEx has committed more than $1.5 million (U.S.) in humanitarian aid to support those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine, including $1 million that has been allocated for in-kind shipping with the company’s longstanding nonprofit partners.

The post 76 Tons of Donated Medicines, Supplies for Ukraine Arrive in Poland Via FedEx Charter appeared first on Direct Relief.

In addition to critical care medical items for blood pressure support, intubation/ventilation, IV antibiotics, fluids, etc., Direct Relief has received requests for Combat Application Tourniquets and bandages, indicating mass casualties.

Direct Relief has also received information indicating a dire need for tranexamic acid, which is used to control severe bleeding by blocking the breakdown of blood clots.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Health also requested at least 500 mobile medical outreach packs, which include items such as CAT-style tourniquets, among other trauma-focused items.

Oxygen supply in Ukrainian hospitals is another major issue and projected to get worse, as the conflict is compounding an already chronic problem.

There are currently 1,700 people being treated for COVID in Ukraine and the WHO estimates that demand for oxygen due to the conflict is going to increase by 20-25 percent.

RefugeeS and Chronic Disease

Problems that arise when chronic disease conditions go untreated include worsening asthma leading to sudden attacks, spiking blood sugars from out-of-control diabetes, and high risk for stroke and heart attack because people do not have their cardiovascular medications. This inevitably creates a second wave of emergency medical needs.

Insulin and other cold chain medications are expected to be in short supply, with the Ukrainian Diabetes Federation reporting that there are some 15,000 children living with Type 1 diabetes in Ukraine.

On top of the chronic disease issues, acute problems arise with large fleeing populations. Examples include norovirus outbreaks, which can lead to severe vomiting and diarrhea in shelters, Tuberculosis, even Polio, HIV and COVID.

Ukraine has the second-highest rates of HIV/AIDs in the region and TB is a major challenge with high percentages of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). In addition, Ukraine has been fighting a polio outbreak since late 2021. The disruption in access to medications and health services combined with the displacement of communities is going to negatively impact these and other public health challenges.

New and pregnant mothers and their children are also going to be exceedingly vulnerable as the fighting continues.

In certain areas, damage to gas and power infrastructure is also going to have a major impact, particularly with current temperatures hovering around zero.

Direct Relief’s Ongoing Response

Direct Relief, based in Santa Barbara, maintains the highest US accreditation as a whole drug distributor and is the world’s largest charitable distributor of donated medicine and medical supplies.

Direct Relief has been providing aid to Ukrainian healthcare providers, with a large shipment of diabetes supplies arriving last week. Since January 2021, Direct Relief has supplied Ukrainian healthcare providers with more than $27 million in medical aid.

Direct Relief will continue collecting and fulfilling medical needs as the crisis unfolds, and will post additional information as the situation evolves.

The post Direct Relief Mobilizing Emergency Aid for Ukraine appeared first on Direct Relief.

Early Thursday morning, explosions were reported in multiple cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv. Direct Relief staff in Europe reported Thursday that air travel into Ukraine had been suspended indefinitely and that thousands of people fleeing Ukraine had crossed into the neighboring countries of Moldova and Poland seeking refuge.

Among the items available in Direct Relief’s inventory are IV fluids, antibiotics, medications for anesthesia, sutures, and cardiovascular drugs, among others.

As recently as last week, a large Direct Relief shipment of diabetes supplies arrived in the country.

Since January 2021, Direct Relief has supplied Ukrainian healthcare providers with more than $27 million in medical aid.

Direct Relief will continue monitoring the crisis and will share more information as the situation evolves.

The post Direct Relief Continuing Support to Ukraine as Crisis Escalates appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained 7 million defined daily doses of medication, including personal protective gear for health providers, typhoid and Hepatitis B vaccines, antibiotics, mental health medications, cancer therapies, insulin, rare disease therapies, and prenatal vitamins.

The organization granted $814,282 in cash support over the same period.

United States

In the US, Direct Relief delivered 164 shipments weighing 6,196 lbs. containing 288,697 doses of medications over the past week to health facilities including the following:

Worldwide

This week, outside the US, Direct Relief shipped more than 8.2 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 1.5 million lbs.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

Millions of PPE Items Bound for Nations Across the Americas

The situation: As omicron cases surge, health care providers once again find themselves at high risk. More PPE is needed to care for patients and conduct vaccination campaigns.

The response: Direct Relief is reserving 10 million KN95 masks for US health centers and clinics and donating another 60 million masks to 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean—enough to fill more than one hundred 40-foot shipping containers.

The impact: The supplies will support frontline providers, vaccination campaigns, and more.

Bolstering the Global Oxygen Supply

The situation: Even before Covid-19, medical-grade oxygen was scarce in much of the world. Pandemic-induced supply chain issues – and soaring global oxygen needs – have only exacerbated the problem.

The response: Direct Relief has already invested more than $15 million to address Covid-19-related oxygen shortages. The organization is committing an additional $5 million to create resilient, efficient oxygen systems in under-resourced settings.

The impact: According to Leith Greenslade, an expert on oxygen supply shortages with Every Breath Counts: “Organizations like Direct Relief have an absolutely critical role to play in preventing oxygen shortages in low-resource settings. We need very nimble humanitarian agencies that can almost operate in a parallel universe.”

In the News

Government of Mexico: Mexico to receive 2.7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine
“This is the first donation we have received directly from a U.S. company to the Mexican government,” he said, thanking Moderna and saying that the vaccines would be shipped with the assistance of the Direct Relief organization.

PLOS Digital Health: Making Data for Good Better
Today’s societies produce vast—and increasing—amounts of digital data “exhaust” from daily human activities such as the use of mobile devices, wearables and home sensors; store purchases; and online engagement on social media.

Salon: Tonga Suffers a Humanitarian Crisis as Residents Struggle to Recover from Volcanic Eruption
“The primary health concerns during volcanic eruptions are similar to wildfires, and include respiratory distress, eye and skin irritation, contaminated water supply, the intensification of chronic illnesses when access to medicine is compromised,” writes Direct Relief, a nonprofit humanitarian organization.

The post Medical-Grade Oxygen, PPE, Medical Aid Supports 17 Countries appeared first on Direct Relief.

Up to 90 people are feared dead, with Kentucky alone reporting at least 80 casualties.

Officials warned that the death toll may rise as emergency responders search for survivors amid destroyed and unstable buildings.

Tens of thousands are without power, heat and water, and regional temperatures Monday night are expected to dip as low as 30 degrees.

Direct Relief connected early Saturday morning with health centers and clinics across the six tornado-damaged states.

Direct Relief supports nonprofit health centers and charitable clinics in the affected area on an ongoing basis. In the past week alone, Direct Relief delivered more than 30 shipments of requested medical aid containing 42 thousand doses of medication to healthcare facilities in Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas.

With needs assessments and relief operations underway, Direct Relief is also coordinating efforts with several national and state groups, including primary care associations in Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana, The National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, or VOAD.

The organization is making its substantial inventory of critical medical resources available to them and is preparing to ship free-of-charge requested medical aid.

The most requested items from Direct Relief’s inventory following tornadoes include emergency medical backpacks, personal hygiene kits, over-the-counter products and personal protective equipment.

It’s also critical to ensure access to medicines for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other conditions, which can put patients at higher risk of a medical emergency.

Often after severe weather, medical needs develop, beyond emergency trauma from the storm. Evacuees or displaced residents may be cut off from essential medicines needed to manage chronic diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure, which can result in emergency room visits, if not managed with an uninterrupted supply of medications and care.

At the health facility level, backup power may be needed for refrigerated medicines, and hygiene kits for displaced people may also be requested.

Health needs during storm recovery and clean-up also often arise, as residents move back into damaged areas to begin work, which may prompt requests for tetanus vaccines and protective gear.

Direct Relief will share more information on its response as the situation evolves.

The post Mobilizing Relief for Tornado-Damaged Communities appeared first on Direct Relief.

This commitment follows four years and $10 million of post-disaster investments in solar and battery power systems for nonprofit community health centers and other health-services organizations, beginning in Puerto Rico, where extended power outages following Hurricane Maria had crippling effects on health services for people who relied on them, and in California, where utilities have adopted precautionary power-shutoffs to reduce the risk of wildfires that now span all months of the year.

