by Rebecca Walker — July 27, 2009—To support healthcare providers caring for vulnerable populations in hurricane-prone areas, Direct Relief International has expanded its three-year-old Hurricane Preparedness Program to additional sites in the United States and abroad. If an emergency strikes, medical aid will be on hand when it’s needed most.
Direct Relief has deployed 25 Hurricane Preparedness Packs to partner clinics and health centers in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and expanded assistance to new partners in Florida and Puerto Rico this year. Five additional Hurricane Prep Packs stand at the ready at Direct Relief’s warehouse in case a hurricane strikes another area. Hurricane Prep Pack recipients are selected for their location, past experience with emergency response, patient population, and capacity to treat victims during an emergency.
Each Hurricane Prep Pack holds enough medical supplies to treat 100 patients for a variety of conditions, from injuries to chronic illnesses, for a 72-hour period. At a wholesale value of almost $12,000, the pack’s contents were informed by responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, work with the Texas Blue Ribbon Commission on Emergency Preparedness and Response, and feedback from recipients since the program began in 2007. If a hurricane doesn’t strike, pack contents can be easily absorbed into regular clinic inventory to avoid waste.
The waterproof packs are designed to use in clinic settings or at alternate care sites. They are easy to transport during a hurricane, as one recipient demonstrated last year. Coastal Family Health Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, used the Hurricane Prep Pack it received in 2008 aboard its mobile medical unit, which traveled to evacuation shelters in Texas and Louisiana during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Read about Direct Relief’s 2008 Hurricane Preparedness and Response.
Direct Relief continues to refine its emergency preparedness efforts both internationally and in the U.S. At the spring 2009 Gulf States Hurricane Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi, Direct Relief staff convened with Emergency Management Department representatives from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi to establish hurricane response plans. As the 2009 hurricane season unfolds, Direct Relief remains ready to respond with emergency medical aid should a hurricane strike.
For more information, see the Web site.
