Hospital employees hit by Hurricane Matthew get help
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 8, 2017 10:07 AM
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Vera Gregory, left, EKG technician at Wayne Memorial Hospital, receives a check from Millie Harding, center, and Julie Henry, both representing the North Carolina Hospital Association, which represents 130 hospitals and systems across the state. In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the organization collected $120,000 as part of the employee assistance fund to support staff members affected by the storm, distributing the funds to 132 "health care heroes." In addition to the 31 checks handed out at Wayne Memorial, another 17 were presented at Cherry Hospital.
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Employees of Wayne Memorial Hospital affected by Hurricane Matthew were beneficiaries of an employee assistance fund established by the N.C. Hospital Association, which raised $120,000 that was distributed to 132 workers across the state. On Monday, Millie Harding, far right, senior vice president of the N.C. Hospital Association, and Julie Henry, vice president of communications with the association, handed out checks to 31 employees at the hospital and another 17 at Cherry Hospital.
When Hurricane Matthew struck in October, the North Carolina Hospital Association wanted to know how hospitals across the state fared.
"Our immediate concern was whether hospitals could remain open to serve their communities," said Millie Harding, senior vice president of the NCHA located in Cary, which represents 130 hospitals and systems.
It soon became apparent, though, that the issue was about more than supplies and equipment.
Within a few days, she said, stories began pouring in about the "heroic employees" who put others' needs above their own. A number of staff members also faced losses and damages.
Sally Spencer, who worked in central transport at Wayne Memorial Hospital for 15 years, was herself a patient when the hurricane blew through.
"I had just had surgery for two hernias that Thursday," she said.
When she was released on Monday, she came home to no electricity. Then her air conditioner element "blew up," she said.
Joy Dillahunt, another employee at the hospital, is still without heat. The roof of her home was just repaired last week.
And Vera Gregory, an EKG technician, is also still struggling in the aftermath.
"The fire marshal came to my home, said we had to evacuate," she recalled. "I only took enough clothes for two days. I wasn't able to get to my home for like seven days later.
"Then I came home to a 'condemned' sign on my door."
She had flood insurance, which helped, but her home will not be ready for occupancy for another three months, she said. FEMA has paid for her to stay in a hotel.
The situation is not ideal, says the grandmother of six, who always enjoyed when her grandchildren would come visit, stay overnight and enjoy her cooking. That has been put on hold, she said, as there are no provisions for cooking in the cramped hotel room.
Stories about the effects the storm had on employees prompted the organization to take action, said Julie Henry, vice president of communications for the NCHA.
"We talked with our sister hospital association in Louisiana about what they had done in response to the hurricanes that had hit there (years ago), and we also had thought back on our own experience after Hurricane Floyd and decided to set up an employee assistance fund," she said. "We encouraged members and vendors and anybody to contribute to it so that we could offer some kind of help to those people who had really been impacted by the storm.
"We heard so many stories of people we decided to set the criteria around people whose homes had been significantly damaged -- it didn't have to be a home they owned, it could be an apartment, just anywhere where they lived."
The call went out to submit names of potential recipients of the fund. By the end of the year, a little more than $120,000 had been raised.
The two representatives from NCHA made a visit to Goldsboro on Monday, a sort of surprise prize patrol that made stops at Wayne Memorial and Cherry Hospital.
Thirty-one checks were handed out at Wayne Memorial and another 17 at Cherry.
"FEMA, a lot of people have already gotten assistance and they might have gotten a place to live but they don't have stuff in it," Ms. Henry said. "That's our hope, that this will fill in the gaps where some of the other assistance may have ended."
Beyond any monetary donations, though, the support was another way to acknowledge those in the profession who step up and take care of their communities, she said.
"It has given us an opportunity to really highlight that when we say hospitals are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, this is what it means," Ms. Henry said. "It isn't just keeping the doors open. People have to be there despite what's going on in their own lives.
"This is the kind of sacrifice it takes to make sure that we're there for our community."