Direct Relief works extensively with nonprofit community health centers and free clinics throughout the U.S. on an ongoing basis and in response to emergencies. It is the first U.S. nonprofit to be accredited to distribute prescription medications in all 50 U.S. states, runs the largest charitable medicine program in the country to support uninsured and low-income patients, and since 2017 has provided $1.1 billion in charitable donations of medications and disbursed $127 million in cash to support these critical safety net providers.

“The need is obvious, the risks are higher, and the lessons don’t need to be learned the hard way yet again,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “The Power for Health initiative launched today moves from a response-driven, reactive approach to an affirmative pre-emptive one that is critically needed by America’s nonprofit healthcare safety net that millions of our least fortunate and most vulnerable residents rely on and one that is obviously important in the larger context of resilient power in a rapidly changing environment.”

The initial $5 million committed today and additional funds received for the Power for Health initiative will be disbursed in grants to nonprofit community health centers and free and charitable clinics in disaster-prone areas to secure resilient energy solutions such as solar generation and backup battery systems.

More than 29 million people in the U.S. rely on community health centers and charitable clinics for primary health care, prescription medications, and chronic disease management. Because healthcare providers, in turn, rely on electricity to provide patient care, unplanned power outages can be disastrous, forcing clinics to close their doors, jeopardizing expensive medications that require refrigeration, making electronic patient records inaccessible, and even proving fatal for patients on electrically powered medical devices.

Yet, few health centers are prepared to withstand such an outage. In California, for example, fewer than 40 percent of California’s 2,000-plus safety net healthcare sites have any form of backup power, according to a recent analysis by Direct Relief, the California Primary Care Association, and MacroEyes.

Meanwhile, California wildfires will only intensify absent dramatic shifts in policy and human behavior at a global scale, according to a new study from UCLA and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

“If mitigation efforts aren’t taken, wildfire activity in the western United States will increase, resulting in significant impact on human lives, human health and the economy,” said Benjamin Santer, a climate scientist at UCLA and author of the study.

Health centers and clinics in U.S. Gulf Coast states face a similar risk. New findings published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters predict hurricanes will hit certain coastal communities with increasing frequency and quicker succession.

“If you need 15 days to restore infrastructure — for example, a power system — after a storm hits, and the second storm makes landfall before the system can recover, residents will face dangerous conditions,” said Dazhi Xi, a climate scientist at Princeton University, who led the study.

In recent years, recognition that power is a prerequisite for healthcare services has informed Direct Relief’s efforts with increasing urgency.

“Modern health care, particularly in the United States, presumes constantly available power,” said Tighe. “The experience of successive years of record-setting wildfires and hurricanes, cold snaps, and flooding that have resulted in extended shutoffs and led to pre-emptive cutoffs have eroded the validity of that presumption.”

Electronic health records are required in even nonprofit community health centers, but backup power is not. Millions of people rely on common, power-dependent medical devices such as oxygen concentrators for chronic conditions that, if unmanaged, become acute crises. Most new medications and virtually all vaccines – including those for Covid-19 – require cold storage and transport, and the rapid shift to telemedicine and its enormous potential depend on electricity being available.

Direct Relief’s investments in resilient power have expanded rapidly since Hurricane Maria in 2017 left Puerto Rico without power for months, which led to a still-ongoing effort to equip health centers and other facilities with self-sufficient micro-grids that enable sustained operations during outages. In the wake of Gulf Coast hurricanes, Direct Relief responded to requests for emergency generators to dozens of health centers and clinics, from Texas to the Carolinas, that lost power during storms. And in its home state of California, the organization also has begun funding solar and backup battery systems at health centers at extreme fire risk. Among them is Mendocino Coast Clinics, which lost power for three days in 2019. It had no access to electronic health records, lab results, prescription information, reports from specialists, or lighting during that period. Its doctors worked with camping headlamps.

Direct Relief’s own 155,000-square-foot California headquarters, which recently added another 5,400 square feet of cold storage space for temperature-sensitive medications, is also a self-contained “microgrid.” The building includes a Tesla-designed solar and a backup battery system to ensure the life-saving medications stored there do not spoil in a power outage.

Direct Relief’s philanthropic initiative will provide a needed boost to the vast nonprofit healthcare safety net that exists in the U.S. Tax-based incentives such as credits or rebates adopted to spur adoption and expansion of solar power generation, and backup battery storage provide limited to no incentives to nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt and create an anomaly of nonprofit organizations paying more to install a solar and backup system than a homeowner, or commercial enterprise does. Collectively, nonprofit organizations represent the third-largest workforce by industry in the U.S., following retail and accommodations and food services.

The funding announced today will help Direct Relief scale its effort to deploy resilient power solutions to the nation’s health care safety net as threats from climate change mount.

The post Direct Relief Launches “Power for Health” Initiative: Resilient Power for U.S. Healthcare Safety Net appeared first on Direct Relief.

Direct Relief facilitated transport of the donation, serving as the licensed distributor exporting the vaccines that landed in Toluca, Mexico, via FedEx on Tuesday, October 19.

Today’s delivery marks the fourth donation from the U.S. Government to Mexico of Covid-19 vaccines that Direct Relief has helped deliver.

In June, Mexico became the first country to receive Covid vaccines donated by the U.S. government when FedEx delivered 1.35 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine. Direct Relief facilitated that donation.

Direct Relief also helped transport 3.5 million Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses from the U.S. Government to Mexico between August and September.

Covid-19 Vaccine Deliveries

Direct Relief Facilitates Donation of 1.75 Million More Moderna Covid-19 Shots to Mexico

1.75 million Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses landed in Mexico City.

First Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines Delivered to Mexico

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is available in Mexico for the first time, thanks to the US government’s 1.75 million dose donation.

Direct Relief Helps Deliver 1.75 Million Covid-19 Vaccine Doses to Mexico, Belize, Bolivia and Paraguay

Deliveries Rely on Direct Relief and FedEx

In total, Direct Relief, in close coordination with FedEx, has helped transport more than 8 million Covid-19 doses from the U.S. to Mexico.

A registered charity in the U.S. and Mexico, Direct Relief has unique capabilities in arranging and conducting cross-border donations of cold chain pharmaceuticals – including its commercial-grade licensing and infrastructure for pharmaceutical distribution, its ability to transport refrigerated and frozen medication safely, its customs clearance expertise, and its network of logistics and public health partnerships.

In recent months, Direct Relief has also helped transport more than 800,000 vaccines donated by the Mexican government to countries across the Americas, including Belize, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Paraguay.

The post Direct Relief Helps Transport 3.4 Million More Covid-19 Vaccine Doses from the U.S. to Mexico appeared first on Direct Relief.

The sharply disproportionate effects of Covid-19 continue to reflect historic inequities in access to health services within the U.S. Recognizing this fact, Direct Relief, through its broad-based and ongoing Covid-19 response efforts, launched The Fund for Health Equity last year. 

Seeded with donations from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott and others, The Fund for Health Equity supports nonprofit community health centers, free and charitable clinics, and other organizations addressing the underlying issues that Covid-19’s disparate effects have once again highlighted. 

The 40 awardees included in today’s announcement received funding for a wide range of initiatives, including efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce, serve people experiencing homelessness, sustain and restore Indigenous health practices, and reduce infant mortality rates that fall disproportionally along racial and ethnic lines. 

“We are pleased to bolster the indispensable work of these grassroots organizations striving to reduce disparities and increase equity among vulnerable populations,” said Dr. Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity and Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council. “With their deep ties and particular insights into the people and communities they serve, these groups are best suited and most acutely aware of what can make a difference. It’s a privilege to enable them to do more with philanthropic funding that is often difficult to secure within their communities.” 

The awardees were selected by the Fund for Health Equity’s Advisory Council: 

• Co-Chair Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, 18th U.S. Surgeon General of the United States, Founder Bayou Clinic, Inc.  
• Co-Chair Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council  
• Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, RN, FACHE, President of the National Black Nurses Association, Associate Professor the University of Alabama at Birmingham  
• Jane Delgado, Ph.D., MS, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health  
• Gail Small, JD, Head Chief Woman, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe  

Awardees, by state, include:  

Alabama 

• Alabama Statewide Area Health Education Center: Grant funding will support the organization’s experiential learning program for Alabama students in the health professions – nursing, pharmacy, social work, and others – preparing them for work in rural and underserved communities. 

