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Firefighters put out hot spots in a residential area of Camarillo, California, on Nov. 7, 2024. The Mountain Fire has burned dozens of homes and displaced thousands. (CAL FIRE photo)
Over the past 7 days, Direct Relief has delivered 553 shipments of requested medical aid to 47 U.S. states and territories and 16 countries worldwide. The shipments contained 12.6M defined daily doses of medication.
Medications and supplies shipped this week included personal protective equipment for those impacted by wildfire smoke, field medic packs for triage care, rare disease therapies, and more.
Direct Relief Responds Locally to California’s Mountain Fire
Direct Relief staff deliver N-95 respirators for Ventura County residents dealing with air quality impacts from the Mountain Fire, a wildfire that had forced thousands to evacuate areas of Ventura County, California, on Nov. 7, 2024. Staff also delivered other medical aid and personal care products, such as shampoo, soap, and dental hygiene items for people displaced from their homes by the fires. (Photo by Adam Courier for Direct Relief)
As the fast-moving Mountain Fire tears through large areas of Ventura County, it is destroying dozens of homes, filling the air with smoke and particulates, and forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate. Direct Relief staff are on the ground in the county this week to distribute N95 respirators — more than 12,000 thus far — and other emergency support to residents and responding partners, including the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services.
At Direct Relief’s headquarters in Santa Barbara, about an hour north, staff have loaded additional respirators and supplies for transport to the Ventura Family YMCA, Camarillo Family YMCA, Ventura County Health Care Agency, and the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project. Shipments of emergency medical packs, developed for field medics responding to disasters, personal care kits for displaced communities, and a wildfire kit are being prepared in Direct Relief’s medical warehouse for the Westminster Free Clinic and Planned Parenthood Central Coast, both local health providers.
Direct Relief is giving out free N95 masks Friday 11/8 to help those impacted by the Mountain Fire smoke. They are at the Ventura YMCA on Telegraph Rd. and at the Camarillo Family YMCA, on Village at the Park Dr. both from 12-5pm. pic.twitter.com/uCiZviaXWf
To support disaster response and containment, Direct Relief provided funding to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, which is using a helicopter retrofitted for large water drops to fight the Mountain Fire from above.
Because Ventura County is an agricultural center, impacts on farmworkers laboring outdoors are a particular concern. Local agencies and groups, including the Ventura County Farm Bureau, have received respirators for distribution to agricultural workers.
Direct Relief staff members, distributing N95 respirators to county residents at the Ventura Family YMCA, heard concerns that protective masks have been difficult to find, and that people with respiratory health conditions are concerned about impacts from poor air quality.
The scale and speed of the Mountain Fire’s destruction indicate that additional medical support, from respiratory treatments like inhalers to chronic disease medications, is likely to be called for. Direct Relief will continue collaborating with partners to assess and respond to medical needs.
After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, A Long Road to Recovery
Dr. Yousef Motii conducts medical outreach in the destroyed Spanish Lakes neighborhood in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Motii is a clinician at Oceana Health, which has been providing medical services to residents impacted by recent hurricanes. (Photo by Bimarian Films)
Despite large-scale recovery efforts, hurricane-affected communities across the southeastern U.S. still confront threats from contaminated water, widespread displacement, housing shortages compounded by many thousands of damaged structures, and financial hardship. Health impacts are widespread, as is the need for medical resilience and long-term care access.
As of November 7, Direct Relief had awarded $750,000 in emergency operating grants to 30 healthcare provider partners in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee, enabling them to safeguard and expand health care access, including mobile clinic services and mental health care, to storm-impacted communities.
Direct Relief had also dispatched more than 180 shipments of specifically requested emergency medical aid valued at nearly $3.1 million to 35 healthcare providers responding to the needs of storm-affected communities in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Antibiotics, emergency medical backpacks, hygiene kits, over-the-counter products, personal protective equipment, and medications to manage chronic diseases were urgently requested and provided. Direct Relief also delivered epinephrine, oral rehydration salts, re-entry kits, water purification tablets, and vaccines for Covid-19, hepatitis A and B, influenza, and tetanus. Covid-19 vaccines, epinephrine, hepatitis A and B vaccines, influenza vaccines, naloxone, oral rehydration salts, re-entry kits, tetanus vaccines, and water purification tablets to responding organizations.
Cumulatively, the organization prepositioned 30 Hurricane Preparedness Packs with safety net providers in states affected by the hurricanes ahead of the 2024 Atlantic storm season. At least three health facilities in Florida and Georgia opened their prepositioned packs in response to the hurricane.
In addition, Direct Relief has committed more than $4.8 million for the design, installation, and maintenance of clean, resilient power systems at 11 community health centers in Florida and North Carolina through its Power for Health Initiative. Installation was recently completed at two facilities within eastern North Carolina’s Goshen Medical Center network, one of which would have lost power following Hurricane Helene but for its newly installed system. In 2025, Direct Relief plans to partner with at least six additional health facilities along the Gulf Coast for new projects.
As part of its ongoing support programs, Direct Relief has delivered more than 650 shipments valued at more than $7.2 million to more than 220 healthcare providers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia since Hurricane Helene made landfall.
Operational Snapshot
UNITED STATES
Direct Relief delivered 529 shipments containing 2.5M doses of medication during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:
Lake County Free Clinic, Ohio
Greenville Free Medical Clinic, South Carolina
SOAR WV Solutions Oriented Response West Virginia, West Virginia
Utah Naloxone – Andy’s, Utah
Health Partners Free Clinic, Ohio
Eunice Community Health Center, Louisiana
St. Vincent de Paul Clinic, Arizona
St. Michael’s Medical Clinic, Arizona
St. Michael’s Medical Clinic, Alabama
Plan A Health, Georgia
Around the World
Globally, Direct Relief shipped over 10.1M defined daily doses of medication totaling 48,234lbs., to countries including the following:
Syria
Malawi
Uganda
Palestinian Territories
Honduras
Iraq
India
Ghana
YEAR TO DATE
Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 21.3K shipments to 2,290 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 88 countries. These shipments contained 364.6M defined daily doses of medication valued at $1.4B (wholesale) and totaled 4.4M lbs.
