Hurricane Sister-Site Program

Coastal Family Health Center
Biloxi, MS

Total CAVU funding: $5,700

Results: Provided administrative, travel, lodging, and food costs for volunteers
Provided direct support and coordinated multiple development activities

The Mississippi Coastal Region's primary medical service provider for the underserved is Coastal Family Health Center. Of their 9 locations that stretch across ~90 miles of the Gulf Coast region of MS, 5 were inoperable after Hurricane Katrina hit in August, 2005.

Coastal has since worked to rebuild facilities in the regions where their former sites were knocked out. But in the months immediately following the storm, staff could have been easily overwhelmed when faced with the needs of the local population and the personal hardships many were facing in the aftermath of Katrina.

CAVU provided funds to Community Health Connections Family Health Centers, a CAVU partner health center based in Fitchburg, MA, to work with Coastal to design a program that used volunteer mental health resources to provide counseling and support services to the health providers at Coastal. CAVU provided administrative and travel costs for volunteers and partnered with Hands On Network to provide lodging and food. CAVU also provided targeted direct services to Coastal as part of an NGO Recovery Committee comprised of a diverse set of NGOs that were operating in and supporting others that operated on the Gulf Coast assisting in the Hurricane recovery effort.