Hurricane Florence: Prepping East Coast Health Facilities

Hurricane Florence as seen from the International Space Station on Sept. 10. The hurricane is expected to make landfall on Thursday night. (NASA photo)

By Lara Cooper

September 13, 2018

Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall this weekend, and health facilities in the storm’s path are already making medical preparations for the impacts.

The storm is moving towards the eastern seaboard, and more than 1 million people residents in coastal areas of North and South Carolina and Virginia are facing mandatory evacuation orders.

Direct Relief shipped requested Emergency Health Kits Tuesday to health centers in the storm’s path, including to Goshen Medical Centers, a health system with locations throughout North Carolina, as well as the C.W. Williams Community Health Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Direct Relief funded a mobile medical unit for Goshen Medical Center after Hurricane Matthew, and additional medical supplies are being shipped for use as the unit treats patients beyond health center walls.

Emergency Medical Backpacks are readied for shipment to health centers in North Carolina on Tuesday, Sept. 11. The shipments were requested in advance of Hurricane Florence making landfall. (Lara Cooper/Direct Relief)

Emergency Medical Backpacks are also being shipped. The packs are filled with essential medicines and supplies that first responders often need after an emergency.

Direct Relief has offered medical support to more than 200 facilities in the storm’s path and will continue coordinating throughout the storm and after. Health centers and clinics in Georgia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia have been contacted.

Staff at the Roanoke Chowan Health Center in Ahoskie, North Carolina, said they’ll likely use supplies this week from their Hurricane Preparedness Pack sent by Direct Relief.

Hurricane Preparedness Packs are built inside Direct Relief’s warehouse on August 1, 2018. The packs contain essential medicines and supplies and are prepositioned in hurricane and typhoon-prone areas around the world. (Lara Cooper/Direct Relief)

The prepositioned packs are filled with emergency supplies each year and located in hurricane-prone areas across the United States, filled with essential medicines often needed after a disaster.

Eight packs are currently located at centers within the hurricane’s project path, and more are located throughout the coast. Critical medicines needed to manage chronic conditions, like insulin, are also included inside each pack.

*Click the above map to view the storm’s path, Direct Relief’s partner network and where medicines are staged.*

Direct Relief has also been coordinating with primary care associations in Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and North and South Carolina, as well as the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Free Clinics, the CDC Foundation, the National Association of Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters.