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Hurricane Melissa Left Devastation Behind. Medical Aid was Already Ready and Waiting.

Direct Relief caches of medical supplies, staged throughout the Caribbean, are being deployed in impacted areas.

News

Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane preparedness packs including medications and supplies provided by Direct Relief are distributed in advance of hurricane season in Haiti by local NGO Hope for Haiti. These critical supplies are on the ground and are currently in use in response to Hurricane Melissa. (Photo courtesy of Hope for Haiti)
By Talya Meyers

Hurricane Melissa tore across southern Haiti, killing at least 24 people and leaving widespread destruction. With supply lines down, medical staff at Hope for Haiti turned to a Hurricane Preparedness Pack from Direct Relief — a prepositioned cache of medicines and supplies delivered to the organization’s warehouse at the start of hurricane season to be deployed in crises like this.

“Over the past two days, Melissa brought heavy rain, flooding and landslides” to this part of Haiti, said Linda Thélémaque, Hope for Haiti’s chief program officer, in a video update. “The soil is saturated, roads have been cut off, and many families are recovering from water damage and loss of crops.”

Hope for Haiti, which serves more than 1 million people across southern Haiti, is using the medical supplies from Direct Relief to stock outpatient and mobile clinics working to reach people cut off from care.

Six large medical caches are staged for the regional response: four in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and two at the U.N. Humanitarian Response Depot in Panama for regional deployment. Each pack contains more than 200 items and is designed to sustain care for up to 3,000 patients for 30 days.

The caches are “filled with critical medicine and supplies that help us respond to hurricane related health needs. These include items to treat injuries, respiratory infections, skin conditions, diarrhea, and other illnesses that often follow heavy flooding,” Thélémaque explained. The supplies will allow Hope for Haiti clinicians “to respond quickly in the days and weeks ahead.”

In the Dominican Republic, Fundación Solidaria del Divino Niño Jesús received two pallets of insect repellent from Direct Relief on Oct. 21. The country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness will distribute the repellent in high-risk, flood-affected areas to help limit dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases.

Direct Relief supplies currently staged in Panama — including medications and field medic packs — will be routed to affected areas by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office of the World Health Organization.

An emergency response specialist at PAHO alerted Direct Relief on Thursday that the organization was preparing to ship one of the Hurricane Preparedness Packs, along with 10 field medic packs, to Jamaica to aid in response efforts.

PAHO had staged an additional HPP in Haiti last month in preparation for emergencies.

When a large-scale disaster strikes, the immediate priority is getting aid into devastated areas as quickly as possible. In the aftermath of a catastrophe like Hurricane Melissa, however, secondary threats can be deadlier than the initial storm: loss of chronic medications such as insulin, contaminated water, standing water that promotes mosquito-borne disease, damaged health facilities and blocked roads.

Direct Relief is rushing medical aid to affected communities – allocating $250,000 in initial emergency funding, shipping 100 field medic packs and 250 hygiene kits to Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness, and making its entire inventory of medicines available to hurricane-impacted areas in Jamaica and other countries.

The organization’s response built on years of regional investments intended to strengthen resilience and speed emergency response. Recent support includes $3 million for resilient infrastructure, power access and two mobile health clinics in Jamaica; another $3 million for resilient power, cold-chain, medical oxygen and mobile healthcare services across the eastern Caribbean; $1 million to bolster the Dominican Republic’s cold-chain and medical warehousing capacity; and $1 million to support emergency operating costs for nine Haitian health facilities affected by ongoing conflict.

“Direct Relief’s preparedness programs are active all year round, all working towards the goal of strengthening the response capacity of our local healthcare partners,” said Dan Hovey, Direct Relief’s vice president of emergency response

Melissa remains a threat, and affected communities are still taking stock of the damage and evaluating which health interventions are most needed. Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness has flagged mental-health impacts as a priority, said Genevieve Bitter, Direct Relief’s vice president of program operations. People — especially in the southwestern areas that bore the brunt of Melissa’s landfall — have lost homes, livelihoods and schools. Many are without running water, power or sufficient food and are unable to reach loved ones.

“People have been through a trauma,” Bitter said. Direct Relief staff are collaborating with MoHW officials to determine how best to meet mental-health and other hurricane-related needs.

But the strategic stockpiles placed throughout the region are already the first step in mitigating the “second disaster” after a major catastrophe. The loss of insulin and other lifesaving medications, standing water and unsanitary conditions, blocked roads, and the lack of access to medical care that often follow a disaster can be far deadlier than the initial event.

“We’re able to stay present, keep our doors open and mobile clinics running, and bring care where it’s needed most” because the medicines were already there, Thélémaque said.

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