• A Promise to HELP: An organization whose work includes increasing vaccination rates among primarily Black patients in rural counties. 

Alaska 

• Alaska Native Heritage Center: For women experiencing homelessness, addiction, food insecurity, or other social circumstances that affect their health, an initiative teaching traditional crafts and providing opportunities to sell their work. 

• Alaska Native Birthworkers Community: A group of Alaska Native midwives, doulas, and other health professionals providing free health care, from preconception through postpartum, to women in their community, to reclaim Indigenous birth practices and provide culturally sensitive care. 

• Alaska Pacific University: A new initiative designed to diversify the health care workforce in Alaska, focusing on recruiting and training Alaska Native individuals and rural Alaskans in nursing programs. 

• First Alaskans Institute: The funding will support two Health Equity fellows, a summit, and a leadership program, all designed to identify health disparities, particularly as they affect Alaska Native individuals, and develop solutions. 

Arkansas 

• El Centro Hispano: Working with St. Bernard’s Healthcare, this program aims to reduce Latino infant mortality rates, improve health literacy for mothers, and increase awareness of health and disparities among Latino youth. 

California 

• Asian Health Services: An organization launching an innovation hub designed to advance virtual care and identify digital health tools that will support patients in overcoming circumstances that contribute to poor health outcomes. 

• Cultiva la Salud: This nonprofit is focused on engaging Fresno County residents to actively promote their health by advocating for policy, system, and environmental improvements. 

• Mexican American Opportunity Foundation: An organization connecting low-income Latino families to health and other services through promotoras, specialized health workers serving the community. 

• San Ysidro Health: Serving a diverse population near the U.S./Mexico border, this health center will use the funding to upgrade its bilingual website, enhancing access to telehealth and non-medical services such as food distribution and refugee support. 

• Self-Help for the Elderly: A program to train and provide bilingual home health aides to care for monolingual Chinese and other aging seniors. 

• Wildflowers Institute: Funding will support the organization’s arts and culture program focused on documenting resiliency in communities, focusing on Asian, Indigenous, Chicano, and Latino groups. 

Florida 

• Commonsense Childbirth: To improve birth outcomes in at-risk populations, this nonprofit offers training and certification programs for health care professionals, including midwives, doulas, lactation educators, and community health workers. 

• First Coast Black Nurses Association, Inc.: Funding will help the organization address food insecurity and perform health screenings of food recipients. 

• Miami Rescue Mission Clinic: The funding will increase staff providing services to an unsheltered population and provide meals, beds, and school supplies for clients.   

• Shepherd’s Hope: A free clinic pilot program designed to teach healthy living and cooking skills to Black and Latino populations experiencing health issues and food insecurity. 

Georgia 

• Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia, Inc: This new program will train and hire new promotoras to work among vulnerable populations to increase health care access to rural areas of Georgia.  

• Tree of Life Healthcare: Focusing on primary care, sickle cell anemia, and orthopedic care, this volunteer-run clinic will use the funding to hire paid staff who can provide consistency and additional services. 

Hawai‘i 

• Consuelo Foundation: A new program designed to address health equity among Native Hawaiian populations living in Molokai, Hawai‘i and Oahu. 

• Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai‘i: This organization, which provides maternal and reproductive health care while connecting families with social services, plans to use the funding to support women and their families outside hospital settings with hands-on care before and after birth.  

Illinois 

• Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition: An organization working to improve health in Hispanic communities through culturally appropriate, evidence-based health education programs and navigators who link patients to appropriate health or social services.  

• Latino Policy Forum/Illinois Unidos: This new program will offer resources and training to promotoras as they work to increase vaccination rates in their communities. 

• Trident Ministries International, Inc.: The funds will support food distribution, equipment for the after-school program, and supplies for the community garden.  

Kentucky 

• West Louisville Performing Arts Academy: A program providing year-round access to extracurricular learning opportunities for ages eight to 18 while addressing food insecurity, homelessness, and mental health issues in families. 

Maine 

• Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness: This tribal organization will use the funding to develop a summer internship program connecting college students to traditional healing and public health issues and support a new Center for Wabanaki Healing and Recovery. 

Maryland 

• National Black Nurses Association: This program aims to educate elementary school students on the nursing profession with the long-term goal of increasing diversity among nurses. 

• The 21 Collective: This Hmong-led pilot program will develop and implement a strategy to provide Hmong Americans with accurate information about Covid-19 and increase access to vaccines.  

Michigan 

• Community Health and Social Service Center, Inc.: The funding will help enhance existing care, including medication therapy management for chronic diseases, to improve health outcomes in Black and Latino populations. 

Minnesota 

• Minnesota Community Care: This program provides racially concordant perinatal and postpartum care to African Americans and African Diaspora children and their families to improve childhood health outcomes. 

Mississippi 

• Alcorn State University Foundation: The Alcorn State University Foundation will use the funding to acquire a mobile medical unit and expand its health services to rural counties in Mississippi.   

Montana 

• Native Action: A tribal collaboration among eight Native American reservations, including an intergenerational trauma-informed cultural leadership program and teachings about traditional medicine. 

New Mexico 

• Tewa Women United: This organization provides a culturally adapted curriculum for Tewa youth to learn about healthy sexuality, personal decision-making, and adult life skills. 

New York 

• Charles B. Wang Community Health Center: A health center working to improve care for children with developmental disabilities in Chinese-speaking families.  

• Comunilife: In response to a need among Latino teens in New York City, a program provides suicide prevention services for people with depression or other mental illnesses. 

North Carolina 

• Winston-Salem State University: The funding will bolster an existing program that provides training to university students in social work, nursing, clinical laboratory services, and other disciplines while bringing medical care to underserved communities via a mobile clinic. 

Pennsylvania 

• Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc.: A nonprofit organization working to identify the urgent needs of Latino individuals and families and connect them with appropriate health and social services. 

• Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity): Combining health education, food security, and housing stability efforts, this university collaborates to advance health equity in vulnerable Philadelphia communities. 

Texas 

• The Concilio: Funding will allow the organization to continue a promotora-led program to help families adopt healthy behaviors, including purchasing nutritious food. 

• The Beacon of Downtown Houston: Focused on people experiencing homelessness, the Beacon provides hot meals, showers, and laundry to introduce programs focused on permanent housing. 

Direct Relief will announce additional grant awards this year.  

The post Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity Awards $8.1 Million to 40 Organizations appeared first on Direct Relief.

Today, Direct Relief delivered 79 tons of critical medical supplies via a dedicated FedEx charter flight.

Supplies on the flight included prescription medications, IV solutions, emergency medical backpacks, and other items. The cargo jet landed today in Port-au-Prince, where Direct Relief has teams on the ground.

“Our hearts go out to those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti,” said Richard W. Smith, regional president of The Americas and executive vice president, global support for FedEx Express. “It is clear the need for help is urgent, and we are proud to be able to use our global network to bring life-saving resources to the area.”

Direct Relief provides essential medical resources to care for those impacted by poverty and disasters and strengthens in-country efforts of locally-run health facilities worldwide by providing ongoing support of medicines, supplies, and equipment. The collaborative efforts of Direct Relief and FedEx have spanned 28 years.

“For the people of Haiti and Direct Relief’s many tremendously dedicated Haitian partner organizations that serve them tirelessly, the action today by FedEx provides a hugely important practical boost of scaled-up response to urgent health needs and also is just a powerful signal of the depth of concern that exists for their welfare, which means so much in itself, ” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief president and CEO.  “We are so deeply grateful for the leadership and entire team at FedEx whose actions have catalyzed a vastly more expansive response than would otherwise be possible during this time of compounded crises.”

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Ley Cayes, the largest city on the outer peninsula and close to the epicenter of the earthquake, was also hit in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the island nation, killing more than 220,000 people and internally displacing another 1.5 million.

Direct Relief’s Response

Direct Relief staff is connecting with health facilities across the island to assess needs, monitor the situation as it evolves, and respond accordingly.

Medical aid from Direct Relief is staged at hospitals in Haiti as part of the organization’s disaster preparedness efforts.

Additional medical aid shipments that include PPE and medical supplies were already en route to Haiti from Direct Relief before the earthquake hit.

