*NOT FOR EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION*
Source: Nashville Business Journal
Author: Nikki Ross
Date: October 2, 2024
HCA Healthcare has given $1 million to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts in North Carolina.
The money was doled out to community organizations targeting the area, according to a press release.
“Caring for those in their time of need is our greatest calling at HCA Healthcare, and I am deeply moved by the resilience and compassion of our colleagues,” said CEO Sam Hazen in the release.
HCA Healthcare Inc (NYSE: HCA) is giving $250,000 to the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County for immediate disaster response and long-term support for flood victims, $250,000 to the American Red Cross of North Carolina for shelter location support and $500,000 will be donated to other community partners that are providing direct support for hurricane-related issues.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in northwestern Florida on Sept. 26 as a category 4 hurricane and left more than four million people without power and caused major damage through the southeast. When the storm reached Asheville, North Carolina, it brought heavy wind and widespread flooding that led to significant damage, power outages and loss of life.
As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 150 people across the southeast, including 57 from Buncombe County which contains Asheville, have died from the storm, NBC News reported Tuesday afternoon. As many as 600 people are unaccounted for, according to a Monday afternoon update from the Associated Press.
HCA Healthcare is Nashville’s largest publicly traded company by revenue, generating $64.9 billion in 2023, according to Business Journal research. The company operates seven hospitals under HCA Mission Health with thousands of employees in western North Carolina.
Before the storm, the company activated its Nashville-based Enterprise Emergency Operations Center, made up of 200 multidisciplinary leaders. The center is working with hospital leaders to get resources to its care teams in the affected areas. More than 100 nurses across the organization, in addition to physicians and the company’s incident support team, have gone to help.
“Though the level of destruction is immense, I am proud of the dedication of our colleagues, who have continued to support our patients, our community and one another,” said Greg Lowe, president and CEO of Mission Health in the release. “We remain dedicated to helping our colleagues through this time, just as they have selflessly served their community and supported patients without hesitation.”
HCA has its own nonprofit, HCA Healthcare Hope Fund, to support its employees in disasters like Hurricane Helene.