September 17, 2018
RALEIGH – The North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA) and its charitable arm, the North Carolina Foundation for Nursing (NCFN) are announcing an emergency campaign to provide support to nurses who have suffered loss or damages from Hurricane Florence. The NCFN - Nurse Recovery Fund seeks tax-deductible donations whose sole purpose is to help nurses get back on their feet sooner; NCNA and NCFN believe that helping nurses return to their normal lives will benefit the entire state.
“It is immensely harder to focus on patient care if you are reeling from your own losses, so we see this as a chance to support our fellow nurses and try to help them get back to normal,” said NCNA President Elaine Scherer, MAEd, BSN, RN. “Caring for each other is a vital part of being a nurse. We saw an opportunity to step up and have a positive impact on a terrible situation. Doing nothing was simply not an option.”
All money collected by NCFN for this fund will be given directly to the people in need. NCNA is donating all of the staff time required to set up the campaign’s infrastructure and administer funds.
“We are so grateful to our colleagues at the Texas Nurses Association, who were already offering advice before the storm arrived last week,” said NCNA CEO & NCFN Executive Director Tina Gordon. “They launched a similar campaign in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and the lessons they learned have been invaluable as we prepared to roll out the NCFN - Nurse Recovery Fund.”
Donations to this special fund will be distributed to actively-licensed Registered Nurses in North Carolina who have been impacted by Hurricane Florence. NCNA & NCFN will review applications from affected nurses and determine who receives assistance based on a sliding scale of needs. Funds will be collected for a limited time and distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis.
UPDATE
Individuals can apply for FEMA disaster assistance here: www.disasterassistance.gov, through a mobile app www.fema.gov/mobile-app, or by phone at 800-621-3362. From what we understand, 80% of claims have come in through online or mobile app, so it has been designed to be user friendly.
Those who are deemed ineligible for FEMA assistance can apply for assistance through a new program called Back@HomeNC: www.backathome.org.
MEDIA CONTACT
Chris Cowperthwaite, APR
Manager of Communications & Outreach
(919) 821-4250 or chriscowperthwaite@ncnurses.org
ABOUT NCNA
As the leading professional organization for North Carolina’s registered nurses, we equip nurses at all stages to thrive in an ever-changing healthcare environment. NCNA helps keep North Carolina nurses on the cutting edge of nursing practice, policy, education, and more. Join us as we work to advance nursing and ensure high-quality healthcare for everyone. For more information, please visit www.ncnurses.org.
ABOUT NCFN
The North Carolina Foundation for Nursing is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation. Funding to support the Foundation and its activities comes from individual contributions, business donations, bequests, recognitions, and memorials.
The purpose and goals of the Foundation are to secure and administer funds directed toward:
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