For more details on Direct Relief’s response efforts in Haiti, see: https://www.directrelief.org/place/haiti/

Updates will be posted here as more information becomes available.

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• Community health centers were established in the United States during the 1960s civil rights movement and are rooted in medically underserved communities.
• Community health centers serve ~30 million patients annually.
• 60% of community health center patients in the U.S. represent racial and ethnic minority groups, and 72% have family incomes at or below the poverty level.
• Patients served by health centers tend to experience fewer disparities in healthcare outcomes, even after considering socio-economic and demographic factors. 
• According to NACHC, uninsured people who live near a health center are less likely to have an unmet medical need and are less likely to visit the emergency room or have a hospital stay. Communities with a health center also experience lower infant mortality rates.

Each award winner received a $150,000 grant to expand their successful programs for providing quality care to at-risk populations. Their innovative approaches, detailed below, include offering culturally sensitive, team-based care; implementing new services like telehealth, which help patients overcome a lack of transportation and other barriers to care; and providing education and counseling to patients in their native language to ensure they understand how to take their medications safely.

The $900,000 in grant awards was provided through the BD Helping Build Healthy Communities initiative – a unique public-private partnership started in 2013, funded by BD and the BD Foundation, and implemented by Direct Relief and NACHC. Through 2023, BD and the BD Foundation have committed to investing $22.8 million in this initiative, furthering the company’s commitment to improving health equity by expanding access to care in under-resourced and under-represented communities. To date, the initiative has issued 48 grants to health centers in 20 states and has donated more than 38 million insulin syringes and pen needles to more than 1,300 community health centers and free and charitable clinics nationwide.

“Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are less likely to receive preventive health services, experience worse health outcomes for certain conditions, and are statistically more likely to face barriers that make it more difficult to access quality care,” said BD Chairman, CEO and President Tom Polen. “Social investments in community health centers are one of the most effective ways to expand quality care to underserved patients in the United States, including racial and ethnic minorities, because these centers are located in high-need areas, are open to all regardless of their ability to pay, and have a well-documented history of delivering culturally relevant care to meet the special needs and priorities of their communities.”

The following award-winners were selected with guidance from a national panel of clinical pharmacists in the field of Medication Therapy Management:

• Healthnet in Indianapolis, Indiana, is using its grant funding to provide expanded pharmacist visits and referral services for high-risk patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes, including proactive assessments to identify and address barriers to care, like lack of food or transportation.
• Northeast Valley Health Corporation in San Fernando, California, is using its grant funding to ensure high-risk Latinx patients meet with a clinical pharmacist for medication reconciliation, adherence counseling and to offer assessments based on the social determinants of health (SDOH). Funding also enables a bilingual patient navigator to link patients with social services that address needs identified in the SDOH assessments.
• Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa, California, is using its grant funding to enable patients living in shelters, particularly those who face multiple chronic conditions and take multiple, complex medications, to receive individualized pharmacist counseling via telehealth technology.
• The University of Minnesota Community-University Health Care Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is using its funding to expand mobile health services for community members with diabetes, hypertension, depression, and those at high risk of poor outcomes related to COVID-19.
• Wahiawa Center for Community Health in Wahiawa, Hawaii, is using its grant funding to support an integrated care team and care model to address chronic disease, particularly within Asian and Pacific Islander communities. This team approach seeks to improve medication adherence to prevent health complications associated with chronic disease and cultural, social, economic and environmental challenges like poor health literacy and a lack of food and housing.
• Zufall Health Center in Dover, New Jersey, is using its grant funding to expand home monitoring care for at-risk patients who do not have access to equipment and supplies like blood glucose kits and blood pressure cuffs. Funding is also being used to deploy a dedicated care team that will tailor clinical interventions to meet each patient’s needs and support patients with education and online assistance in multiple languages, including Spanish.

“Direct Relief is privileged to work with NACHC and take part in this generous endeavor by BD to identify and reward community health centers whose staff are deeply committed to improving the health and lives of people with challenging health conditions,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO.

“Health centers are innovators, healers and problem-solvers who reach beyond the walls of the conventional health care delivery system to not only prevent illness, but to address the causes of it in special populations — such as the homeless, the poor, agricultural and migrant workers, residents of public housing, those with limited English proficiency, and people living in rural areas,” said Tom Van Coverden, president & CEO at NACHC. “Private funding partnerships like this one are critical to putting health center public health innovations into action and ensuring health equity in hard-to-reach communities.”

For more information about the 2020 BD Helping Build Healthy Communities awardees, visit www.directrelief.org/bdhbhc.

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The shipments contained 2.9 million defined daily doses of medications, including insulin, rare disease therapies, cancer treatments, contraceptives, and antibiotics, as well as medical items for Covid-19 such as PPE, ventilators, and oxygen concentrators.

In the U.S. this week, Direct Relief delivered 311 shipments weighing 26,497 pounds and containing 911,533 doses of medications.

The largest U.S. shipments by value (wholesale) went to the following organizations:

1. North Miami Beach Medical Center – North Miami Beach, Florida ($110K)
2. Mission Arlington Medical Clinic – Arlington, Texas ($104.4K)
3. Wellness Pointe – Longview, Texas ($99.9K)
4. Open Arms Health Clinic – Arlington, Texas ($75.5K)
5. Pasadena Health Center – Pasadena, Texas ($67.9K)
6. Grace Medical Home – Orlando, Florida ($66.8K)
7. Volunteers in Medicine – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina ($55.6K)
8. Kansas City CARE Clinic – Kansas City, Missouri ($50.7K)
9. Great Salt Plains Health Center, Inc. – Cherokee, Oklahoma ($46.9K)
10. Washington State Department of Health – Tumwater, Washington ($39.5K)

Globally, Direct Relief shipped more than 3.2 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 30,140 pounds to the following destinations:

• Dominican Republic ($126.2K)
• Ecuador ($1.8K)
• El Salvador ($470.1K)
• Ethiopia ($3.8M)
• Guyana ($566.2K)
• Haiti ($8.0K)
• India ($760.3K)
• Kenya ($36.6K)
• Liberia ($2.4K)
• Malawi ($6.7M)
• Mexico ($138.8K)
• Palestinian Territories ($2.3M)
• Romania ($20.5K)
• Syria ($156.3K)
• Timor-Leste ($61.2K)

Since January 1, 2021, Direct Relief has delivered 10.2 thousand shipments to 1,729 partner organizations in 53 U.S. states and territories and 80 countries.

The shipments have contained 123.7 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $782.3 million (wholesale) and totaling 3.9 million lbs.

Direct Relief has also supported the following organizations this year with more than $34.2 million in grants:

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The shipments contained 3.8 million defined daily doses of medications, including rare disease therapies, naloxone, personal protective gear, and other requested medical aid.

A 25-ton shipment of medical aid for Nepal landed in Kathmandu today  with 860 Direct Relief-purchased oxygen concentrators to help the country as it faces a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The charter to Nepal followed two airlifts to India this month, which contained more than 2 million masks, several thousand oxygen concentrators.

Direct Relief is also working to prepare hurricane-prone regions for the 2021 hurricane season, which officially starts June 1.

Preparing Hurricane-Prone Regions for Hurricane Season 2021

Direct Relief’s hurricane preparedness efforts in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and internationally were profiled this week by CNN International and other publications.

In the U.S., Direct Relief delivered 311 shipments weighing 19,683 pounds and containing 324,711 doses of medications over the past week.

The largest U.S. shipments by value (wholesale) went to the following organizations:

• Light of the World Clinic – Oakland Park, FL ($149,071)
• St. Michael’s Medical Clinic – Anniston, AL ($129,869)
• Mission Of Mercy – Arizona Clinics – Phoenix, AZ ($118,919)
• Spring Branch Community Health Center – Houston, TX ($111,299)
• North Hills Wellness Center – North Hills, CA ($111,161)
• Cherokee Health Systems – Knoxville, TN ($102,894)
• Westminster Free Clinic – Newbury Park ($99,234)
• Good Shepherd Ministries of Oklahoma Inc. – Oklahoma City, OK ($61,931)
• James Valley Community Health Center – Huron, SD ($54,817)
• Kansas City CARE Clinic – Kansas City, MO ($44,934)

Globally, Direct Relief shipped more than 3.5 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 66,135 pounds.

