Sept. 22, 2017
Any
Texas physician whose Harvey-damaged medical practice is located in a federally
declared disaster area now may apply for relief funds from the Texas Medical
Association (TMA) Disaster Relief Program.
“The application for affected physicians is now live,” declared TMA President
Carlos J. Cardenas, MD. “We want physicians to be able to apply for support as
quickly as possible so we can send funds to them as fast as we can. Their communities’
patients are struggling, their staffs are hurting, and they are straining to get
their practices up and running again, so we want to help ease those
burdens.”
The TMA
Disaster Relief Program’s oversight committee this week finalized the
application and process to distribute funds to the countless physicians who lost their medical practice to the
hurricane.
The funds will help physicians pay for storm loss
expenses their insurance or other sources will not cover. For many doctors’
offices throughout southeast Texas, damage is terrific. Many lost everything but
the shells of the buildings themselves — from medical equipment to vaccines to
office furniture and computers.
TMA’s goal is to raise at $1 million or more. The program
received an enormous boost last weekend, raising
the tally to nearly $920,000.
The need is enormous: A new TMA survey finds nearly
two-thirds (65 percent) of physicians in Texas’ official disaster-area counties
were forced to close their practice temporarily, while one-third (35 percent)
had to reduce their hours or services. That equates to tens of thousands of
patients left without their doctor to care for their injuries or illnesses
during a time when many also face the upheaval of destruction of their homes or
places of work.
Dr. Cardenas
assembled a blue-ribbon panel of TMA Family members including five past TMA
presidents, the chair and a member of The Physicians Benevolent Fund, and physicians in the disaster areas to
oversee the TMA Disaster Relief Program. Don R. Read, MD, TMA immediate past
president, is the committee chair.
TMA’s
philanthropic arm, the TMA Foundation, is overseeing fundraising,
and The Physicians Benevolent Fund is administering the TMA
Disaster Relief Program.
TMA
continues to accept contributions to the program in hopes of
helping each physician rebuild to care for patients again.
TMA is the largest state
medical society in the nation, representing more than 50,000 physician and
medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county
medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to
improve the health of all Texans. The TMA Foundation
raises funds to support the public health and science priority initiatives of
TMA and the Family of Medicine.
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Contact: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus Cooper (512)
370-1382; cell: (512) 650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
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