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Americares Responds To Hurricane Harvey With Lessons Learned From Sandy

Americares

Stamford, Connecticut-based Americares is among those responding to the unfolding storm disaster in Texas  

Emergency Programs Director Kate Dischino is in Houston right now going door to door providing clean water and medical supplies to those displaced by the flooding.

“We’ve already delivered four truckloads of bottled water and we’re providing vaccinations for first responders and residents cleaning up from the damage...we have positioned a number of supplies in the peripheral areas and we’re moving them in into the impacted areas as soon as access is becoming possible.”

Dischino also worked on the response to Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

“Like Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Harvey is happening in a really urban area. So I think a lot of the similarities we’re seeing are a lot of low-income, uninsured patients who are most at risk of disaster, in terms of their health needs and their ability to recover, those folks are of our highest concern. They’re living in places, but they don’t have the ability to get access to the help that they need.”

Dischino says that like Sandy, recovering from Harvey will be a long-term effort.

“So this is an unprecedented event in the Houston metro area and across the coast, and there’s going to be a long-term response need. For organizations like Americares, it’s the financial donations that are needed in order to help continue this response for the survivors that will need it in the future.”

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