Project Hope, a Virginia-based nonprofit group that sends medical professionals to disasters around the world, is sending a team to the hurricane-ravaged Bahamas.
On Wednesday, five volunteers — including a doctor, a nurse practitioner and a logistician — will leave from several different locations including D.C., Maine and Puerto Rico.
They’re flying into Nassau on the island of New Providence, but plan to make their way to other islands to the north that were hardest-hit by Hurricane Dorian.
“We are working on how to get to the affected areas as quickly as possible so that we can deliver critical supplies, both medical and health supplies, to communities that need them the most,” said Tom Cotter, the group’s director of emergency response.
They’ll be coordinating their work with the Bahamian government to make sure there’s no overlap or gaps in the response.
Some of the supplies they will provide are basic necessities.
“We are working with our partners to gather hygiene kits that have everything you’d expect: a toothpaste, a toothbrush, a comb, a towel,” Cotter said.
With Dorian still spinning in the Atlantic Ocean, Project Hope has more than 30 doctors, nurses and pharmacists ready and willing to respond if needed.
“The Bahamas is the first place that is accessible and has clear needs, but Project Hope is standing by to assist wherever we’re needed as this storm carries on,” Cotter said.
The organization has responded to almost every major international disaster since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as well as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017.
“We can’t do our work without the public,” Cotter said. “Our volunteers are donating their time and talents, and the money that people donate to us goes to their logistics to procuring supplies for communities in need. So we really do need your help.”
You can help the effort by donating online.
