Direct Relief Responding to Harvey in Texas

Direct Relief continues to work closely with the state primary care association in Texas, as well as the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) to maintain a direct and current understanding of the evolving needs in communities affacted by Hurricane Harvey.

While continuing to provide medicines and supplies to healthcare facilities, Direct Relief has also launched the Hurricane Community Health Fund, fulfilling requests received for cash grants.

The Hurricane Community Health Fund was created to support:

• Immediate, emergency-related capital and expenses related to relief activities not otherwise covered
• Intermediate-term expenses to ensure that health centers and clinics are able to maintain and expand services as needed
• Longer-term expenses to ensure financial stability is not jeopardized for these critically important, community-based sources of care

Direct Relief recently announced $1.8 million in cash grants for free and charitable clinics in partnership with NAFC in Texas and Florida, and an additional $3.1 million in cash grants in partnership with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers and NACHC to support 15 community health centers in Texas.

After the grants were made to health centers in Texas, Direct Relief hosted several health centers and representatives from Facebook at the Innovations in Crisis Response conference in Houston in mid-May to discuss lessons learned following Hurricane Harvey, what tools or programs might be missing, and what can be done in preparation for the upcoming Hurricane season. The conversations at this conference allowed Direct Relief to gather additional information on the remaining needs identified outside of the Hurricane Community Health Fund.