The following organizations in the following countries received supplies:

• Zimbabwe ($73.0M)
• Togo ($7.0M)
• Nicaragua ($2.4M)
• Uganda ($782.3K)
• Egypt ($777.2K)
• Cambodia ($561.6K)
• Guatemala ($255.8K)
• Ecuador ($240.7K)
• India ($235.7K)
• Nigeria ($98.5K)
• Afghanistan ($53.0K)
• Honduras ($40.0K)
• Republic of North Macedonia ($8.0K)
• Mali ($5.9K)
• Panama ($2.8K)

Since January 1, 2021, Direct Relief has delivered 9,393 shipments to 1,677  partner organizations in 53 U.S. states and territories and 76 countries.

These shipments have contained 115.6 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $566.3 million (wholesale) and totaling 3.7 million lbs. (1,800 tons).

Direct Relief has also supported the following organizations this year with more than $33 million in grants:

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Hospitals across Nepal are nearing ICU and ventilator capacity and struggling with severe shortages of oxygen and other medical resources. Helping meet the acute need for oxygen, the May 25 flight from Chicago to Kathmandu will deliver 860 Direct Relief-purchased oxygen concentrators. Direct Relief is also helping secure a sustainable supply of medical-grade oxygen in Central Nepal by funding a new oxygen production plant at Siddhasthali Rural Community Hospital.

“On behalf of the Government of Nepal and the Embassy of Nepal in Washington, DC, I would like to express my gratitude to Direct Relief for responding to our request for humanitarian medical relief at a time when Nepal is undergoing through the most difficult phases of the ongoing pandemic,” said Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Ambassador of Nepal to the United States. “I would like to assure all individuals and organizations concerned that the Embassy of Nepal in Washington, D.C. is committed to providing all necessary coordination and facilitation to Direct Relief, including in customs clearance, receipt and distribution of donated medical supplies once delivered in Nepal.”

In addition to oxygen, the 25-ton Direct Relief airlift will include PPE and medications contributed by companies including 3M, AbbVie, Baxter, BD, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Tifie Humanitarian, Viatris, and others. Nepali health officials expressly requested and approved every item included on the flight.

“People in Nepal are facing the worst Covid crisis in the world today based on per-capita confirmed cases, and they need urgent help,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “Direct Relief has the privilege of having worked with many extraordinarily skilled and committed Nepali partners, and we will do whatever we possibly can to help. We are profoundly grateful to the people and businesses whose contributions have made this airlift possible.”

Nepal-based organizations, including One Heart Worldwide, Dhulikhel Hospital, and The Covid-19 Crisis Management Center, will receive the Direct Relief-donated supplies in Kathmandu and distribute them to hospitals and clinics throughout the country.

The humanitarian flight to Nepal follows two FedEx-donated airlifts that transported more than 4,000 oxygen concentrators and nearly 2 million KN95 masks to neighboring India. Direct Relief partnered with several organizations, including Community Partners International, Cornell Presbyterian Hospital, Navya, Northwell Health, and Tata Memorial Hospital, to mobilize and deliver the supplies.

Ambassador Statement

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Fast Company magazine separately named the COVID-19 Action Fund for Africa (CAF-Africa) a finalist in the Pandemic Response category. Since August 2020, CAF-Africa has committed and delivered more than 66 million pieces of medical PPE for almost 500,000 community health workers in 18 African countries. Direct Relief provided $10 million in funding to secure and purchase the PPE amid a global shortage of supplies, and obtained transportation from the manufacturers in Asia to Africa.

Fast Company’s annual awards honor the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality.

“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company.

Even before the novel coronavirus appeared, Direct Relief was the first large humanitarian organization to invest heavily in manufacturing N95 masks, which it distributes every fire season to fire fighters, first responders, and wildfire evacuees.

As a result, at the beginning of 2020, the world’s largest supply of N95 masks in charitable hands was housed in Direct Relief’s headquarters. The organization had just completed a large-scale response to the 2019 Australia wildfires, and had replenished its supply in anticipation of an active California fire season in 2020.

Starting in January 2020, Direct Relief recognized that if Covid-19 were to spread globally, it would lead to tremendous demand for PPE. Direct Relief worked to get ahead of the pandemic by boosting its inventory of PPE, identifying and sourcing the medicine hospitals would need, and procuring diagnostic and respiratory equipment, such as pulse oximeters, oxygen concentrators, and ventilators.

Since sending its first shipment of PPE and emergency medication in response to Covid-19 on Jan. 27, 2020, Direct Relief has provided more than 77 million N95 and surgical masks, 14 million exam gloves, 3 million face shields, and hundreds of thousands of other Covid-19 related items to hospitals and clinics across all U.S. states and territories and more than 90 countries.

A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists for the World Changing Ideas Awards from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam.

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India tallied another record case total yesterday, with 352,991 new COVID-19 cases and 2812 deaths.

The virus is spreading in every state, with the most significant increases occurring in the heavily urbanized areas of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, and Kerala. The influx of seriously ill patients is overwhelming hospitals throughout large areas of the country.

Oxygen concentrators are among the most critical items needed to treat people with severe COVID-19, who often arrive at hospitals with extreme hypoxemia. High-flow oxygen concentrators are used in hospitals to treat patients needing intensive care. In contrast, low-flow concentrators can help hospitals safely discharge patients who are stable but require at-home breathing support.

Healthcare leaders in India have estimated the need for 200,000 oxygen concentrators; however, rising COVID-19 cases have caused many local manufacturing plants to shut down, resulting in shortages of oxygen throughout the country.

Direct Relief is working with several local Indian nonprofits, global logistics companies and large-scale manufacturers to source and transport oxygen concentrators and other critical items into India.

Today’s commitment of $5 million will cover the expense of an estimated 10,000 oxygen concentrators and other requested medical supplies.

Since January 2020, Direct Relief has delivered 4,000 oxygen concentrators to forty-five countries, including India.

Since the pandemic began, Direct Relief has also provided twenty-one organizations across India with more than $25 million in medical resources, including PPE, cancer drugs, rare disease medications, and $198,000 in grants.

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The supplies were delivered via a Direct Relief-chartered AeroMexico flight from Mexico City to Managua on Wednesday.

Like most vaccines, the polio vaccine is a cold-chain medication; it must be delivered in special containers and remain refrigerated between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius throughout transit and final delivery.

Earlier this month, Direct Relief, a registered civil association in Mexico with tax-deductible status, worked with the Government of Mexico to transport 95,000 doses of bivalent oral polio vaccine to Ecuador.

Pharmaceutical distributors—and Direct Relief—are among the only organizations with cold-chain vaccine shipment capability.

Direct Relief has extensive experience working with the world’s largest medical manufacturers to distribute cold-chain prescription medications connected with humanitarian and emergency-response efforts.

In 2020, Direct Relief completed nearly two thousand cold-chain deliveries of such products, managing end-to-end distribution to health facilities across the United States, Mexico, and more than 50 other countries.

The deliveries contained 21.6 million doses of temperature-sensitive medications, including insulin, cancer drugs, hemophilia treatments, vaccines, and biologic therapies for patients with rare genetic diseases.

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The announcement follows the launch of The Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By allocating COVID-19 vaccines to community health centers, the program aims to help ensure those disproportionately affected by the virus receive equitable access to the vaccine.

More than 29 million of the country’s most vulnerable residents rely on community health centers for health care. Health centers serve 1 in 11 U.S. residents, including 1 in 3 individuals living in poverty, 1 in 5 Medicaid beneficiaries, 1 in 5 rural Americans, and 1 in 9 children. Nationally, 63 percent of health center patients are members of ethnic and racial minority groups.

Direct Relief works extensively with the country’s community health centers as their largest philanthropic supporter, mobilizing private charitable resources to aid their efforts for populations and in areas that are medically underserved.

The initial $10 million in funding, which will increase if Direct Relief receives additional support, aims to bolster health centers and help cover unexpected costs as they mobilize vaccination operations. Direct Relief has already begun receiving unsolicited requests from health centers for assistance covering new costs related to mass vaccination efforts while maintaining essential primary care services.

“Direct Relief’s role in providing charitable support to community health centers nationwide has provided a keen awareness of how hard COVID-19 has slammed the communities in which they work, the people who rely on them, and their own critical operations,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “The recently announced federal plan to include them in vaccination efforts was welcome news, and also why Direct Relief will do everything it can to help ensure that the effort is successful by mobilizing and private charitable support, which is obviously needed by the groups taking on this role.”

