Direct Relief helped restore access to health care services for New York families in need last week by connecting The Floating Hospital with emergency fuel rations.

The organization – which cares for about 80 percent of the homeless families in New York City, including the majority of homeless children – lost electrical power, phones and internet communications in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

When Direct Relief’s post-disaster assessment team arrived at their central hub in Long Island City, Queens on Nov. 5,  the team learned that although power had been restored their crisis of connectivity was ongoing.

Due to intense gasoline shortages throughout the New York area, The Floating Hospital was unable to locate fuel for their fleet of vans which shepherd homeless patients between the clinic and various shelter locations throughout the city.  Without gasoline, thousands of the city’s most vulnerable families would continue to be unable to meet basic primary care needs for days.

Fortunately, Direct Relief was able to connect The Floating Hospital with the public health crisis response team in the Office of Emergency Management later in the week. Their response team was able to clear them to receive emergency re-fueling rations and restore their network’s operations.

Direct Relief continues to stay in touch with The Floating Hospital,  collaborating to help restore health care services for New York’s homeless families.   This past weekend, Floating Hospital received a shipment of essential medicines and supplies to further aid their recovery efforts.