On Feb. 24, 2017, in response to requests from Lake County Public Health and Santa Clara County Better Health Pharmacy in San Jose, CA, Direct Relief sent five shipments containing items such as prescription medication and hygiene products. With a value of more than $15,400 and weight exceeding 1,910 pounds, this shipment will meet urgent health needs in the area after severe weather and record-setting flooding devastated parts of Northern California.
Kimberly Baldwin, emergency preparedness coordinator at County of Lake Health Services Department, reported that many individuals have been forced out of their homes due to flooding. As a result, healthcare facilities have seen an increase in patients in need of shelter and medical care.
Direct Relief has also extended offers of assistance to California State Responders, health centers and clinics in the region.
The offers include essential supplies and medications, including those to manage chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension – conditions that can become acute crises when certain medications are unavailable to people who depend on them.
In emergency situations, people often leave their medications behind or find that evacuation centers lack the cold storage needed to keep medications like insulin at the required temperature. As a result, people with chronic health conditions – primarily diabetes, asthma and hypertension – are at heightened risk.
Downstream communities in Northern California brace for flooding as dams overflow: https://t.co/RsKMrkHk7M pic.twitter.com/XqGsIHeQlL
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) February 22, 2017
Direct Relief is a member of California’s Business Utility & Operations Center (BUOC) and also works with the California Primary Care Association and regional primary care coalitions to ensure that community health centers and clinics have the medical resources they need to care for vulnerable populations during emergencies and on an ongoing basis. Since 2009, Direct Relief has provided more than $100 million in medications and other supplies to 532 community clinics, health centers and other organizations in California.
Community health centers and clinics serve as the medical home for more than 5.6 million Californians. Patients at these safety-net facilities are among the most vulnerable generally, and particularly so in emergencies. In turn, these facilities often play a central role in disasters, averting medical emergencies by ensuring primary health care remains available.
As the only humanitarian nonprofit licensed to distribute prescription medications in all 50 states, Direct Relief is acutely sensitive to the health crises that can arise in mass evacuations.
Direct Relief will continue to monitor the situation in the coming days.