An initial 225 health centers were invited to participate in The Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program. Each is eligible to receive funds from Direct Relief.

The $10 million announced today adds to $350 million in charitable assistance provided by Direct Relief to 2,800 health centers and other organizations serving communities across the U.S. hit hardest by the pandemic. That includes $50 million in emergency financial assistance and $300 million in material aid like PPE, medications, and essential supplies such as oxygen concentrators.

Those efforts remain ongoing.

The post Direct Relief Commits $10 Million to Bolster Covid-19 Vaccination Efforts at Community Health Centers appeared first on Direct Relief.

The shipments contained more than 6 million defined daily doses of medication, including a temperature-sensitive monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19 from Eli Lilly that arrived in Rwanda.

In the US, Direct Relief delivered 448 shipments weighing 45.4 thousand lbs and containing 1.2 million doses of medications.

The largest US shipments by value (wholesale) went to the following organizations:

• Wellness Pointe, Texas ($290.4K)
• North Beach Community Health Center, Florida ($194.8K)
• Community Health, Illinois ($184.6K)
• HIV Alliance, Oregon ($169.4K)
• Clinica Esperanza Hope Clinic, Rhode Island ($161.2K)
• Palmetto Health Council, Inc., Georgia ($142.8K)
• HP Health, Texas ($101.3K)
• Agape Clinic, Texas ($91.9K)
• Kintegra Family Medicine, North Carolina ($80.6K)

Globally, Direct Relief shipped this week more than 4.9 million defined daily doses of medication totaling 30.2k lbs.

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Items included Covid-19 treatments, chemotherapy medications, antibiotics, diabetes management products, and protective gear.

The following organizations received supplies:

• Asociacion Vida Peru, Peru ($1.9M)
• Health Ministry, The Republic of Armenia ($1.9M)
• Ministerio de Salud, Honduras ($192.1K)
• Karabakh Health Ministry, Armenia ($176.2K)
• Ministry of Health, Rwanda ($166.7K)
• Muratsan University Hospital Endocrinology Clinic, Armenia ($146.5K)
• ANERA, Lebanon ($89.3K)
• Ebeye Community Health Center, Marshall Islands ($71.4K)
• Saint Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Armenia ($68.3K)
• The Claudia Nazarian Medical Center at the AGBU Vahe Karapetian Center, Armenia ($67K)
• Diabetes Association of Jamaica, Jamaica ($38K)
• Servicios de Salud de Morelos, Mexico ($15K)
• Ministerio de Salud, Nicaragua ($14K)
• Institute of Perinatology Obstetrics and Gynecology, Armenia ($9.5K)

In addition to providing material assistance, Direct Relief granted $530,000 to the Foundation of Amazon Sustainability to purchase oxygen concentrators as the Brazilian state of Amazonas faces a worsening Covid crisis and a severe lack of medical oxygen. Hospitals and health centers in 24 municipalities currently treating the most Covid-19 patients, including indigenous communities, will receive the equipment.

Year to Date

Since January 1, 2021, Direct Relief has delivered 2,637 shipments to 1,068 partner organizations in 51 US states and territories and 62 countries. These shipments contained 47.8 million defined daily doses of medication value at $178.5 million (wholesale) and totaled 1.4 million lbs. (700 tons).

Other grants from Direct Relief this year have supported the following organizations:

The post 448 Medical Aid Shipments. $530,000 in Funding. 42 US States and Territories. 10 Countries. 1 Week. appeared first on Direct Relief.

In the year since, Direct Relief has emerged as one of the largest charitable providers of personal protective gear (PPE) and critical care medications globally, having delivered more than 82 million units of PPE, 173 million defined daily doses of vital medicines, and 36 thousand pieces of diagnostic and intensive care equipment to thousands of local organizations across 100 countries, including the U.S.

The organization has also supported health care providers with more than $50 million in direct financial assistance to sustain care and expand services that include mobile and pop-up testing sites, telehealth expansion, and greater cold chain capacity.

For an overview of Direct Relief’s activities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, please continue reading.

Financial Summary

Covid-19 Pandemic Donations

Jan. 27, 2020 – Jan. 27, 2021

Direct Relief does not accept government funding. Its work is made possible entirely through the support of companies, organizations, foundations, and individuals.

The organization recognizes that supporters who made generous contributions of funding, services, and in-kind goods amid the pandemic did so with the specific intent that their contributions fight Covid-19 and its devastating consequences. In accepting funds as part of its Covid-19 response, Direct Relief understands that these supporters deserve to know precisely how those funds have been and will be disbursed.

Direct Relief received more than 151,000 financial contributions designated for Covid-19, totaling $125.8 million.

Some of these Covid-19-designated donations also had additional restrictions from donors requiring the funds be used for a particular region or country. All designated funds have been respected, administered, and disbursed accordingly.

How Were Funds Used

Direct Relief initiated its Covid-19 response activities using general operating funds. As Direct Relief began receiving funds donated for Covid-19, it expanded its activities and spending accordingly. The situation remains dynamic, with designated funds continuing to be accepted. Direct Relief takes great care to deploy incoming funds responsibly, efficiently, and as rapidly as possible, consistent with donors’ intent.

The following offers a snapshot of the total Covid-19 donations received over the past year:

To date, Direct Relief has spent or committed a total of $83.5 million in cash (66% of the $125.8 million received) in its pandemic response — which continues at high-pace.

Of that amount, $40.8 million has been spent or committed as direct grants to organizations on the frontlines of the pandemic, $35.6 million has been spent on purchasing essential medical items not available through donation, and $7.1 million was spent to distribute all material and financial assistance provided in response to Covid-19, as described below.

Covid-19 Response

By the numbers

Jan. 27, 2020 – Jan. 27, 2021

Grant Making

Medical Aid

Protective Gear

Medical Material Support

Direct Relief has been responding to the pandemic since its earliest days, beginning with requests for help from overstretched hospitals in Wuhan, China. From there, Direct Relief’s response quickly expanded to the United States and the rest of the world.

Since Jan. 2020, the organization has provided support to more than 3,000 partner organizations fighting Covid-19 worldwide.

As of Jan. 27, 2021, that support has included more than 29,000 medical aid shipments totaling 4.9 million pounds and valued at $1.3 billion. Medical aid has reached organizations in 55 U.S. states and territories and 100 countries.

Material support has taken several distinct forms:

• Supplies to protect frontline health workers: Direct Relief provided masks, gloves, gowns, powered air-purifying respirators, face shields, and other PPE to health care organizations globally.
• Medical resources for intensive care: As the pandemic strained hospital resources, the organization provided ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and ICU medications to help overstretched hospitals treat patients with critical cases of Covid-19.
• Ongoing support for chronic health: To minimize interruptions to essential health services, including primary and specialty care, maternal and child health services, mental health treatment, and substance use disorder interventions, Direct Relief provided a wide range of support — chronic health medications, the overdose-reversing medication naloxone, midwife kits, and more.

Direct Relief arranged for and managed the logistics, transport, and delivery of all products to health facilities – free-of-charge.

Direct Financial Assistance

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, designated contributions have allowed Direct Relief to bolster the health care system with financial assistance and support the efforts of locally run organizations with strong ties to their communities.

Thanks to corporate and individual donors’ generosity, Direct Relief has granted more than $53 million in cash worldwide since Jan. 27, 2020.

Grant recipients include health centers, clinics, and locally run organizations providing vital care, testing, and other health care services during the pandemic. These grants helped sustain strained health facilities, keep patients out of hospitals, maintain continuity of care, and fund Covid-19 testing and vaccinations.

For a list of health care facilities and organizations worldwide that have received direct funding from Direct Relief in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, click here.

