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Stamford-Based AmeriCares Helps Mississippi Clinic Destroyed By Tornado

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Stamford-based relief agency AmeriCares is helping a Mississippi health-care center leveled by an April 28 tornado remain open, ensuring access to care for the 3,200 low-income patients who rely on its services.

In Mississippi, where tornadoes destroyed a health center on April 28, AmeriCares is providing for a temporary location while Winston County Medical Center rebuilds.

In Mississippi, where tornadoes destroyed a health center on April 28, AmeriCares is providing for a temporary location while Winston County Medical Center rebuilds.

Photo Credit: Contributed

The global health and disaster relief organization is funding a temporary facility for the Winston County Family Medical Center in Louisville. Miss., that will keep it operating during the rebuilding process, according to a statement from AmeriCares.

The tornado decimated the clinic, a federally qualified health center operated by Greater Meridian Health Inc. that provides care to low-income residents and the uninsured. The nearby Winston Medical Center was also badly damaged in the storm.

Without help from AmeriCares, Wilbert Jones, Greater Meridian Health Clinic's chief executive officer, said patients would have to drive up to 30 miles to receive care – a hardship for those on fixed incomes and those who lost vehicles in the storm. The clinic plans to reopen in Louisville in July.

“The hospital is not expected to return to full operation for approximately two years,” Jones said in the statement. “Without AmeriCares help to acquire the temporary medical facility, patients could not receive nearby medical care.”

The late April storms killed more than 30 people in the South and Midwest, including 10 people in Winston County, which includes Louisville.

AmeriCares is focusing on Louisville because of the immense need – 37 percent of its 6,600 residents live below the poverty line according to the latest U.S. census figures – and the extensive damage. To see a video tour of the damaged clinic go to americares.org/missclinic.

In all, AmeriCares delivered more than $330,000 in medicines and relief supplies to hard-hit communities in Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi after the storm, including emergency kits for displaced families, bottled water, medicines for patients with chronic diseases and tetanus vaccines to protect first responders clearing rubble.

AmeriCares has delivered medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural and man-made disasters worldwide for more than 30 years. To support AmeriCares tornado relief efforts, go to americares.org.

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