What is the mission of your organization?
Americares saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster, so they can reach their full potential. We reach more than 90 countries, including the United States, with life-changing health programs, medicine, and medical supplies. Americares is the world’s leading nonprofit provider of donated medicine and medical supplies.
What is the role of your organization in a public health emergency?
Americares responds to approximately 30 natural disasters and humanitarian crises worldwide each year, establishes long-term recovery projects, and brings disaster preparedness programs to vulnerable communities.
A health-focused relief and development organization, Americares restores access to care for vulnerable children and adults. Our Emergency Response Team delivers critically needed medicine and relief supplies, deploys medical teams, and helps repair damaged health centers. Americares support helps local health centers keep their doors open to serve existing patients as well as meet the surge in demand for care during emergencies.
For more information about our emergency response work, please visit https://www.americares.org/en/
How do you plan for emergencies?
How do you plan for emergencies?
Americares maintains readiness by stocking an emergency pharmacy of critical medicine and supplies, building strong relationships with an extensive network of hospitals and clinics worldwide, and providing ongoing training to a global roster of more than 300 response professionals who can deploy at a moment’s notice.
- Americares emergency pharmacy includes medicine, medical supplies, and relief items most frequently needed in the aftermath of disasters. Products are staged in global distribution hubs for rapid mobilization.
- Local organizations are always the first to respond in emergencies. Americares has strong relationships with more than 4,000 health centers worldwide and coordinates closely with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster during domestic emergencies, ensuring quick and effective responses.
- Americares maintains a global roster of experienced personnel, including medical professionals, staff members from different programs, and logistics experts who participate in ongoing training and capacity-building activities to maintain readiness.
What is one experience or lesson learned that you have from an emergency response?
Americares has been responding to disasters worldwide for 40 years. Our experience has taught us to think global but act local, applying best practices to the unique disaster context. We focus on supporting local health care providers, whether through training, staffing support, emergency shipments of medicine and supplies, or grant funding to meet immediate needs.
For example, during Hurricane Michael in 2018, Americares delivered more than $4 million in medicine and relief items to local partners in storm-impacted communities and provided grant funding to restore health services for survivors. Americares also opened a temporary medical clinic in Panama City, Florida, staffed by more than 30 volunteer doctors and nurses from a neighboring community to provide free primary care services to more than 800 patients. Working with local health workers provided valuable insight into the community’s needs and the challenges survivors faced.
What is one piece of advice that you would give to other EPIC partners?
What is one piece of advice that you would give to other EPIC partners?
Our advice is to invest in your team. Prioritize the time and energy needed to train and build the capacity of employees and volunteers to respond to emergencies, so team members have the resources needed to effectively—and safely—carry out their mission.
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