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Direct Relief Charters Boeing 757 To Deliver Emergency Medical Aid to Jamaica

Flight is scheduled to depart Miami on Nov. 8 carrying medicines, PPE, and chronic disease treatments at the request of Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness.

News

Hurricane Melissa

Emergency medicines and supplies are staged at Direct Relief headquarters in Santa Barbara on Nov. 3. The medications will be shipped to Jamaica via 757 charter later this week. (Kim Ofilas/Direct Relief)
By Tony Morain

Direct Relief has chartered a Boeing 757 to fly urgently needed medicines and emergency supplies to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa left large parts of the island without power, safe water, and reliable access to medical care.

The emergency airlift is scheduled to depart Miami on Nov. 8 at 6:15 a.m. local time and is expected to arrive at Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport at 7:50 a.m. The shipment contains medicines, personal protective equipment, chronic disease treatments, and mosquito repellent sent at the request of Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness.

The health effects of a hurricane often worsen in the weeks after landfall, when people miss routine care or run out of medication. In Jamaica, more than 200,000 people live with diabetes; running out of insulin can be fatal. Expectant mothers, people receiving chemotherapy, and people with heart and respiratory disease also face heightened risks when roads are impassable and clinics are inaccessible.

Direct Relief has pre-positioned medicines and emergency caches across the Caribbean and has been scaling up shipments and local support in coordination with regional partners, the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, and Jamaica’s National Health Fund. PAHO alerted Direct Relief on Thursday that it was preparing to ship one of Direct Relief’s hurricane preparedness packs staged in Panama with PAHO – each designed to sustain care for up to 3,000 patients for 30 days – along with Direct Relief field medic packs, to Jamaica to aid in response efforts. That shipment arrived in Jamaica yesterday.

The chartered Boeing 757 is carrying a gross payload of 32,514 pounds (about 16 tons) of medicines, PPE, first-aid, chronic disease management items, oral rehydration supplies, water purification tablets, and more packed to meet requests from Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness.

The airlift includes thousands of 30% DEET insect repellent towelettes and repellent spray bottles requested by the MOH. Public health officials in both Jamaica and the Dominican Republic fear an increase in mosquito populations and mosquito-borne illness due to the precipitation and standing water left by the hurricane.

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