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The Diabetes Association of Jamaica provides mobile health services, and distributes medications and supplies to manage diabetes, to patients across Jamaica. (Courtesy photo)
In the days after Hurricane Melissa, Nickoreen Knight got a call from the parents of a child with diabetes in Montego Bay.
Knight, a nurse practitioner at the Diabetes Association of Jamaica, or DAJ, had given the patient’s family new supplies – a blood glucose meter and the vital medications needed to manage their child’s Type 1 diabetes – at a health fair in August. “It had been washed away” as Hurricane Melissa swept across western Jamaica, Knight told Direct Relief.
She contacted a doctor, who was able to call the child’s prescriptions into a nearby pharmacy. A volunteer picked it up and drove it to Catherine Hall, the Montego Bay community where the family lives.
Managing diabetes demands a precise care regimen and reliable access to supplies and medications – including insulin, which must be stored and transported at cold temperatures under painstaking monitoring conditions.
But in the aftermath of a disaster, whether it’s a hurricane, fire, or flood, people with diabetes are often forced to flee without these lifesaving components, or their medicines and supplies are destroyed.
For Knight and DAJ chairman Steven Chen, what was most concerning was that they weren’t hearing more patient stories like that.
“We have patients through Life for a Child [an international nonprofit that supports children with diabetes in countries around the world] in pretty much all of these communities,” Chen said of Jamaica’s hurricane-struck western districts.
Direct Relief provided the Diabetes Association of Jamaica with a large-scale shipment of insulin and a $20,000 emergency grant to purchase blood glucose meters, lancets, and other diabetes care supplies for patients. (Courtesy photo)
Staff at the diabetes association had been reaching out to clinicians and pharmacists across the country to get a better sense of the scale of need.
“There are still a lot of communities that are still inaccessible, and a lot of helicopter drops,” Chen said. But a long history of responding to the needs of patients with diabetes had given staff some idea what to expect: “We know there will be complications later on.”
Diabetes is a serious public health concern in Jamaica. Approximately 235,000 people, about 12% of the population, have been diagnosed with the non-communicable disease.
Direct Relief has worked with the DAJ for years, providing insulin and other support for diabetes treatment. The organization’s support “is what we distribute across the length and breadth of Jamaica,” Chen explained.
On November 11, Direct Relief delivered a large-scale shipment of insulin – enough to support annual treatment for about 300 children with Type 1 diabetes – to the DAJ. The DAJ will also receive a $20,000 Direct Relief emergency grant, which Chen explained will be used to purchase blood glucose meters, lancets (for taking blood samples), blood pressure machines, and other equipment and supplies.
In addition, Direct Relief provided 16 tons of medicines and supplies worth more than $1 million, including diabetes medications and other essential medical treatments, to Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness via a chartered Boeing 757 cargo plane.
For patients in Haiti, Direct Relief provided a shipment of insulin – enough to treat 100 children with Type 1 diabetes for a year – to La Fondation Haïtienne de Diabète et de Maladies Cardiovasculaires, a Haitian diabetes organization and long-term partner.
The Diabetes Association of Jamaica travels across the country to provide insulin and other components of diabetes care to patients. They work directly with the country’s National Health Fund and with Life for a Child. DAJ staff include a doctor and nurse practitioner who can provide clinic services, and the National Health Fund “can distribute the insulin on the spot,” Chen explained.
Clinicians with the DAJ care for patients with diabetes across Jamaica. (Courtesy photo)
DAJ staff provide meters, lancets, and other supplies – and, after a disaster like Hurricane Melissa, they’ll distribute soap, toothbrushes, blankets, tents, and other hygiene and shelter materials to keep their patients from developing further health issues.
Through about three outreaches each week, they’ll reach thousands of patients per year, Knight said. Last year, the DAJ reached more than 7,000 patients.
“We transport where the needs are. It’s better managed that way,” Chen explained. Currently, DAJ staff are preparing for the go-ahead to begin providing services and medicine to patients in Hanover, Black River, Saint Elizabeth, and other areas severely affected by Melissa. “We’re guided by the pharmacists in those locations” to know how much is needed and where,
DAJ staff are also concerned about nutritional needs. Western Jamaicans experienced widespread loss of food, crops, and potable water. The food that’s available to people severely affected by disaster tends to be high in carbohydrates and low in nutrients, with a high percentage of canned and processed foods. Diabetes patients need to carefully manage their blood sugar, and high-quality, nutritious food is an important component of their care.
Patients receive care and prescriptions at a DAJ mobile clinic. (Courtesy photo)
Distributing processed or canned foods “solves the need of hunger, but, later on, the complications of that” emerge for diabetes patients, Chen said. In many affected areas, he explained, nutrition was already an ongoing issue: “A lot of the low-income communities can’t afford proper nutrition on a regular basis.”
Chen estimated that it would take three to four years to get many of Jamaica’s diabetes patients back to equilibrium.
“There’s always need in terms of diabetes patients,” he said.
In response to Hurricane Melissa, Direct Relief has provided $2 million in material medical aid and $120,000 in grant funding to affected countries.
Sofie Blomst contributed reporting to this story.
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