Novant Health teams mobilize recovery efforts in Western North Carolina

Sometimes a health care system has to stretch beyond staffing its clinics and hospitals when it comes to meeting the needs of the communities it serves.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Novant Health has dispatched multiple teams and an array of resources to devastated western North Carolina. Since Helene struck in late September, Novant Health teams have partnered with the Red Cross to open a shelter for evacuees in Buncombe County, deployed a mobile clinic and pharmacy, and provided urgent and virtual care services regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. On Tuesday, a second mobile healthy unit was deployed to Asheville. The effort is evolving by the hour.

"Our teams have been on the ground in these communities and have seen the challenges people are facing to gain access to care,” said Dr. Pam Oliver, executive vice president and chief medical officer, Novant Health. “We are committed to offering as much support and as many resources as possible, and we will continue to partner with communities across Western North Carolina to identify ways Novant Health can assist.”

Dr. CJ Atkinson, the physician leader in the region, has been at the center of the effort since day one. Among other things, he joined state troopers coursing through a labyrinth of crumbling roads and downed trees into the flooded downtown to search for people in need of rescue and care. There was almost no cell service, making a monumental task even more difficult.

“You have such destruction combined with completely decimated communication,” said Atkinson, 44. “For the first 48 to 72 hours, there was no way to communicate with anyone.”

But Atkinson’s military and medical background had prepared him well. The day after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he enlisted with the U.S. Army and would later serve as a battalion surgeon in Iraq. Navigating chaos is his specialty. But Helene’s damage is unlike any he has ever seen.

“You’re passing a house that’s destroyed or a car that’s flipped over and crushed by a mountain,” Atkinson said. “And you can’t stop because you’re on the way to rescue someone.”

Between the medical demands and general disorientation on the ground, overseeing the medical shelter became a blurry cycle of rescuing and responding. Searches were muddy, and often required ditching an ambulance for vehicles that could navigate a devastated terrain. In one case, Atkinson and paramedics used a helicopter to find and airlift an expectant mom facing a breech birth. (Read here: Trapped on hurricane-ravaged mountain with a breech baby due at any moment.)

Also central to the daily and long-term response planning on the ground are Kip Clark, director of operations for Novant Health public safety and emergency management; Oliver; and family medicine physician Dr. Chan Badger, a Novant Health senior vice president and president of primary care.

Badger, 52, was inspired by the work well underway when he arrived last week at a Federal Emergency Management Agency comfort station. On the day the FEMA station launched, Badger treated more than a dozen local patients, among them a construction worker who hadn’t seen a doctor in 18 years.

Badger treated everything from complex chronic conditions to ear infections and skin rashes.

“We’ve got everything from an automatic defibrillator for an irregular heartbeat to an obstetrics emergency kit,” he said. “It’s thinking through what we might see, and making sure we’re ready for anything. There are a lot of communities that are hurting, so this is rewarding for me.”

Meanwhile, after a brief break with his family in Huntersville, Atkinson was eager to return to Asheville.

“I’m blown away by this level of coordination,” he said after delivering a carload of fresh medical supplies. “When people come together to do the right thing, nothing is better in life than that.”

Through philanthropy, Novant Health Foundation delivers greater access to lifesaving care for more patients by providing the Novant Health Community Care Cruisers, medical supplies and medications for patients, meals for team members on the ground and support for our community engagement team as they partner with local organizations to assess needs.

A special thank you to our team members and community philanthropy partners who help accelerate, expand and enhance care for those who live in the communities we serve.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can support Novant Health’s recovery efforts in western NC, visit the Novant Health Disaster Relief fund page.