There are only 14 days left to join the Duke Department of Medicine in supporting the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, NC, for its 2024 Holiday Fundraiser. So far, 23 faculty and three trainees have donated more than $3,400. With more than 2,000 faculty, staff, and trainees, if everyone gave at least $1, we could make a difference in supporting those affected by Hurricane Helene.
MAHEC has been a lifeline for Western North Carolina, delivering health care and training the next generation of providers who serve its rural and underserved communities. Some learners were forced to relocate to continue their education while visiting medical students scheduled to train in the area had to be turned away.
Reflection from MAHEC Senior Internal Medicine Resident Kacey Scott
“Hurricane Helene was a disaster that no one in Western NC could have prepared for. In the early days following the storm, the hospital operated using paper charts, emergency generator power, and staff had to eat MREs. There were no functioning toilets or sources of fresh water. In short, we faced an unprecedented emergency situation as a hospital and as a community.
Most residents had no electricity or running water for several weeks. Many of us ran out of gas or almost did. Work was challenging in the face of lacking resources and high stress situations. We saw patients with the most gut-wrenching stories of loss of family, property, and livelihood.
And yet, through the chaos and the heartbreak, our residency program was able to perform extraordinary work. Residents supported each other as best we could, sharing our limited resources amongst each other. We welcomed each other into our homes, swapped coffee for protein bars, dry shampoo for battery-operated sound machines. Some residents made long-distance runs to secure much-needed supplies like water and gasoline. We worked in shifts, triaging the never-ending line of patients streaming through the ED.
Slowly but surely, our community has begun to rebuild with the help of charities, disaster relief organizations, and generous donations from around the country and the world. However, it will be decades before our collective losses and the devastating environmental impact will be repaired. It is through the inspiring philanthropic contributions of organizations like Duke University’s Department of Medicine, that we will be able to heal the Appalachian region.
Your support of our organization not only ensures that we are able to continue learning and training in the community we love, but that we are thereby able to affect change directly through promoting health and addressing health disparities in those populations who are already most vulnerable and at-risk. Thank you for your altruism and ongoing commitment to helping the residents of MAHEC Internal Medicine thrive in even the most challenging of circumstances. We are truly grateful.”
To donate online, visit https://duke.is/9/g2gr or send a check payable to “MAHEC” to:
MAHEC Department of Philanthropy
121 Hendersonville Road Asheville, NC 28803
Memo: Duke