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An AmeriCares emergency relief team traveled to Gulfport, MS and Alexandria, LA August 30-September 1 to distribute medical and humanitarian aid to families displaced by Hurricane Isaac. On September 2-3, the team worked with response partners in New Orleans to identify needs for upcoming emergency aid shipments.In Gulfport, where families are suffering amid soaring temperatures, high water levels, and power outages, AmeriCares worked with the Salvation Army on August 31 to provide flood relief to local residents. The aid distribution included household clean-up kits, mops and family emergency kits – tote bags stocked with soap, towels, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, disinfecting wipes and other items – part of AmeriCares first emergency shipment to the region.”We are trying to provide people who have lost so many of their belongings in the floods with basic personal care items and cleaning supplies,” explained Kate Dischino, AmeriCares Emergency Response Manager. “So that through this very emotional and difficult time, they can start the process of going back into their homes.”On September 1, the team traveled to an emergency shelter in Alexandria where more than 1,000 people sought refuge while Isaac pounded coastal communities with heavy rains and winds. Among the shelter-bound were hundreds of residents from hard-hit Plaquemines Parish – an area that made headlines with dramatic rooftop rescues of families stranded in up to 12 feet of water.In collaboration with medical teams from partner clinic Community HealthWorx, our relief team helped distribute medical aid to help patients needing medicines and care to manage their chronic diseases. The aid was part of AmeriCares second shipment of emergency aid, including diabetes test kits, rescue inhalers for patients with asthma, and high blood pressure medicines, rushed to the clinic on August 30 to replace dwindling supplies.“We responded to an urgent request for medicines as residents escaping the flooding filled emergency shelters,” said AmeriCares Director of Emergency Response Garrett Ingoglia. “Our aid ensures the shelter has medicines on hand to treat evacuees with chronic health conditions.”
Photo by Alex OstasiewiczKate Dischino, AmeriCares Emergency Response Manager, distributing emergency kits.AmeriCares has a long history of 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 this year in the U.S., 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.
Americares Workers Helping With Isaac Relief article featured in CBS New York online.Read the article »
Our Household Clean-up Kits and Family Emergency Kits are designed to help families begin restoring their lives and homes damaged by disaster. Click on the links to learn more about each kit.Read MoreDonate Now