28 Local Health Providers Awarded $700K for Hurricane Helene and Milton Recovery Efforts

Direct Relief visited Nadine (Deanie) Singh, DNP of Premiere Mobile Health Services in Ft. Meyers, FL on Oct 15, 2024 in the wake of Hurricane Milton and Helene. (Photo by Bimarian/Direct Relief)
By Staff

In response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Direct Relief has provided or committed $700,000 in emergency grant funding to 28 health care organizations in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These grants are part of a $2 million cash funding commitment Direct Relief has made to recovery work for these hurricanes.

The two severe storms, with Milton following almost immediately on Helene’s heels, created urgent, widespread health needs across the southeastern United States. Both hurricanes hit a number of the same vulnerable communities, compounding their impacts.

These Direct Relief grants provide $25,000 to individual health centers, charitable clinics, and other nonprofit providers responding to these crises. Their purpose is to keep health care services accessible to low-income patients affected by these disasters, helping to minimize the deadly long-term impacts of hurricanes.

“In times of crisis, it’s often the compassion of total strangers that reminds us of the strength and resilience of our shared humanity,” wrote Blue Ridge Community Health Services, a grant recipient. Direct Relief also supported the North Carolina health center’s response to Helene with field medic packs, hygiene kits, tetanus vaccines, and other material aid. “Our patients experienced not just relief but the knowledge that people — often from many, many miles and states way — cared enough to offer help in their most difficult moments.”

Helene’s brutal track left damaged roads and devastated towns in in its wake, including areas of western North Carolina thought to be comparatively safe from storm threats. Flooding, power and water loss, and inaccessible roads made it difficult for people to receive emergency health care, access vital medications, or even drink clean water. Because health centers and other nonprofit health providers were contending with damaged facilities, displaced staff members, and a lack of access to reliable power or clean water, their own ability to respond was compromised, exacerbating the crisis.

While Milton’s scale and power were lesser than feared, the storm’s impact was considerable, and worsened by its path over a number of already hard-hit Florida communities. Power outages and severe flooding were widespread; unexpected tornadoes caused deaths and damage. Doctors and emergency responders encountered acute medical situations in devastated mobile and senior communities like Spanish Lakes.

These emergency grants enable community health providers to respond to increased needs caused by natural disasters, while quickly restoring continuity of care for vulnerable patients. Funding will cover the cost of critical supplies, staffing, repairs, and other necessities. As nonprofit health organizations prepare to care for patients with physical trauma, worsened chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes, mental health concerns, interrupted prenatal services, and other long-term disaster impacts, the grants will support their on-the-ground work.

The grant recipient organizations are:

Direct Relief’s emergency grant funding is part of a broad disaster response, which includes the provision of material aid such as first aid supplies and essential medicines; kits designed for disaster preparedness and in-the-field care; nutrition and hydration support; the outfitting of mobile clinics designed for emergency efforts; and long-term collaborations with community health partners focused on resilience and recovery.

In the aftermath of Helene and Milton, Direct Relief has provided more than $3.3 million in immediate material aid to providers in affected states, a number that does not include grant funding or long-term preparedness measures such as mobile vehicle purchases or the pre-season staging of Hurricane Preparedness Packs.

Direct Relief remains committed to supporting health centers, free clinics, and charitable pharmacies in providing uninterrupted care as recovery efforts continue.

Licensed to distribute prescription medications nationwide, including in North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee, Direct Relief runs the country’s largest nonprofit charitable medicines program, providing both routine and emergency medical support for low-income patients at more than 1,600 community health care organizations.

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