New York City Health Clinics Receive Over $500,000 to Care for Sandy Victims

Stamford, Conn. – Dec. 20, 2012 – AmeriCares has awarded more than $500,000 in grants to New York City clinics providing health care services for Sandy victims.

Nearly half of the funding, $250,000, was given to the Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center in Queens, N.Y., the largest primary care provider in the hard-hit Rockaways and one of only two clinics serving area residents in the aftermath of Sandy. The funds will allow the health center to purchase an emergency generator and provide free care for 1,600 uninsured patients between its two locations in the Rockaways and its clinic in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The Addabbo clinic at 6200 Beach Channel Drive in Arverne, N.Y., was without power for weeks following the Oct. 29 storm, and the Red Hook location at 120 Richard Street lost use of its first floor exam rooms due to storm damage. AmeriCares also allowed the health center to use its mobile clinic to treat patients in the Rockaways until power was restored. The mobile unit will be back this week to provide additional exam space while mold remediation is performed at the Arverne clinic.

“The Addabbo Health Center is a key affordable health-care provider in the Rockaways and Red Hook – two neighborhoods severely affected by the storm,” said AmeriCares Vice President of Emergency Response Garrett Ingoglia. “Our funding will help the clinic continue to serve Brooklyn and Queens residents affected by Sandy. We hope the one month of free service for the uninsured will encourage residents in these hard-hit areas to seek care and relieve some of the financial hardship caused by the storm.”

AmeriCares also awarded:

• $168,000 to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation to purchase a mobile clinic that will serve as a temporary location for the Ida G. Israel Community Health Center in Coney Island until the storm-damaged facility can be rebuilt. The clinic, an outpatient health center at 2201 Neptune Avenue affiliated with Coney Island Hospital, serves 10,000 patients annually, mostly Medicaid patients and the uninsured.
• $130,000 to The Floating Hospital in Long Island City, N.Y., to transport children and adults living in homeless shelters and domestic violence safe houses throughout the five boroughs to doctor’s offices and medical testing facilities. The grant funding will allow about 900 patients to schedule follow-up appointments and diagnostic testing, ensuring continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases and other serious health problems.
• $16,000 to The Institute for Family Health in Manhattan to replace medical equipment,  medicines and supplies damaged when the health clinic it operates at the Ali Forney Center, a social service agency for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, was flooded during the storm.

AmeriCares is focusing its support on clinics and health centers that care for the most vulnerable, including low-income patients, the uninsured and underinsured. In addition to these grants, AmeriCares has provided thousands of doses of insulin, tetanus vaccines, flu vaccines and other medicines to community health centers in affected areas, including the Beacon Christian Community Health Center on Staten Island and the North Hudson Community Action Corporation in New Jersey.

AmeriCares relief workers have been working nonstop since Sandy struck, delivering 110 shipments of medical aid and relief supplies to shelters and aid distribution centers in the most devastated communities. To date, the disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization has provided $2.3 million in aid, including grants, to benefit up to 300,000 storm victims in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

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