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As the Northeast continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, Atlantic hurricane season has begun amid forecasts of above average storm activity for 2013. AmeriCares is ready in advance long before a hurricane strikes – so that crucial medicines and relief supplies are in the hands of response partners and survivors as quickly as possible.
“We prepare for high-impact seasonal disasters like hurricanes well before they occur,” said Garrett Ingoglia, Vice-President of Emergency Response at AmeriCares. “Our disaster preparedness planning and coordination is a vital part of our emergency response capabilities, especially in hurricane-prone regions like the East Coast and the Gulf Coast of the United States, and Latin America.”
Ingoglia explained that while emergency response activities make the headlines, preparedness at all levels is what saves lives.
“According to the United Nations, every dollar spent on preparedness saves seven dollars in disaster response,” he said. “Our investment in preparedness ensures that we as an organization—as well as our partners and the communities we serve—are better equipped to save lives and preserve health during the next disaster.”
AmeriCares hurricane preparedness initiatives include:
Pre-Positioning Emergency Supplies
In the crucial hours after a hurricane or storm we help save lives and improve health outcomes with global pre-positioning grants that strengthen the response capacity of our partners on the ground. This targeted funding enables partners to purchase a stock of emergency supplies that quickly aid displaced families and curb the spread of disease.
In 2012, we initiated our global prepositioning program. In 2013, we are prepositioning with partners in 12 disaster-prone countries -- many at risk from hurricanes and tropical storms -- including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
To strengthen preparedness here at home, AmeriCares is working with partner organizations to pre-position emergency supplies in advance. For example, we are supplying an ongoing partner, BCFS, with five caches of durable medical equipment, each cache containing more than 60 unique items, that can be quickly deployed to communities in advance of—or immediately after—a hurricane to meet the needs of displaced residents with medical conditions and mobility issues living in shelters in Texas and surrounding states.
Stocking the Emergency Response Pharmacy
In our own warehouses, we are building and refining our supply of emergency medicines and relief items so that they are ready for delivery in advance of a major emergency or immediately thereafter. Our 30 years of experience gives us a strong knowledge of items most needed during different phases of response and recovery. To build on that knowledge and to better understand specific emergency needs, we surveyed 300 current and potential response partners -- including free clinics, community health centers, medical reserve corps, and public health organizations. The answers have helped further enhance our emergency response inventory and plan initial shipments.
In addition to the items in our emergency pharmacy, we have arrangements with our pharmaceutical partners to deliver critical medicines—including tetanus vaccines and insulin—whenever a disaster strikes.
Building Local Response Capacity
AmeriCares has made a commitment to build local capacity in disaster-prone countries by supporting training that teaches communities how to react in emergency situations. In El Salvador, we’ve partnered with Fundación Salvadoreña para la Salud y el Desarrollo Humano (FUSAL) to conduct community-level preparedness training and education. Empowering communities to put strategies in place to notify residents of an impending disaster, quickly evacuate to shelters when needed, and provide basic first aid to injured or ill neighbors, can save lives in the critical hours before help arrives.
Here at home, we are working with the Community Health Center Association of New York State to develop an assessment methodology and tool to help health centers catalogue and communicate damages and needs right after disaster strikes. This will enable community health centers – the hubs of local health care, particularly for the most vulnerable -- to get the resources they need and resume operations quickly if another major storm like Superstorm Sandy strikes.
We are also helping community health centers improve their emergency response and continuity plans so that they can provide health care with little or no interruption in the wake of a disaster. In addition, our U.S. disaster preparedness grants have helped partners increase ability to provide care during power outages and develop a plan for sheltering people with medical needs.
Finally, we work closely with the 500 free clinics, community health centers, and health departments in our U.S. Medical Assistance Program- more than half of which are in hurricane-prone areas-- to make sure that they have the medicines and medical supplies they need and that they understand procedures for requesting medical and other assistance from AmeriCares following a hurricane or other disaster. We also provide education and information on disaster preparedness and continuity of operations to our ongoing partners through a number of forums—including a recent panel discussion at the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.
Preparing Family Emergency Kits
Another key preparedness initiative is the pre-positioning of Family Emergency Kits in our Stamford, CT warehouse for distribution during U.S disasters. The first week after Hurricane Sandy, we delivered more than 6,000 family emergency kits to emergency shelters and aid distribution centers across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, along with hundreds of clean up kits to help families returning to their storm-damaged homes. This hurricane season, we are once again prepared to provide thousands of kits to families in need. Based on our experience and the results of the survey, we know that displaced families are often in desperate need of basic personal care items, particularly if they are staying in public shelter, a hotel, or with friends or family.
“The best way to respond to a hurricane is to prepare thoroughly beforehand,” said Ingoglia. “Assessing and addressing specific community needs after a disaster is critical, but based on our experience we know what basic items are essential after a hurricane, and we have them on hand long before a storm hits. Since 1982, AmeriCares has provided medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural and man-made disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina, Irene, and Sandy in the United States, earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, China and Pakistan, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia.
