Third dimension

In the time we reported on the November issue (roughly three weeks), not one but two major hurricanes hit the Southeast. Both made landfall in Florida, but one, Hurricane Helene also had an impact as far north as Tennessee and western North Carolina.

After Hurricane Helene, provider Brian Wilson told us his delivery techs described the Asheville, N.C., area like this: “It’s like an atomic bomb went off.”

When storms like these strike, HME providers are particularly impacted.

The men and women who run these companies are impacted personally – I spoke with one CEO after Hurricane Helene who had three feet of water on the first floor of his house. Their employees are impacted – their homes are potentially damaged and they’re potentially unable to work. And their businesses, of course, are impacted – they’re relied on to maintain a continuity of care that often keeps their patients alive, regardless of flooded roads, power outages and all the other horrors that can come with a major hurricane.

These kinds of situations require grit, determination and ingenuity and HME providers have these in spades.

When roads literally disappeared, Commonwealth Home Health Care was able to find different routes into the Asheville area to continue their services.

When a tornado struck one of its locations, AdaptHealth worked with highway patrol and other agencies to identify and respond to community needs.

MED Emporium connected patients in need with FEMA, and MRS Homecare loaned oxygen concentrators to Red Cross shelters.

Petsch Respiratory made a makeshift drive through for tank exchanges and put out five skids (375 each) of E tanks in two days, when it might put out one skid in three to four days of normal operations.

Aeroflow Health’s employees rented U-Hauls to deliver water, bread and gas and even walked miles to hand deliver essential items.

One of Rehab Medical’s techs drove from the Augusta, Ga., office, where there was a gas shortage, to the Columbia, S.C., office to get as much gas as he could so he could deliver wheelchairs to patients who were in desperate need.

And there are far more stories like these that we don’t know about, I’m sure.

When storms like these strike, HME companies add a third dimension to what they do. It’s hard to understand a world where they’re not more recognized for that.