Hurricane Debby, California Wildfire Responses Remain at the Forefront

In the past week, Direct Relief delivered 484 shipments of requested medical aid to 45 U.S. states and territories and 21 countries worldwide. Included is support for communities impacted by Hurricane Debby in Florida and continued wildfire response in California.

These shipments contained 12 million defined daily doses of medication and supplies, including prenatal vitamins, diabetes therapies, rare disease treatments, oncology medications, field medic packs for first responders, and more.

Waters Rise After Hurricane Debby

After Debby's landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on Monday, the storm was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm, and then had a second landfall early Thursday, bringing tornadoes, flooding, and power outages.

On Monday, the Florida Association of Community Health Centers reported at least 71 health centers experienced partial or full closure due to Hurricane Debby. In response to Debby, Virgina B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic, a free clinic in Port Charlotte, Florida, reported opening their Hurricane Preparedness Pack to access chronic disease medications for impacted patients.

The packs are staged in hurricane-prone areas across the U.S. Gulf Coast in advance of Atlantic Hurricane season at the start of each year and contain medical essentials commonly requested after storms.

Direct Relief also recently supported Virginia B. Andes in 2022, after the clinic was hit by Hurricane Ian. This week, Direct Relief shipped requested chronic disease medications and personal care items to the clinic to support their work with patients.

Shipments also departed this week to the University of Florida Mobile Outreach Clinic, which has been providing care for agricultural workers and other community members impacted by the storm in the Gainesville area. The Way Free Medical Clinic in the Jacksonville area also received Direct Relief support, and the Neighborhood Medical Center in the Tallahassee area received diabetes management supplies, medical consumables, and other requested items this week.

As more health facilities come online, Direct Relief expects more requests for support and will continue to respond.

Park Fire One-Third Contained in Northern California

Wildfire response in Northern California is ongoing as the Park Fire, which is currently about one-third contained, continues to rage north of Sacramento.

Last weekend, Direct Relief staff traveled to the region to deliver requested medical aid, including to facilities in Butte County, where the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed thousands of structures in the Paradise area. Direct Relief staff delivered aid last week to Butte County Public Health's warehouse, partly funded by Direct Relief, which will eventually be used to consolidate medical supplies in a single location to increase efficiency.

Staff also met with Butte County Search and Rescue, an all-volunteer team that provided door-to-door evacuation notices, mapping support, and coordination efforts with the sheriff's office during the Park Fire. They also housed 20 firefighters in their training center during the Park Fire response.

Their Rescue 3 vehicle was funded by Direct Relief and has been used as a model for other SAR teams across the state. Each of their response vehicles will now have an emergency medical backpack with medical essentials for triage care.

Medical supplies were also delivered to Shingletown Medical Center and Ampla Health's health centers in Magalia, Gridley, and Los Molinos.

More wildfire response kits, which contain medical essentials commonly requested during fires, including respiratory and ophthalmic medications and N95 masks, are currently being built and will ship out next week for Butte County Public Health and community health centers in the area.

Operational Snapshot

WORLDWIDE

Over the last week, Direct Relief shipped more than 10.9 million defined daily doses of medication to countries outside the U.S. that include the following:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 449 shipments containing 1.1 million doses of medication during the past seven days to organizations, including the following:

YEAR TO DATE

Since January 1, 2024, Direct Relief has delivered 15,300 shipments to 2,068 partner organizations in 54 U.S. states and territories and 83 countries.

These shipments contained 281.9 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $911.7 million (wholesale) and totaled 3.5 million pounds.

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