American Kidney Fund releases $76,000 in grants to patients impacted by Hurricane Ian
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The American Kidney Fund has provided 335 grants totaling $76,000 to patients impacted by Hurricane Ian, which devastated the southwest coast of Florida and caused damage in parts of South Carolina and Georgia last month.
American Kidney Fund (AKF) spokesperson Tamara Ruggiero told Healio the grants from the AFK Disaster Relief Grant Program are distributed to patients who need help paying for food, transportation and utility bills; replacing medications and renal diet foods; and for temporary housing and transportation to dialysis treatments. The grants, up to $250 per person, can also help cover the cost for replacing clothing and personal essentials lost during an evacuation, she said.
While grant applications are still being accepted, “funding is almost exhausted,” Ruggiero said. Donations to the fund can be made here.
Dialysis providers told Healio they have resumed operations at clinics that were hit by Hurricane Ian’s 150-mile-per-hour winds and storm surges that flooded coastal towns.
All Fresenius’ clinics are open and operating as normal with very minimal damage, a Fresenius Medical Care spokesperson told Healio. The company is providing assistance to dialysis staff who were either displaced or had homes that were severely damaged by the hurricane, the spokesperson said.
“[A]ll of our clinics are fully operational,” Ali Leventhal, vice president for communications at U.S. Renal Care, told Healio. “In Georgia and South Carolina specifically, we did not have any patients or staff impacted by the storm. Our clinics in both states were 100% operational without interruption.”
Reference:
www.healio.com/news/nephrology/20221003/dialysis-providers-assess-damage-from-hurricane-ian.
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