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Medicines and relief workers headed to the Gulf Coast
Stamford, Conn. – August 30, 2012 – AmeriCares is sending medicines for Louisiana residents evacuated because of Tropical Storm Isaac. The delivery, which includes rescue inhalers for evacuees with asthma and medical supplies to help diabetic patients monitor their blood sugar, is expected to arrive at a shelter in Alexandria, Louisiana, tomorrow. All of the medical products on the shipment were donated by medical product distributor Henry Schein, Inc., and generic and specialty pharmaceutical company Mylan.
A team of AmeriCares emergency response experts arrived on the Gulf Coast today to assist the relief efforts. Additional aid deliveries are expected in the coming days.
“We are responding to an urgent request for medicines as residents escaping the flooding in Plaquemines Parish fill emergency shelters,” said AmeriCares Director of Emergency Response Garrett Ingoglia. “Hundreds of evacuees arrived at the Alexandria shelter last night and it could be days before it is safe to return home. Our aid ensures the shelter has medicines on hand to treat evacuees with chronic health conditions.”
The medical aid is AmeriCares second emergency delivery for Gulf Coast residents affected by Isaac. Earlier this week, the disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization delivered household cleaning supplies, mops and family emergency kits – tote bags stocked with soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and other personal care items – to the Salvation Army in Gulfport, Mississippi, for families displaced by the storm.
AmeriCares has a long history responding to emergencies along the Gulf Coast, meeting the health needs of survivors after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Ike in 2008 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. AmeriCares has provided medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural and man-made disasters for 30 years, including earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Pakistan and Japan, and the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. So far in 2012, AmeriCares has responded to tornadoes in Kentucky and Indiana, wildfires in Colorado, storms and power outages in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest and flooding in Minnesota.