Covid-19 Response

By Region

United States

• Grants Disbursed: $48.6 million
• Material Aid Provided: $284.3 million
  • Shipments: 28.8 thousand
  • PPE: 21.3 million units
  • Medications: 48.6 million Defined Daily Doses
  • ICU Kits: 178
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 1,046

Americas

• Grants Disbursed: $405 thousand
• Material Aid Provided: $341 million
  • Shipments: 260
  • PPE: 8.2 million units
  • Medications: 61.1 million Defined Daily Doses
  • ICU Kits: 84
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 1,497 units

Asia

• Grants Disbursed: $1.3 million
• Material Aid Provided: $169.6 million
  • Shipments: 234
  • PPE: 4.1 million units
  • Medications: 15.6 million defined daily doses
  • ICU Kits: 58
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 420 units

Africa

• Grants Disbursed: $1.26 million
• Material Aid Provided: $489 million
  • Shipments: 234
  • PPE: 42.4 million units
  • Medications: 27.9 million defined daily doses
  • ICU kits: 73
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 326

Europe

• Grants Disbursed: $503 thousand
• Material Aid Provided: $33.1 million
  • Shipments: 50
  • PPE: 1.4 million units
  • Medications: 1.5 million defined daily doses
  • ICU kits: 4
  • Ventilators & oxygen concentrators: 524

Applied Research and Analytics

Even before the pandemic, Direct Relief had facilitated emergency managers’ use of population movement and other data for decision-making purposes, including in Texas, California, and Michigan.

When Covid-19 hit, it was immediately apparent that this kind of data would be an essential tool for analyzing social distancing effectiveness.

In March of 2020, Direct Relief, with researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, established the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network. The network, comprised of a group of about 70 infectious disease epidemiologists and other researchers, began creating simple, usable data projects to help public health officials and policymakers understand the impacts of social distancing measures in a given area.

Officials have used the group’s research and information tools in the UK, Spain, Italy, India, Australia, Botswana, Chile, and other countries. The data used for these analyses is hosted on the UN’s Humanitarian Data Exchange, allowing governments worldwide to receive support or analyze the data themselves.

While the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network was convened because of an emergency, Direct Relief and the researchers wanted to ensure that similar data would be readily available in a clear and actionable form and on an ongoing basis for future crises, including wildfires and hurricanes.

CrisisReady, working with the World Bank, is in the initial stages of creating a global emergency response network, which will launch in March-April of 2021.

In addition, Direct Relief is funding two researchers whose essential work combines population movement data and health crisis analysis: Pamela Martinez at the University of Illinois and Amy Wesolowski at Johns Hopkins University.

Among the resources developed by Direct Relief to inform and track its pandemic response are the following:

• The Covid-19 International Vulnerability Index examines population movement data and information about case counts, hospital beds, and other vulnerability indicators to generate actionable information and analysis.
• The United States forecast map draws on anonymized data to predict the spread of Covid-19.
• The United States pandemic response tracker shows Direct Relief’s distribution of medical aid across the country.
• The international pandemic response tracker shows the organization’s global distribution.

Looking forward

The remaining funds designated for the pandemic will enable Direct Relief to continue its worldwide response, focusing on:

1. Supporting vaccination efforts

• Expanding cold-chain storage and transport at hospitals and health centers and providing coolers for mobile vaccination campaigns.
• Providing needles and syringes to administer vaccines.
• Supplying PPE to health workers giving vaccinations.
• Funding education, awareness, and outreach campaigns at health centers and hospitals, particularly in poor communities and communities of color.
• Employing digital tools and artificial intelligence to determine low vaccine uptake areas and provide that information to policymakers and public health officials.
• Funding health centers that experience reimbursement gaps after administering vaccines.
• Increasing Direct Relief’s internal capabilities to receive, store, and distribute the vaccine.
• Supporting the opening of large-scale vaccination sites with funding and supplies.
• Providing back-up power sources to health care sites at risk of power loss, which can destroy vaccines.

2. Addressing Covid-19 gaps in hardest-hit areas

• Funding health initiatives in primarily minority communities hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic.
• Providing grants to health care providers in the United States and around the world struggling to care for patients affected by Covid-19.
• Continuing to provide critical care medications, oxygen concentrators, and ventilators to hospitals worldwide caring for Covid-19 patients.
• Supplying PPE to providers unable to access these lifesaving supplies reliably.
• Establishing and funding Covid-19 treatment and isolation wards ensures that low-resource areas have the resources to care for Covid-19 patients safely.
• Providing health care support for Covid-19 patients to recover at home, freeing hospital beds for more critical cases.

3. Continuing support for people with other health care needs:

• While global health resources are diverted towards preventing and treating Covid-19, fundamental health care needs continue.
• Babies continue to be born. The number of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and cancer is only growing. And children with diabetes, hemophilia, and rare diseases still need lifesaving therapies.
• As the pandemic continues, Direct Relief will continue to provide the essential medical aid required for their care.

Thank You

Direct Relief’s extensive ability to provide a wide range of medical aid, from PPE to medications intended for critical cases of Covid-19, would not have been possible without in-kind and financial donations from dozens of pharmaceutical and medical supply companies, with air transport and logistical services provided by FedEx.

Many of these organizations work closely with Direct Relief on an ongoing basis to fund and supply humanitarian projects and programs. However, the outpouring of support from corporate partners, both new and ongoing, has been unprecedented during the Covid-19 pandemic. Direct Relief is deeply grateful for their generosity and commitment.

Included among them are:

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Operational activity remains high for California, where cases continue to break records week after week. This week, it became the first U.S. state to record a total of 3 million cases since the pandemic began.

Covid cases in the United States are beginning to decline compared to previous weeks, according to a model created by Facebook AI Research, which has been mapped and analyzed by Direct Relief.

“Although the predicted case increase remains extremely high and serious, the forecast relative to the previous model run has decreased dramatically – with just over 4 million new cases forecast nationally by Feb. 9,” said Andrew Schroeder, Direct Relief’s Vice President of Research and Analysis.

“Fundamentally, the geography of this phase of the pandemic has not shifted much, with the most affected areas remaining California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and then up through the rest of the northeast and New England.”

Schroeder said that California alone accounts for 16% of the total national forecast case increase, with all major urban areas in the state predicted to see growth rates of 20% or more over the next three weeks.

The state has been a major operational focus for the organization, and more than $639,000 in medical aid has been shipped to dozens of health care providers across the state over the last seven days.

Respiratory Support, PPE Shipments Continue to Covid-Impacted Hospitals

As many ICUs are taxed to the limit, Direct Relief shipped hundreds of oxygen concentrators to hospitals working quickly to make room for incoming patients. Oxygen concentrators can provide respiratory support to patients being discharged from the hospital, freeing up space for more critical cases. Many hospitals have also requested powered air-purifying respirators, or PAPRs, which can protect providers with an enclosed hood and attached air purifier as they provide patient care over long stretches of time.

This week, a key shipment departed for Ventura County Medical Center. The shipment included 11,000 isolation gowns and 50,000 gloves, as well as other essential medical items. Twenty oxygen concentrators and 20 powered air-purifying respirators were also included in the shipment.

New recipients in the Los Angeles area include Valencia Pulmonary Group, which is working to connect patients discharged from local hospitals with respiratory care at home. They received 24 PAPRs and 25 oxygen concentrators.

The Garfield Medical Center and USC/Keck Medical Center also received PAPRs and oxygen concentrators for respiratory support.

Receiving PPE support this week was CORE, a nonprofit that coordinated mass Covid testing at Dodger stadium and is also supporting a mass vaccination site at the stadium. Gloves and N95 masks were sent to protect those conducting patient outreach.

Medical support also continued to health facilities in Arizona that received oxygen concentrators, including one large hospital system that will be able to continue patient discharges with an infusion of 100 oxygen concentrators that patients can use at home.

Summary of Continued Response

Since December 1, 2020, the organization has made 3,239 shipments totaling 1.2 million lbs. (600 tons) of medical material aid containing 38.6 million Defined Daily Doses and valued at $235.1 million to 1,130 partner organizations in 48 US states/territories and 50 countries.

The material aid shipments, which are provided upon request to health organizations, include both medical supplies and essential medications for patients without the means to pay, as well as more than 18.9 million units of PPE needed for any in-person medical visits and for care of Covid patients.

Direct Relief has also issued $7 million in grants in recent weeks, including $250,000 to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and $250,000 to the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi to support primary care efforts at the community level.

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“With this donation to Direct Relief, we hope to not only highlight the inequities that exist in healthcare in South Florida’s minority communities, but to begin to close the gap,” said Eric Woolworth, President of The HEAT Group’s Business Operations.

