At the beginning of hurricane season in June, Direct Relief sent 15 hurricane preparedness modules to 10 partners in seven countries, including modules to four hospitals in Haiti. The ready-to-deploy modules contain enough medicines and supplies to treat 5,000 patients for one month in case of an emergency like Isaac. The use of the pre-positioned module is an example of preparedness efforts at work as Direct Relief recognizes National Preparedness Month.

With the supplies on hand, St. Damien’s staff was able to care for patients who were injured and sick facing extremely dire conditions. They distributed items from the modules, such as protein bars and infant nutritionals to those who were malnourished and dehydrated; and soap and oral rehydration solution in order to help prevent the spread of cholera .

According to a staff member at St. Damien’s, “the Hurricane Module provided by Direct Relief enabled us to immediately care for the sick and injured without having to wait to find and procure medical supplies. Having these modules on hand makes our job of providing direct patient care much easier.”

Medical care becomes increasingly important in the aftermath of an emergency as people face injuries from falling objects and others require care for everything from water-borne illnesses to dehydration.

With strong winds and heavy rains that caused extensive flooding, mudslides and at least two dozen deaths and many more injuries, this storm was especially devastating for the roughly 400,000 Haitians who are still living under battered and torn tents since the January 2010 earthquake.

Nearly 10,000 people were evacuated and put into government buildings during the storm. Many others had to bear the brunt of the winds and rain in extremely harsh living conditions when homes flooded and families were forced to higher ground.

Many patients turn to hospitals like St. Damien’s during emergencies, which is why it is important they are prepared.

St. Damien’s was founded in 2006 and is a 45,000 square foot, 120-bed facility with an emergency room, surgery and cancer wards, infectious and non-infectious disease wards, a dental clinic, outpatient clinic, and public health center. The staff at St. Damien’s is committed to outreach and providing care for those who are most poor and vulnerable.

St. Damien’s recently built a new hospital in Cite-Soleil called St. Mary’s that provides care for the residents of Cite-Soleil who are most prone to calamity when a hurricane or tropical storm hits. This impoverished and densely populated commune has an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents and is generally regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere.

Cite-Soleil has virtually no sewers and has a poorly-maintained open canal system that serves as its sewage system, which can be a source of water-borne disease following flooding after storm events such as Isaac.

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The vaccines are provided at the request of St. Charles Community Health Center and EXCELth Family Health Center in Louisiana to protect residents displaced by the storm or engaging in cleanup activities. EXCELth is scheduled to receive two additional shipments of medicine and supplies valued at $170,000. Direct Relief’s Emergency Team is also coordinating with City Action Partnership in Birmingham, Alabama, which is working to support several shelters and facilities throughout the city.

Since Isaac formed in the Caribbean two weeks ago, Direct Relief’s Emergency Response Team has been in close contact with clinic partners along the Gulf Coast, monitoring changing circumstances and health needs and offering its emergency supply of medicine and medical resources to hurricane-affected areas.

As residents continue to return, preliminary reports indicate that Hurricane Isaac damaged more than 13,000 homes according to the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

In advance of hurricane season, Direct Relief equipped 50 clinic partners in hurricane-prone regions of the U.S. with hurricane preparedness packs, which contain enough medicine and medical supplies to treat up to 100 people for three to five days. Three partners in Isaac’s path utilized their hurricane preparedness packs over the past week to serve patients in their communities.

Direct Relief’s Hurricane Preparedness program—the largest effort of its kind in the U.S.—is a million-dollar initiative that pre-positions large quantities of medicines and supplies at nonprofit health centers, clinics, and hospitals in at-risk areas so the materials are immediately available during emergencies such as Hurricane Isaac. The pre-positioning of these medical resources is a key component of Direct Relief’s emergency preparedness efforts and ongoing assistance to partner clinics to facilitate a fast, efficient response when a disaster strikes.

Direct Relief would like to thank the following companies for their support: 3M, Abbott, Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Allergan, Inc., Ansell Healthcare, AstraZeneca, Baxter International Inc., Belmora LLC, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim Cares, C.R. Bard Medical Division, Chattem Inc., Covidien, Eli Lilly & Company, FirstLine Gloves, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, GSMS Incorporated, Henry Schein, Inc., Honeywell Products, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, McKesson Medical Surgical, Inc., Medline Industries, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Microflex, Mylan Laboratories Inc., Omron Healthcare, Inc., P&G, Pfizer, Inc., Plak Smacker, Rye Pharmaceuticals LLC, and Sanofi US.

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One of Direct Relief’s partners, Dr. Monir Shalaby, Medical Director of EXCELth Primary Health Care in New Orleans, reported that EXCELth is primarily working with locals who were evacuated and are returning to their homes. Dr. Shalaby anticipates that tetanus vaccine and flu immunizations will be needed for individuals involved in debris cleanup. EXCELth has been an active Direct Relief partner since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and participates in the Hurricane Prep Pack program.

