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Free medical packs help area clinic in storm season
Vickie-Smith-dir.-of-nursing-at-Diversity-Health-Center
Vickie Smith, Diversity Health Centers director of nursing, checks supplies left over from Direct Relief Internationals emergency hurricane pack sent last year. - photo by Randy C.Murray

The Diversity Health Center in Hinesville soon will receive a hurricane preparedness medical pack, just in time for hurricane season that starts today and runs through Nov. 1. The pack contains enough medicines and supplies to treat 100 patients for three to five days after a hurricane.

Direct Relief International, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is pre-positioning the emergency medical supplies in nine states, including Georgia. According to Direct Relief, more than 35 million Americans living on the Gulf and East coasts from Texas to North Carolina are at risk from hurricanes.

Vickie Smith, Diversity’s director of nursing, said her clinic, which serves Liberty, Bryan and surrounding counties, received a hurricane pack last year too. She said she is grateful for both.

"When we got it last year, it was a blessing," Smith said. "And it was a blessing we never had to use it for a hurricane. When hurricane season ended, we were allowed to break the packages down and use the medications for some of our indigent-care patients."

Read the full story in the June 2 issue of the Bryan County News.

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