Nearly eight weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, the American Kidney Fund (AKF) continues to provide grants to dialysis patients who need assistance to pay for medications, special diet foods, and personal essentials lost in the storm, as well as transportation to treatment. AKF today announced it has received a $100,000 gift from the Amgen Foundation to help fund its disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
News reports have chronicled the tenuous situation in Puerto Rico for dialysis patients, who must continue to receive lifesaving dialysis treatment despite their own personal losses and logistical challenges resulting from the storm. Last week, Medscape reported on the heroic efforts of dialysis providers and clinic staff in staying open to provide treatment to patients.
AKF's Disaster Relief Program is the nation's only rapid-response charitable assistance program that is dedicated to quickly and effectively meeting the needs of dialysis patients who experience natural disasters.
"The Amgen Foundation has been a steadfast supporter of our efforts to help dialysis patients affected by natural disasters since 2005, when their support helped us to assist thousands of dialysis patients who lost so much in Hurricane Katrina," said LaVarne A. Burton, president and chief executive officer of the American Kidney Fund. "We are grateful for the Amgen Foundation's continued support which allows us to help some of the most vulnerable victims of natural disasters."
The Amgen Foundation has also supported AKF's disaster relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, providing grants of $20,000 for each of the two hurricanes. The $100,000 grant is the single largest gift to AKF's Disaster Relief Program this year, bringing the total from the Amgen Foundation to $140,000 for 2017.
Including the newest grant from the Amgen Foundation, AKF has now raised $490,000 for disaster relief in 2017, thanks to generous contributions from the general public, corporations and foundations. AKF has provided nearly $650,000 in disaster relief this fall to 3,000 dialysis patients affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the wildfires in Northern California. AKF has made up the shortfall by reallocating some of its own resources to the Disaster Relief Program. AKF continues to accept contributions toward disaster relief at KidneyFund.org/hurricane.
For more information on AKF's recent disaster relief efforts, please visit KidneyFund.org/disaster-relief-impact.
About the American Kidney Fund
As the nation's leading nonprofit working on behalf of the 30 million Americans with kidney disease, the American Kidney Fund is dedicated to ensuring that every kidney patient has access to health care, and that every person at risk for kidney disease is empowered to prevent it. AKF provides a complete spectrum of programs and services: prevention outreach, top-rated health educational resources, and direct financial assistance enabling 1 in 5 U.S. dialysis patients to access lifesaving medical care, including dialysis and transplantation. AKF holds the highest ratings from the nation's charity watchdog groups, including Charity Navigator, which includes AKF on its "top 10" list of nonprofits with the longest track records of outstanding stewardship of the donated dollar, and GuideStar, which has awarded AKF its Platinum Seal of Transparency.
