This morning I was headed to drop my boys off at daycare. They go to Diamond Street in Akron/Ephrata. Our normal path from Lancaster is to head down 222 toward Akron. Today, however, I was notified that 222 was closed in both directions starting at the Oregon Pike exit, so I took back roads. What should have taken 20 minutes took an hour due to multiple road closures and traffic along the route. My morning stress is the extent of 2 hours(daycare and back to my office) of time out of my day. But, along those routes, I saw a car with water up to the window. I saw multiple stretches of land under several feet of water and knew that this is exactly what Helping Health is here for.
In healthcare, there is a lot of talk about Social Determinants of Health. Health.gov speaks about 5 OTHER causes to a person's health outside of genetics and preexisting health conditions.
The Lancaster Flood for those impacts shakes the foundation of a few of these pillars.
Floods can cause overflow and/or backflow at wastewater treatment facilities causing contaminated drinking water which is a health risk.
Housing Instability is caused until waters subside and insurers are able to provide funds for rebuilding.
Transportation Instability is caused until waters subside and insurers are able to provide funds for repairs. Additionally, for low-income households with cars that have lower KBB values, the money from insurers may not make people whole to return to life pre-flood.
Without current transportation, systems need to be enacted to ensure public transportation and/or food delivery is offered to these communities without further costs out of their own pockets since many individuals live paycheck to paycheck.
Without current transportation, additional services will be needed to haul workers to employers until prior transportation is fixed.
Quality of Housing. If individuals forgo repairs due to out-of-pocket costs, they may be impacted by mold or other environmental challenges.
Because of this, Helping Health is raising a dedicated pool of funds from individuals and businesses to sit as a reserve to help both humanitarian groups rebuild and help families return to the quality of life they had before the flood.
Who are you?
I want to donate money: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=GX6TMPHAZ7CKS
I want to get involved: Share this post, and/or join our Facebook group here www.facebook.com/groups/hhlancasterflood/
I need help: DM us here www.facebook.com/groups/hhlancasterflood/
Please help us and help your fellow neighbors in our community!
-Joshua
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