California based organization has provided
$30 million in direct aid to hurricane affected region
Santa Barbara, CA (May 11, 2006)
- Direct Relief International announced today a cash grant award of $150,000 to support three rural hospitals in Northeast Louisiana that have provided extensive services to residents following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Building Healthy Communities (BHC), a non-profit network of 46 rural hospitals in Louisiana that works to improve the healthcare infrastructure of member hospitals, will oversee the distribution of $50,000 to three member hospitals.
Franklin Medical, Richland Parish, and West Carroll Hospitals, along with their associated clinics will invest Direct Relief funds in the implementation of a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). This system will allow the hospitals to electronically store and immediately access all information collected within radiology (CAT Scan, ultrasound, scanned documents, digitized film, etc.) At the touch of a button, physicians may access and view critical information anywhere in the hospital at anytime. This service will allow for improved care to all of the hospitals' patients.
"Direct Relief's support will allow these hospitals to begin building the infrastructure needed to provide high quality care to the existing patients and displaced residents following disasters. Rural hospitals across Louisiana played a key role in accepting and caring for residents whose lives were impacted by the storms," said Michelle Lemming, Network Director for Building Healthy Communities.
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, patient information was unable to be recovered in the storm. Moving toward electronic information systems has become even more critical following the storms and was overwhelmingly identified by BHC hospital administrators as a top priority.
The funding from Direct Relief will support several rural hospitals as they work to meet this need: "Three of our members' physicians will be able to access patients' lab results, reports and audio summaries from their office, home, hospital or shelter; as well as authorize access to physicians in disaster areas once a displaced resident has returned home," says Lemming.
Since Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005, Direct Relief has responded by providing $26.5 million (wholesale) of medical material aid and over $3.9 million in targeted cash grants to clinics, hospitals, and associations. Direct Relief remains committed to assisting health care facilities throughout the Gulf State rebuild from the hurricanes, while preparing for the oncoming hurricane season. The organization has absorbed all administrative costs associated with its hurricane response efforts as part of its policy to dedicate 100% of all contributions for the hurricanes only to hurricane relief and recovery efforts.