Premier Health Tornado Relief Efforts

Premier Health and Premier Physician Network providers have pitched in to help local communities hit hard by the tornado outbreak on Memorial Day. Here are just two of many examples:

• Despite a power outage at Trotwood Physician Center, and despite worries about damage to their own homes, the practice’s staff found a way to care for the Trotwood community in a new way. “Dr. Duane Dickens called friends, colleagues, and members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and asked if they could drop off some water and supplies for our community. Boy, did they deliver. Our practice was like a depot. We had piles of bottled water, Gatorade, snacks, cereal bars, and more,” said Sheryl Vickers, practice manager. The team delivered three truckloads of supplies to a local church, school, and fire house. The team also walked outside and distributed bottles of water to people clearing trees in the streets.”

• David Romano, MD, an emergency medicine physician, serves as medical director of the Beavercreek Fire Department, which he joined in July 1975. Immediately after tornadic storms ripped through the city, Dr. Romano and two of the department’s auxiliary members drove streets in the areas of storm damage, assessing the damage from about midnight until 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday and encountering many streets blocked by trees and power lines. But along with extensive damage, they also found residents keeping calm, neighbors helping neighbors, and private citizens helping to clear paths with chainsaws. “There is nothing that beats a well-led, well-staffed, and preplanned fire department,” Dr. Romano said. “A great community like Beavercreek is able to stand on its feet after something like this and help its own. People were looking out for the health and safety of each other. That’s the real story.”

Help Is Still Needed

Staff from Good Samaritan Foundation-Dayton and Miami Valley Hospital Foundation immediately jumped into action and have so far assisted an estimated 350 Premier Health employees impacted by the Memorial Day tornados. While some needed help with rent, repairs, or a deposit for a temporary residence, the majority requested assistance with food and clothing.

So far, more than 210 employees have applied for official assistance from the Catastrophic Emergency Funds operated by Premier Health’s foundations. Recent contributions to those funds to support tornado relief efforts have come from various sources. Including a $10,000 donation from the MD Anderson Physician Network, support from Premier Health board members, employees, and others has totaled at least $103,333.

That total includes funds received from a “text-to-give” campaign, specifically designated for tornado disaster relief, that has generated $40,000 so far. To donate, please visit premierhealth.com/EmployeeGiving (you might be prompted to log in to SharePoint) or text EMPLOYEEGIVING to 41444. For more information about the fund, please email Foundations@premierhealth.com or contact the Foundation at (937) 208-2700(937) 208-2700.

Back to the June 2019 issue of Premier Pulse