Isaac, which was weakened to a tropical storm on Thursday, is still dumping heavy rains and bringing excessive flooding along the Northern Gulf Coast. It has been reported that over 975,000 people are without power in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

In advance of hurricane season Direct Relief equipped 50 clinic partners in hurricane-prone regions of the U.S. with hurricane preparedness packs. Each pack contains enough medicine and medical supplies to treat up to 100 people for three to five days.

Direct Relief’s Hurricane Preparedness program –the largest effort of its kind in the U.S. – is a million-dollar initiative that pre-positions large quantities of medicines and supplies at nonprofit health centers, clinics, and hospitals in at-risk areas to be used during emergencies to treat vulnerable people. The pre-positioning of these medical resources is a key component of Direct Relief’s emergency preparedness efforts and ongoing assistance to partner clinics to facilitate a fast, efficient response when a disaster strikes.

Direct Relief tracks the latest storm activity and every partner receiving a hurricane pack using interactive mapping technology. View map here: https://cloud.directrelief.org/hpp/

Wednesday marked the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where over 1,800 people died, making it one of the five deadliest hurricanes in United States history.

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These facilities are among 50 throughout nine hurricane-prone states stocked with Direct Relief’s ready-to-use hurricane preparedness pack. The medical relief organization has been monitoring the supply needs at more than 85 health clinic partners in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas as Tropical Storm Isaac moves north in the Gulf of Mexico, and is ready to send additional medical resources if needed.

Direct Relief’s Hurricane Preparedness program –the largest effort of its kind in the U.S. – is a million-dollar initiative that pre-positions large quantities of medicines and supplies at nonprofit health centers, clinics, and hospitals in at-risk areas to be used during emergencies to treat vulnerable people. The pre-positioning of these medical resources is a key component of Direct Relief’s emergency preparedness efforts and ongoing assistance to partner clinics to facilitate a fast, efficient response when a disaster strikes.

“Smart preparation is the best defense when a hurricane strikes. Community clinics and health clinics are the linchpin of an effective response and speedy recovery,” said Damon Taugher, Director of USA Programs at Direct Relief. “It is critical that clinics in areas most often hit by extreme weather are bolstered with additional supplies to utilize when the devastation first occurs.”

Since 2007, Direct Relief has equipped at-risk health facilities with Hurricane Preparedness Packs full of medical materials to treat 100 patients for a three-day period – about the time it takes to clear roads and open transportation channels. The contents of the prep packs are versatile and can also be used to treat patients with chronic diseases should they become displaced by storms and lose access to their medications or medical care. The international versions of the packs are much larger modules, containing enough supplies to treat 1,000 people for a month following a disaster. The program has grown each year, scaling from five sites in 2007 to 50 in 2012.

Direct Relief is able to supply the Hurricane Prep Packs through donations from pharmaceutical and medical corporations and through a long-standing relationship with FedEx to assist in shipping and logistics. The Prep Packs are provided free of charge to the healthcare facilities.

This Wednesday marks seven years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, becoming the most costly and one of the five most deadly natural disasters in U.S. history. Direct Relief was in a position to help following Katrina, providing medicines and medical supplies to healthcare providers treating people who were affected by the emergency. In 2005 alone, Direct Relief delivered more than $47 million in medical aid and $4.6 million in cash grants to help rebuild the healthcare system in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. In the past seven years Direct Relief has supported over 200 health facilities in the Gulf States with over $85 million in medical aid.

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Direct Relief’s Hurricane Preparedness Program is the only initiative of its kind, whereby large quantities of medicines and supplies are pre-positioned at community health centers, clinics and hospitals in at-risk areas across in the U.S., and internationally to be used during emergencies to treat vulnerable populations.

Since 2007, Direct Relief has provided emergency medical materials to key healthcare institutions in areas susceptible to hurricanes. Pre-positioning the modules at clinics and hospitals eliminates delivery delays and equips medical professionals with the materials to treat injured patients on-site when a hurricane strikes.

The Hurricane Preparedness Program began in the U.S. Gulf States and has expanded each year to include nine states in the U.S. and seven countries in the Caribbean. The contents of these modules were originally designed as part of Direct Relief’s participation on the Texas Blue Ribbon Commission on Emergency Preparedness and Response following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The modules include medicines and supplies to treat a variety of conditions, from trauma injuries to chronic conditions. Experience and feedback from partners is used to continually improve the contents and packaging of the pack.

In addition to the pre-positioned modules, Direct Relief has readied additional medicines and supplies at it’s headquarters which are ready to be airlifted should healthcare partners request additional resources in response to Hurricane Isaac.

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