NC Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley toured Mitchell and Yancey counties with Governor Roy Cooper on Tuesday, surveying storm damage, meeting with community members and thanking first responders at the Burnsville and Spruce Pine fire departments. The trip concluded with a visit to Sibelco Quartz Mine, a top employer of Mitchell County with about 500 employees. While speaking with members of the media, the Secretary shared updates from the department’s work in collaboration with local, state and federal partners to get the needed care and resources to the hundreds of thousands of people impacted by Hurricane Helene.
It is a top priority for the department to quickly get food, water and baby formula to impacted areas in Western North Carolina.
- 30,000 gallons of water distributed to Mitchell County and nearly 25,000 gallons to Yancey County.
- 95,000 meals ready to eat distributed in Mitchell County and 55,000 meals ready to eat distributed in Yancey County.
- Eight pallets (between 120 – 144 cases of formula per pallet) of formula via the National Guard to 34 feeding sites across the impacted Western NC counties.
- Formula shipped directly to multiple counties, including Mitchell and Yancey.
- Diaper Bank of NC is making daily trips by trucks, mules and ATVs to deliver formula and infant supplies to 16 of the impacted counties in Western North Carolina.
The department is working closely with federal partners to ensure people have access to food.
- People across North Carolina can use their EBT cards to purchase hot foods.
- People in 23 counties were automatically reimbursed for 70% of their monthly benefit to replace lost food. This is $24million in replacement benefits to more than 200,000 people in North Carolina.
- Out of the 1,645 retailers that accept EBT cards in 25 counties in the west, at least 1,259 (77%) were able to run EBT transactions this past Saturday and Sunday.
However, there are a large number of retailers in Mitchell and Yancey counties still not able to accept EBT cards, and we are working with partners to get more of those retailers back online.
We are working to ensure communities have access to medical care, support and life-saving medication.
- A Community Medical Care Site in Burnsville (Yancey County) is being set up with ambulances, medications and medical supplies on site.
- 229 pharmacies are open in the impacted counites and EBCI Tribal area with federal disaster declaration. Each county and the EBCI Tribal area have at least one pharmacy open and filling prescriptions.
- All shelters have mental health counselors on site and are stocked with Naloxone for people in need of treatment for opioid overdose.
- All 27 opioid treatment programs in the Western region are already re-open and folks can go to any one of them to get their treatment doses. They do not need to go to the one they usually go to.
- NCDHHS is filling Benadryl and epinephrine injections requests through hospitals, emergency medical personnel and doctors who are seeing a significant number of people showing up with insect stings.
- The department has been concerned about oxygen supplies and has worked with multiple vendors, federal agencies and neighboring states to source supplies. Two refill stations have been set up; one in Mocksville and another in Brevard.
We understand the emotional and mental toll that a crisis like this can take and want to make sure people have access to mental health supports. We’ve ramped up staffing at the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. People in immediate crisis or contemplating self harm should not hesitate to call. For everyone impacted by Hurricane Helene, the Disaster Distress Hotline is ready to take your call at 1-800-985-5990.