SUMMER 2019 / DI ABETIC LI VING 47
ADDING A DOMESTIC LAYER
In addition to their international
work, IFL USA has sent supplies to
numerous domestic partners after natural
disasters, including hurricanes, fires,
and earthquakes. “Our work in disaster
response has increased dramatically,”
Carol Atkinson says. “The last two years
of hurricane seasons have been incredibly
busy. Wildfires seem to be more rampant.”
Consider this. If you or a family mem-
ber has insulin-dependent diabetes, how
prepared are you if you need to evacuate
at a moment’s notice? Do you have a bag
filled with supplies for several days, or
prescriptions at the ready in case you don’t
have what you need?
During the tragic Camp Fire in North-
ern California in November 2018, an
entire community in Paradise, California,
was evacuated. Butte County Public
Health’s nursing division director, Monica
Soderstrom, RN, explains that Paradise is
home to a large retired population with a
lot of elderly residents who have diabetes.
“They weren’t just leaving their homes
without time to grab insulin, but all their
medications and equipment, like oxygen,”
Soderstrom says. During the evacuation,
she coordinated nursing services, re-
cruited volunteer health care providers,
and worked several nursing shifts in the
shelters. “Many were coming to shelters
before they could figure out where they
were going to go [in the long-term] and
we knew we’d have to bridge that by filling
prescriptions before they could see their
own medical provider.” She remembers
helping many community members with
diabetes. “We had a medical presence in
many of these shelters immediately, butthere was a lot of confusion initially and
we could only go by what people were tell-
ing us about what insulin they were on and
the amount. Perhaps they brought a meter
but no strips, or insulin but no meter. And
if they didn’t have a prescription, they
couldn’t get a refill.”
This scene of chaos and need is typical
in a shelter after a natural disaster. IFL
USA quickly reached out to Butte County
Public Health to arrange shipments of in-
sulin and diabetes supplies.STRONGER TOGETHER
During any natural disaster, it’s all hands
on deck. “We work through providers
on the ground as well as suppliers. We
have sent supplies to shelters and health
departments. If we see a disaster coming
or get information about one from
contacts, we’ll reach out to [the Diabetes
Disaster Response Coalition] to make
connections on the ground,” Carol
Atkinson explains.
IFL USA is a founding partner of the
Diabetes Disaster Response Coalition, a
coordinated domestic disaster-response
effort that was started by IFL USA, the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,
and the American Diabetes Association.
The coalition came about as Hurricane
Harvey approached landfall in Texas in
2017, in order to help make disaster-
response efforts more efficient. Kelly
Mueller, vice president of community
impact for the ADA, recalls that various
groups in the diabetes community were
texting each other once Harvey was
forecast to hit. The ADA’s chief science,
medical, and mission officer, Will Cefalu,
M.D., reached out to IFL USA and the
JDRF and suggested a collaboration.
“Our main goal was to leverage all
of our channels to ask if people were
short of supplies and needed help with
information and access,” Mueller ex-
plains. “The goal that year was to come
together. We hosted daily logistics calls,
reaching out to shelters to find out who
had supplies of insulin so when people
were calling us, we could direct them to
resources or find out about additional
shortages. It was such a great effort of
everyone coming together and stream-
lining information to get people critical
medications as quickly as possible.”
“After 2017 we formalized into a trueWhat I’mGettingis a LifeLine.— Alieu Gaye, M.D.
Physician & director
of the Pakala Clinic
in GambiaThe needs
[for supplies]
were deep
& wide.
—Carol Atkinson, IFL USA
Philip and Carol Atkinson
inventory supplies at the
IFL USA headquarters in
Gainesville, Florida.