Health Care Amid Hurricane Helene

When Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the Carolinas and beyond in late September, concerned citizens nationwide watched in horror, and wondered how to help.

For Dr. Andre Gvozden, owner of Gvozden Pediatrics in Millersville, help meant deploying to North Carolina for a volunteer medical mission.

Through Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit that provides free medical services to vulnerable populations, Gvozden joined a team of doctors and nurses who filled a health care void during this critical time. Gvozden has worked with Heart to Heart’s disaster response team for a decade, serving on 11 missions both in the United States and abroad.

“The whole infrastructure tends to collapse at once, so organizations like ours help,” Gvozden explained, noting that often with a natural disaster, the local doctors’ offices are closed due to damage, leaving the hospitals overwhelmed.

Heart to Heart set up camp in Haywood County, west of Asheville, North Carolina, near the health department so that doctors and nurses would be visible to the population. Gvozden likened its set-up to a “mini urgent care on wheels,” capable of treating a whole host of medical needs and stocked with prescription medications.

For two weeks, the volunteer medical providers treated an estimated 200 patients for an array of ailments. The first wave brought in injuries sustained during hurricane clean up, such as wounds and infections from stepping on nails.

Later, the health care workers saw more intestinal infections from contaminated water, and secondary clean-up injuries.

“The flood disrupted the yellow jackets and they were swarming everywhere,” said Gvozden, who treated linemen, tasked with getting power back up and running, who came in with bee stings and poison ivy.

As word got out that free medical care was available, patients with chronic conditions, who had perhaps been hesitant to seek treatment in the past, trickled in.

“It’s Appalachia where we were, they’re very self-sufficient, and I think for generations, have taken care of themselves,” Gvozden said. “We saw some pretty sick people who were really reluctant to go to the emergency room.”

Despite the myriad adversities faced by the patients who visited the Heart to Heart truck, volunteers were struck by their immense kindness, gratitude and resilience.

Even while sharing photos of the flooding and damage to their own homes, the hurricane victims found silver linings, and they acknowledged it could have been worse.

“It was unbelievable, the amount of resilience,” Gvozden recalled. “They say, ‘We’ll build back up.’ It’s very inspiring.”

Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene left its trail of destruction, Hurricane Milton barreled into Central Florida. Between the two storms, at least 250 lives were lost across North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. Millions of people were without power, and the physical devastation will last long after the camera crews and volunteers leave.

“I believe we’re going to become a little numb to other people’s suffering, which is normal,” Gvozden said. “I would like to help people remain mindful that people are hurting. Even if it didn’t affect us, we are all in this world together.”

Gvozden acknowledged he is only capable of giving his time to these medical missions because of the support of his wife, Cathy, and the rest of the staff at their pediatric practice, who kept the office fully running during his absence. He stressed that enabling others to serve is a service in and of itself.