By Lauren Rutledge | Senior Manager
For over 40 years, Americares has helped communities prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters in the U.S. and around the world by providing life-changing medicine, medical supplies and health programs.
The Challenge
• Disasters, including wildfires, drought, flooding, war, hurricanes, and pandemics, affect 185 million people annually.
• The increasing frequency of climate disasters lead to displacement, medical emergencies, and disruptions in care and puts clean air, safe drinking water, secure housing and food supplies at risk.
• When disaster hits, those most disproportionately affected live in low-income communities or countries that already lack the resources to be able to prepare for or respond to disaster and displacement.
Our Solution
• Maintain global readiness hubs in Puerto Rico, El Salvador, India, the Philippines, and Connecticut (US) with pre-positioned supplies.
• Provide medicine and supplies to local health centers.
• Deploy emergency response and health providers from our Emergency Response Global Roster of over 900 trusted professional from 61 countries to treat patients in the aftermath of a disaster.
• Provide mobile health services in remote communities or where health centers have been damaged as a WHO EMT Type-1 certified organization.
• Help health centers get back up and running after disasters with generators, fuel, water and repairs, all with the goal of increased resilience.
Where We Work
• With 10 offices in 9 countries, we are ready to respond to crises in the U.S. and across the globe, from California to Guatemala, India to the Philippines, and Ukraine to Yemen.
Impact Story
The Hawaii wildfires killed at least 97 people, displaced thousands and caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage. The disaster hit especially hard for people experiencing homelessness in Maui, compounding the difficulties they already faced to survive.
“The fires stripped away what little stability unhoused populations had, and for many of them, it also exacerbated their physical and mental health needs,” said Americares Director of U.S. Emergency Response Mariel Fonteyn. “We quickly mobilized to determine how best to support these survivors and ensure that they had access to quality health services.”
In response, Americares partnered with Heart to Heart International to donate a modular medical clinic to Project Vision Hawaii, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to providing health care to individuals experiencing homelessness. The clinic, staffed by a rotating team of volunteer nurses and nurse practitioners from Project Vision Hawaii, provides wound care, primary care and mental health support for those who are still displaced as well as unhoused individuals at a temporary shelter in Pu‘uhonua o Nene. At the same time, the clinic provides traditional Hawaiian healing practices as well as yoga, meditation, acupuncture and massage.
“This clinic has become a lifeline for individuals who were already struggling before the wildfires destroyed their communities,” said Fonteyn. “One patient was diagnosed with MRSA and was isolated in the clinic while his wounds were cared for and he could be transferred to a medical respite location. After about a month of care, he is now doing well and is about to move into his own place. His first space to himself in more than 10 years.”
“It’s not just about treating physical wounds, but also about restoring a sense of normalcy. And most importantly, it is about helping survivors take the first crucial steps towards recovery,” said Fonteyn.
Americares has been on the frontlines of the response since day one, working in partnership with local organizations and our peers to restore access to critically needed health services and help survivors cope with the immense loss and trauma brought by this unprecedented disaster. To date, we have delivered more than $330,000 in medicines, medical supplies, emergency funding and technical assistance to support survivors. “Impacted communities are on their way to recovery,” said Fonteyn. “But more work remains, and we are committed to continuing to support them.”
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