Support Hygiene Needs in Puerto Rico

More than a year after Hurricane Maria devastated residents of Puerto Rico, the official death toll as a result of the storm continues to rise.

Why? Because destruction from the storm brought additional challenges to already poverty- stricken areas, where access to basic and hygiene necessities remains restricted.

“We still have a lot of communities without power and electricity here - so it’s difficult,” said Iveliz Feuntes, a resident who does charitable work in Puerto Rico through two organizations (A.M.A.R. and G.O.D).  “Also running water and clean water. They usually limit everything.”

The initial death toll reported totaled 64 lives lost. When we now include what is labeled as “excess death,” we shouldn’t be surprised to see that number go beyond 4,000 by the end of 2018, according to  a Washington Post article. The article explains excess death like this:

“In the second phase, people die because electrical outages shut down home-based respirators and kidney dialysis centers. Access to vital prescription drugs may be severely limited as supply chains grind to a halt, putting people with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and asthma at serious risk.

“In phase three, profound population vulnerabilities become increasingly apparent and deadly. The ferocity of Hurricane Maria and the lack of resources to rapidly recover exacerbated long-standing physician shortages, poor transportation systems and enduring inadequacies in the power grid.”

Access to medical intervention has always been a challenge, the article says, with difficulties in finding or affording transportation, as well as finding an available physician: the number of physicians in Puerto Rico dropped by 5,000 between 2006 and 2016. Plus, mental health and suicide hotlines are seeing an astounding 500 calls per day since the storm last year - up from an average of 150 to 200 prior.

At Jake’s Diapers, we know the power a single donation of hygiene necessities holds: our families feel instant relief when we remove the financial burden of affording diapers by gifting cloth diapers that will suit the child from birth to potty training. As an added bonus, our people feel additionally supported in their otherwise often isolated struggle to survive.

Thank you for providing the foundation we need to help these people rise out of poverty to live clean, healthy and active lives.

I encourage you to reach me at stephanie@jakesdiapers.org with any questions you may have. I'd love to hear from you. 

~ Stephanie