Direct Relief is providing essential medicines and supplies to health centers throughout Florida and facilities in the Caribbean that are treating people affected by the storm and subsequent flooding. People who have evacuated or lost their homes often leave without their critical medicines, so Direct Relief is working to ensure that people remain healthy.
Many people affected by Irma and subsequent flooding have gone without access to healthcare and medicines. Direct Relief serves populations that are especially vulnerable in natural disasters, particularly people with chronic and acute medical needs who often forget to bring the medicines they need in the rush of an evacuation. This can lead to ER visits and poor health outcomes. In addition, power outages and transportation issues have compounded the difficulty of the initial response to Irma.
Direct Relief is providing essential medicines, medical supplies and hygiene items to those affected by Irma. Staff were in Florida before Irma made landfall to direct pre-positioned supplies in the storm's immediate aftermath. Emergency shipments are being sent to health facilities in Florida's impacted communities, which will continue as more needs are identified and expand to St. Maarten, the US and British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Antigua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The long-term impact of Direct Relief's work will improve the health and lives of thousands of people throughout Florida and the Caribbean that have been displaced or otherwise affected by the storm. Beneficiaries are low-income, often uninsured people who have been evacuated from their homes, are living in shelters or who otherwise need assistance.
