The Direct Relief-chartered MD-11 cargo jet contained $21 million (wholesale) in donated medical resources from 44 companies (full list of companies below), including extensive quantities of intravenous solutions and prescription medications for acute conditions and chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension that can rapidly become medical emergencies if not managed. 

“This airlift will go a long way towards helping our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, and I am eternally grateful to Direct Relief and all of the organizations involved,” said President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, and founder and board chair of the Clinton Foundation. “Their efforts are a reminder that when so many people need our help, our common humanity matters even more.”

The Clinton Foundation has supported Direct Relief’s work for years, including the recovery efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. In the response to the Caribbean hurricanes this year, the Clinton Foundation has helped to coordinate and advise the team at Direct Relief.

Businesses Step Up to Fill Resource Gap

Direct Relief works with dozens of healthcare companies’ philanthropic arms on an ongoing basis to address public health needs and humanitarian crises across the globe and in all 50 U.S. states.  This private philanthropic support from businesses, as well as philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, and organizations has enabled a massively stepped-up response to assist in Puerto Rico, where health services have been severely constricted by the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

44 companies joined in filling specific requests that Direct Relief received from nonprofit health centers, government facilities, and private hospitals in Puerto Rico – all of which have been struggling to restore and expand services to care for the island’s more than 3 million residents.

“Direct Relief has been a wonderful partner for Eli Lilly and Company,” said Rob Smith, senior director of corporate responsibility and president of the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.  “We have worked together to get insulin to those impacted by the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria.  Lilly could not ask for a more capable, responsive, and compassionate partner.  We are so grateful for all of the things Direct Relief is doing to help the great people of Puerto Rico recover from this terrible disaster.”

The medicines and supplies on the flight were donated by the following companies:

3M; Abbott; AbbVie; Alcon; Allergan plc; Amneal Pharmaceuticals; Apotex Inc.; AstraZeneca; Baxter International Inc.; Bayer; BD; Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Cera Products, Inc.; Cipla; Coola Suncare; CVS; DayOne Response; Ethicon; GSK; Henry Schein, Inc.; Integra LifeSciences; InTouch Health; Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson; Kaléo; LifeScan; Magno-Humphries Labs; Medtronic; Merck & Co., Inc.; Mylan; Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Noble Laboratories, Inc.; Novartis; Pfizer Inc.; Prestige Brands; Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Sanofi Foundation for NA; Sappo Hill Soapworks; Starbucks; Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA; Trividia Health; Vaseline; Wisconsin Pharmacal Company. 

Responding to an Unprecedented Hurricane Season

Today’s airlift follows several weeks of smaller-scale airlifts and hand-carried medications and emergency medical resources to dozens of Puerto Rico’s nonprofit health centers and medical teams organized by the Puerto Rico Department of Health.

Among the critical items has been 565 vials of blood-clotting factor for children with hemophilia, 15,600 vials of insulin, 35 pre-kitted emergency medical packs containing a broad range of Rx medications and supplies, as well as 1500 solar lights and over 4000 bottles of insect repellant to protect against Zika virus.

Direct Relief’s response in Puerto Rico has been concurrent with extensive responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that preceded Maria.

Since Hurricane Harvey’s landfall on August 25, Direct Relief has sent 148 tons of medications, vaccines, and medical supplies valued at $64.7 million (wholesale) and including 19 million defined daily doses of Rx medications delivered via 560 emergency shipments to 143 partner organizations in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, USVI and seven Caribbean countries.

In addition, Direct Relief has provided and committed financial support in the form of grants totaling over $2.7 million to 43 nonprofit health centers and clinics and their primary care associations in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

The post 76-Ton Airlift of Medicine and Medical Supplies Lands in Puerto Rico   appeared first on Direct Relief.

Santa Barbara, CA (March 8, 2012): Direct Relief USA, the country’s only non-profit provider of free medicines to clinics and health centers in all 50 states, today announced that Abbott, Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc., and Novartis Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc. have joined a new model of charitable donations of medications for people without health insurance.

Nonprofit Direct Relief USA, which provides medical donations to a network of more than 1,000 nonprofit community clinics and health centers nationwide, announced that the three organizations are participating in a five-state pilot program to donate medicines on a replenishment basis to uninsured, low-income patients. This model is based on a successful pilot conducted in recent years with Abbott.

The expanded pilot initiative announced today will provide needed medications to patients at ten nonprofit clinics and health centers that collectively serve 268,476 patients in medically underserved areas. Nationwide, it is estimated that more than 20 million patients receive primary health care services at community-based nonprofit facilities, which include Federally Qualified Health Centers and free clinics.
“This replenishment model brings new efficiencies to charitable efforts to help patients at clinics and health centers get the medications they need on an ongoing basis,” said Damon Taugher, Director of Direct Relief USA.

“We are pleased that nonprofit safety-net clinics, their uninsured patients, and companies’ charitable resources can each leverage Direct Relief’s unique status as the only nonprofit licensed to distribute medications in all 50 states, the robust information and distribution systems, and extensive network that we have built for this purpose,” said Taugher.

Direct Relief USA provided more than $54 million (valued at wholesale acquisition cost) worth of medicine to its network of clinics and health centers in 2011. Direct Relief was awarded the 2011 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation for its aggressive adaptation of commercial technology for humanitarian purposes.

Direct Relief’s program focuses on high concentrations of uninsured patients in America’s nonprofit safety net clinics and health centers and complements existing traditional patient assistance programs (PAPs) through which individual companies provide free or discounted prescription medicine to low-income, uninsured patients.
The benefits of the new approach of the Replenishment Program increases efficiencies through a scalable platform, through which multiple companies participate in a program designed to enhance patient care through a streamlined process. The program aims to:

• Improve the way patients receive medications at clinics and health centers;
• Streamline the clinics’ administrative processes spent on PAP enrollment and dispensing;
• Maximize efficiencies in providing donated medicines to patients;
• Provide a scalable platform for a national program accessible to additional pharmaceutical companies and recipient clinics.

For participating nonprofit clinics and health centers, which must demonstrate rigorous internal controls for drug dispensing and recordkeeping, the program provides a single point of access to multiple pharmaceutical companies’ drugs. This eliminates the need to manage numerous programs and submit duplicative applications for individual medications, which enables redirection of scarce clinical resources from administrative tasks for improved patient care.

Abbott, Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc., and Novartis Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc. will provide prescription drugs that will assist healthcare providers in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hypothyroidism, neurological disease, mental health disease, HIV/AIDS, infection and other conditions. Recipient clinics will be better equipped to care for their patients by offering them much-needed continuity of care.

“Direct Relief’s Replenishment Program streamlines our ability to provide high-quality care to the patients we serve,” said Sharon Ng, Pharmacy Director of Venice Family Clinic in Venice, California. “With a significant reduction in paperwork and with fewer packages to receive, unpack and update into our inventory, we are able to spend more time with our patients and less time on the administrative component of traditional patient assistance programs. The timesavings provided to us through the Replenishment Program helps keep costs low and patient care the main focus.”

The Replenishment Program will support ten clinics in California, Washington, Texas, Michigan, and Florida.

About Direct Relief International

Direct Relief is California’s largest medical relief organization, active in all 50 states and over 70 countries. It works with more than 1,000 health clinics across the U.S. to assist in emergencies and an ongoing basis, providing them with free medications for people in need. The organization has been among the world’s largest medical suppliers in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, has top charity ratings, including four-star and “top-notch” rating from Charity Navigator, and a 100% fundraising efficiency rating from Forbes magazine. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.

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