The Charles George VA Medical Center is open and has been throughout the onslaught of Tropical Storm Helene.
“Our emergency room never closed,” Katherine Ramos Muniz, public affairs specialist with Charles George VA Medical Center, tells Xpress. The facility maintained 24/7 emergency and inpatient services throughout the storm and its aftermath. The center’s on-site nursing home and rehabilitation center also remained open.
“Even veterans who came for their appointments despite the notifications [to reschedule] were still attended to, despite the limitations to our facility,” Ramos Muniz says.
The site has been running on both emergency generator and traditional power, and the facility has access to running water via a refillable tank that gets between eight and 15 deliveries of water every day, said Dr. Ashfaq Ahsanuddin, chief of staff for the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System, at the Buncombe County media briefing Oct. 4.
“We’re also testing all that water to make sure that it’s safe,” Ahsanuddin said.
For those at home without power, the VA has additional services.
“Power outages present challenges for veterans, especially those that rely on electrical devices for medical care or mobility,” says Ramos Muniz. ReadyNC.gov reports more than 139,000 power outages across the state as of noon Oct. 7 with over 66,000 in Buncombe County alone.
“We also have a home-based primary care service for veterans that cannot leave their home, and we have been actively reaching out to those patients, and we’ve confirmed the safety of approximately 95% of them,” Ahsanuddin said. “We’ve started to do home visits for those high-risk veterans, where the route of travel has been determined to be safe for our employees.”
“The [VA] hospital has been doing oxygen delivery and respiratory therapies to those high-risk veterans whose supply was exhausted,” Ramos Muniz says. “We’ve been doing a collaboration between our social work, prosthetics and supply chain services, as well as our community vendor for home oxygen, to assist as many veterans as we can.”
That allows high-risk veterans to stay home and not place additional strain on community resources.
Charles George VA Medical Center’s pharmacy and emergency room are open 24/7, and the facility has 113 hospital beds. As of Monday, Oct. 7, all outpatient clinics are open 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Veterans can get their medications either at Charles George VA Medical Center’s pharmacy or by calling the VISN 6 Clinical Contact Center at 1-855-679-0074.
Veterans also can go to any retail pharmacy within the community care network with either a written VA prescription or an active VA prescription bottle, and receive a 30-day supply.
The VA health care system has deployed teams to the local emergency shelters at the A-B Tech conference center at 16 Fernihurst Drive and the WNC Agricultural Center in Buncombe County to assist displaced veterans, says Ramos Muniz.
Staff is disseminating information via emergency alert systems, text messages, social media @AshevilleVAMC, emails and telephone. Veterans can call the medical center at 828-298-7911 for assistance or visit the Asheville VA website.
The medical center in east Asheville serves 49,000 veterans residing in 23 counties in Western North Carolina, and the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System also operates outpatient clinics in Franklin, Forest City and Hickory.
Finding missing people
The United Way is conducting welfare checks and looking for people who have not been located. You can connect with United Way’s reunification program with this form or the Red Cross with this form provided.
More information at avl.mx/e7c.
Henderson County launched a Wellness Check Status Map for missing contacts. It shows individuals whose location and safety are unknown in red. Blue dots show people who have been located. Please check the map to see if you are listed or to update if you know the whereabouts of anyone on the map. Call 828-771-6670 to notify Henderson County of anyone’s status.
More information at avl.mx/e70.
Mental health resources
Local mental health support is available from Black Mountain Counseling Center. Text or call 828-388-7433 and leave a message and a licensed, local mental health professional will get back to you as soon as possible. Counselors are available for free, pro-bono calls and virtual appointments.Please include your preferred method of communication. You can also email the center at helenesupport@blackmountaincounseling.org.
More information at avl.mx/e6y.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Hope4NC Helpline, 855-587-3463, to provide mental health support for first responders and volunteers working on Helene disaster response. It is free, confidential, and available 24/7.
More information at avl.mx/e6z.
Mountain Mobility update
As long as patients are accessible, Mountain Mobility continues life-sustaining dialysis transport in coordination with dialysis centers.
More information at avl.mx/e6z.
Available emergency medical care
Pardee Hospital and its emergency department remain open 24/7 for emergent medical care. Call facilities to verify hours of operation.
More information at avl.mx/bbf.
Mercy urgent care lists hours for the clinics accepting patients. Call facilities to verify hours of operation.
More information at avl.mx/e7b.
Pharmacies
The N.C. Board of Pharmacy lists open pharmacies in Western North Carolina. The board will post updates as it receives them. Call pharmacies to verify hours of operation.
More information at avl.mx/e72.
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