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Hurricane Matthew and Nurses Support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

  RNs providing care to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their efforts to protect their land, water and public health

RNRN/NNU nurse volunteers are currently providing medical and basic first aid assistance at the Standing Rock Sioux encampments for the land and water protectors as winter approaches. RNRN is powered by NNU, the largest organization of registered nurses in the U.S., who say they will continue standing in solidarity with the land and water protectors at Standing Rock.

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RNRN volunteers are deployed this week to assist medic tents at the Sacred Stone camp— and are also working to help local partners establish a Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) clinic to meet the ongoing healthcare needs of the Standing Rock Sioux community as well as the land and water protectors.

Hurricane Matthew Update: RNRN/NNU Assists
International Medical Corps Efforts in Haiti

Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc last week in the Caribbean and the U.S. The hardest hit was Haiti, where the unofficial death toll (a number reported by Reuters but not officially confirmed) has now risen to 1,000, where they are starting to bury the dead in mass graves.

Hurricane Matthew devastation in Haiti
Residents carry a coffin containing the remains of a pregnant woman killed by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, Haiti. People across southwest Haiti are salvaging what they can from wreckage the Category 4 storm caused. Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Over 1 million people in the south of the country are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Many have no clean water and are vulnerable to cholera and other dangerous water-borne diseases. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks.
 
International Medical Corps has been on the ground in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake and has been a key player in fighting the cholera epidemic recently. These efforts are even more important now that the conditions after Hurricane Matthew will increase the spread of disease.

International Medical Corps has already deployed one mobile medical unit since the hurricane hit – the first medical services to be offered in St. Jean du Sud, and they are working with their partners to get more desperately needed services to the affected areas.

RNRN and National Nurses United (NNU) are supporting the life saving work of the International Medical Corps on the ground in Haiti.

To read more about their work, visit the International Medical Corps website >>

The death toll is also continuing to rise, as well as flooding and other dangerous conditions in North Carolina. Our thoughts are with those still facing dangerous conditions and a long recovery, and we will continue to monitor and assess any potential needs for support.

Thank you for your continued support, and for always answering the call when needed.