UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
The school set up a student emergency fund to help Asheville-based students and has raised $155,000 as of Nov. 1. The money will help students with housing, supplies, transportation and other needs. A member of the school’s student affairs team collected water, cash, baby supplies, food and essential items the week after the storm and delivered them to Asheville. Several Asheville-based faculty distributed insulin to the region, as well as gathered medicine and supplies to set up a pharmacy at the AB Tech Emergency Shelter. The school also collected EpiPens and Benadryl to counter the local yellow jacket infestation that hindered first responders’ efforts.
Nutrition Research Institute
The Nutrition Research Institute donated items to the Kannapolis Fire Department to distribute needed supplies to western North Carolina. Several employees have also assisted with on-the-ground cleanup.
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
The planetarium, along with N.C. Science Festival community partners, created activity and play kits for impacted residents. Play kits were delivered to Hands On! Children’s Museum in Hendersonville, which is serving as a regional community hub and supply distributor for families across the region.
UNC School of Social Work
The Family Support Program released several social emotional resources, including a social story for children in English and Spanish. They also created sensory bags to deliver to Asheville and Boone affiliates to support children with disabilities who may have increased anxiety because of the hurricane.
The Family and Children’s Resource Program worked with the Foster Family Alliance of N.C. to find emergency housing for approximately 70 foster families displaced by the hurricane. The School of Social Work also conducted a supply drive for foster families and coordinated with FFA-NC to deliver supplies and care notes the week of Oct. 21.
UNC Health
Kristen Grady, a surgical services director and nurse at UNC Health Lenoir, was one of seven healthcare providers who volunteered to help patients at sister hospitals impacted by the storm. Grady took three 12-hour shifts at the UNC Health Blue Ridge Hospital located in Morganton and also took care of patients in Black Mountain.
UNC Health collected more than 50 pallets of donated food and essential items from all Triangle hospitals, the Morrisville campus, Lenoir, Rockingham, several UNCPN clinics and Wake Radiology. The organization also provided emergency support to teammates in western North Carolina who experienced losses through the UNC Health Employee Assistance Fund.
Virtual care appointments through UNC Health were free during September and October and concluded Oct. 26. Adult residents were able to see a UNC Health primary care provider for mild symptoms without an appointment – with no out-of-pocket cost – through UNC Health Virtual Care Now.
UNC School of Medicine
Through a relationship with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, the emergency medicine department has a rescue team program. Through this program, Dr. Mariecely Luciano-Feijoo, a UNC emergency medicine physician, deployed with a swift water rescue team to assist families in western North Carolina.
Read more about Luciano-Feijoo
Dr. Mariecely Luciano-Feijoo
Dr. Alyssa Tilly, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics in the general medicine and clinical epidemiology division, helped coordinate a field hospital to provide medical care to some of the most impacted and vulnerable residents. The Spruce Pine native traveled to Yancey County to transform Burnsville Fire Department into a fully operational field hospital.
UNC College of Arts and Sciences
Jessica Bowling, a senior exercise and sport science major and member of the National Guard, paused her studies to help with storm recovery in western North Carolina in October.
Assigned to Haywood County following Hurricane Helene, Bowling helped receive and sort donations and carried out post-event canvassing operations in neighborhoods throughout the county.
Read more about Bowling.
Jessica Bowling (Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Hannah Tarkelly/North Carolina National Guard)
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Through the UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings Master of Public Health, a joint program offered at Asheville’s Mountain Area Health Education Center, many students, faculty and staff from Gillings helped with relief efforts. The school offered emergency funds to students in the program facing hardship and financial setbacks due to the hurricane’s impact. The Gillings community has responded to assist western North Carolina by:
- Providing trauma counseling at shelters
- Distributing food and needed supplies to neighborhoods
- Staffing pharmacies, managing shelters and clearing trees
Information Technology Services
More than 500 UNC Asheville courses were converted to an online format with help from volunteers from across the state, including ITS Educational Technology’s Thao Nghi Tu, Morgon Haskell and Kate Moss.
Emergency Response Technology Manager Matthew Mauzy traveled to the mountains as a first responder for the LUH-72 section of the North Carolina Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team.
UNC School of Government
The Emergency Management microsite provides resources for North Carolina emergency managers, including a list of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members with relevant expertise, emergency management law basics and Hurricane Helene response resources.
Faculty from the school are publishing blog posts to provide local governments assistance with planning and permitting during disaster recovery, property damage assessments, water/wastewater issues, Federal Emergency Management Agency grant applications and more. They are also hosting weekly office hours to advise local governments on disaster recovery financing opportunities. The school has also hosted trainings with FEMA’s Procurement Disaster Assistant Team for government representatives and nonprofit organizations supporting response and recovery efforts.
Several Lead for North Carolina Fellows working in jurisdictions in western North Carolina have helped with response efforts like storm cleanup, organizing shelters and coordinating volunteer networks. Nora Sjue has been working in Henderson County’s Emergency Operations Center since Sept. 26, helping field calls, gather information on isolated communities and conduct welfare checks.
Transportation and Parking
Parking Control Officer April Jordan traveled to Boone to volunteer with the American Red Cross and help Appalachian State University students collect belongings and clean up departments. Jordan set up a donation drive with Transportation and Parking, Public Safety and Human Resources Work/Life and Wellness to collect needed items like fuel and gas cans, work gloves, pet food, water, towels and more. On Oct. 7, Jordan made the donation drop and spent two days in the mountains, traveling to reach remote places in Watauga, Avery and Mitchell counties.
Environment, Health and Safety
University industrial hygienists Kim Haley and Greg Williams and occupational and environmental field hygienist Dave Catalano helped Appalachian State University with damage assessments. Adam Swift, a fire safety and emergency response manager, assisted UNC Asheville with reactivating their sprinkler systems.
Read more about Haley.
Dave Catalano, Greg Williams and Kim Haley.
UNC Institute for the Environment
Immediately following the storm, staff donated funds to purchase essential items for residents displaced from their homes.
The Institute’s Center for Public Engagement with Science developed a web-based disaster recovery resource to share with impacted communities in western North Carolina. The website provides specific details on mold cleanup, accessing clean drinking water, protection from mosquitoes and other pests, cleanup around mud and other environmental health hazards.
Additionally, CPES educators, alongside collaborators in North Carolina State Parks, provided a day of hands-on science programming for students at an elementary school that was displaced by flooding. The team of educators rotated students through multiple science stations and replaced some of the science instructional materials and reference books that were lost in the flood. Additional outdoor education programming will take place throughout the school year.
To learn how the Institute for the Environment continues to help with hurricane relief, please visit their website.