The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic has again highlighted the severe inequities that exist in the United States among persons of different races, as persons of color have experienced disproportionately higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death from the virus. The most recent CDC surveillance data reports that Black or African American persons COVID-19 infection rates are 2.6x higher, hospitalizations are 4.7x higher, and deaths are 2.1x higher compared to White, Non-Hispanic persons.

To launch the partnership and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, HEAT legend Glen Rice, TV Host and Courtside Reporter Jason Jackson, and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kionne McGhee joined the Miami HEAT Dancers, Burnie the mascot and HEAT staffers on Friday at Community Health of South Florida, Inc.’s Doris Ison Health Center to serve meals to its 400 frontline healthcare workers and 150 patients. The meals were prepared by World Central Kitchen.

“CHI Is honored to receive donations, lunch and this festive visit from Direct Relief and the Miami HEAT,” said Brodes H. Hartley, Jr. CHI CEO. “I know our staff will be delighted with the gifts and recognition. They have selflessly devoted themselves to patient care throughout this pandemic.”

Continue reading at NBA.com.

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Dozens of shipments have already departed this week from Direct Relief to medical facilities around the world, including many in the U.S., where Arizona and California are experiencing record case numbers. Direct Relief has monitoring these Covid-19 hotspots, and conducting extensive outreach to medical staff in these areas to offer support.

Southern California Braces for January Covid Surge

Arizona now has the highest case and death rate of Covid-19 in the U.S., with about 7,300 new Covid-19 cases and 182 known deaths reported on Thursday.

Shipments of PPE, including gloves, gowns, masks and other supplies, have departed Direct Relief’s warehouse for the state this week, in coordination with the Arizona Alliance of Community Health Centers.

Health facilities in Tuba City, Tucson, Mesa, Casa Grande, and Phoenix, among others, either have received infusions of PPE this week or have shipments en route.

Health facilities in California, the second-most impacted U.S. state, also received critical supplies this week from Direct Relief. 

Direct Relief Delivers Oxygen Concentrators to California Covid Hotspot

Shortages of oxygen in many California hospitals have been widely reported. Direct Relief shipped hundreds of oxygen concentrators to hospitals working to quickly make room for incoming patients.

Antelope Valley Hospital, in Lancaster, California, is one hospital experiencing a surge of cases. To accommodate the influx of patients, it set up a field hospital with 50 additional beds in its parking lot. Direct Relief staff delivered requested medical aid to the area Tuesday, including 200 oxygen concentrators, which can provide respiratory support to patients being discharged from the hospital, freeing up space for more critical cases.

Thousands of Advanced Respirators Reach Health Workers

Direct Relief is supporting many Los Angeles-area hospitals with respiratory equipment via the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Among the recipients is Cedars Sinai Hospital, which has 240 powered air-purifying respirators, or PAPRS, en route. These devices can protect providers with an enclosed hood and attached air purifier as they provide patient care over long stretches of time.

Dozens of health centers and clinics across California have also received recent shipments of PPE, including health centers from all corners of the state, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Crescent City, Tustin, Delano, Salinas, and dozens of others.

Since December 1, 2020, the organization has made 2,918 shipments totaling 498,483 lbs. (249 tons) of medical material aid containing 28.5 million Defined Daily Doses and valued $210.1 million to 1,077 partner organizations in 48 US states/territories and 46 countries.

The material aid shipments provided upon request to health organizations include both medical supplies and essential medications for patients without the means to pay, as well as more than 18 million units of PPE needed for any in-person medical visits and of course for care of Covid patients.

Direct Relief has also issued $6.3 million in grants in recent weeks, including $500,000 for Covid-19 response to the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, which represents non-profit community clinics and health centers that serve more than 1.7 million patients, many of whom are uninsured, underinsured, low-income, high-risk and vulnerable populations.

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Since December 1, 2020, the organization has made 2,623 shipments totaling 458,815 lbs. (229 tons) of medical material aid containing 26.2 million Defined Daily Doses and valued $199.5 million to 1,010 partner organizations in 48 US states/territories and 43 countries.

The material aid shipments provided upon request to health organizations include both medical supplies and essential medications for patients without the means to pay, as well as more than 12 million units of PPE needed for any in-person medical visits and of course for care of Covid patients.

Direct Relief has also issued $5.2 million in grants in recent weeks.

Among the grants provided, $1 million was provided to the Navajo Nation and health divisions providing services to Navajo people, who have experienced disproportionate loss of life from the pandemic.

Other grants of $250,000 each were provided to the Massachusetts and Mississippi associations of community health centers, whose member nonprofit health centers serve persons also particularly hard hit from the pandemic – over 90% in or near poverty, and more than 63% of whom are members of racial or ethnic minority groups.

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Direct Relief’s overall revenue in its 2020 fiscal year included $1.82 billion in donated medicines and services (up 36% from last year) and $171 million in private cash contributions (up 81% from last year).

FORBES: AMERICA’S TOP CHARITIES 2020

As one of the world’s primary channels for humanitarian medical aid and the only global nonprofit recognized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as an Accredited Drug Distributor, Direct Relief partners with and seeks in-kind contributions from businesses and organizations of goods and services. As such, in-kind donations, which the organization provides without charge to qualified health care organizations for patients in need, typically represent more than 90% percent of Direct Relief’s total annual revenue.

Contributions to Direct Relief during this period — a year that saw a deadly pandemic and a near-constant series of climate-driven disasters — coincided with an unprecedented spike in demand for the organization’s services. Direct Relief responded by providing more humanitarian assistance than ever before in its 72-year history to every U.S. state and 99 other countries worldwide.

Overall, the medical-material support provided by Direct Relief increased from the prior fiscal year to 5.2 million lbs. (up 73%) with a wholesale value of $1.4 billion (up 29%) and included 223 million Defined Daily Doses of requested medications (up 71%).

In the U.S. alone, Direct Relief’s stepped-up efforts in response to the concurrent crises of the largest-ever wildfires, the most active hurricanes in U.S. history, and the Covid-19 pandemic included 26 thousand deliveries of requested medications, supplies, and over 13 million units of PPE. These resources bolstered the efforts of more than 2,400 healthcare providers in medically underserved areas and to hospitals and public agencies dealing with surging caseloads across the U.S.

The outpouring of public generosity also enabled Direct Relief to disburse more than $43 million in cash grants to more than 500 nonprofit community health centers and free and charitable clinics in the U.S. The communities and patients served by these organizations include high percentages of persons from racial and ethnic minority groups who have experienced the highest rates of Covid infections, hospitalizations, and deaths since the pandemic began. The financial support helped bolster their shaken financial status, enhance safety measures for their frontline staff, and stand up community responses in their home communities.

In the Forbes 2020 ranking, Direct Relief received a score of 100% for charitable commitment (how much of a charity’s total expense went directly to the charitable purpose) and 100% on fundraising efficiency (the percent of private donations remaining after deducting fundraising costs).

Direct Relief accepts no government funding and is supported only by private, charitable contributions, and values donated medicine and supplies at wholesale prices (see https://www.directrelief.org/about/finance/).

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AbbVie’s commitment to help launch Direct Relief’s new Fund for Health Equity will support Direct Relief’s efforts to expand and improve healthcare services offered by health centers, clinics, and other local organizations with the long-term goal of strengthening health services for Black Communities across the nation.

“AbbVie’s extraordinary philanthropic commitment announced today will provide financial support to expand access and strengthen health services in Black communities through locally run nonprofits including federally qualified community health centers, free and charitable clinics, and other community based efforts,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “These locally run organizations understand better than anyone both the challenges that exist and what works, and in the case of community health centers, have demonstrated for more than 50 years unmatched commitment and provably effective results. But, private philanthropic support has been very limited, which is why AbbVie’s recognition and strong leadership is so deeply appreciated and so important. It will allow these organizations to do more of what they do best and help redress chronic disparities in health that the COVID-19 pandemic has tragically highlighted and made worse.”

“Direct Relief’s focus on medically underserved Black communities across the U.S. will make a long-term, measurable impact on people’s lives,” said Karen Hale, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, AbbVie. “This targeted funding and its concurrent evaluation will allow for continuous improvement and innovation of quality health care for Black communities, and we hope this donation serves as a catalyst for future investments.”

Among other activities in recent months, Direct Relief has disbursed over $35 million in financial support to community health centers and free & charitable clinics in communities of color that have been disproportionately affected and particularly hard-hit by COVID-19.

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