As residents of southwest Virginia, western North Carolina, and Tennessee continue to struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition is doing what it can get survival supplies and safer drug use kits to the needy.
"When people think about harm reduction, all they're thinking about is drug use. But harm reduction really is community care," Danny Clawson, the Roanoke-based coalition's executive director, said Friday. "When you have disasters and crises, it's the harm reduction agencies that are best suited to have a local response to whatever's going on, because we already work in a situation with limited resources."
First- and second-year students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine helped pack a U-Haul at the coalition's southwest Roanoke office Friday with supplies, from diapers to respirators to clean needles.
"We run a volunteer program with them," Clawson said. "They come and help us pack kits, normally, for our safer use and hygiene supplies that we give out daily here in Roanoke City and the West Piedmont Health District."
Over the weekend, Clawson will deliver the items to sister organizations, including the Holler and Smoky Mountain harm reduction coalitions, in Marshall and Burnsville, North Carolina. The trip will be Clawson's second to the area since Hurricane Helene hit. On Monday, Sept. 30, they took supplies to Franklin and Waynesville.
"We're not intending on getting in the way down there," Clawson said. "It's really dropping off the supplies, getting them the resources that they need, and then getting back out so that we're not clogging up the roadways and the few places there are to sleep right now."
Clawson said harm reduction will always be a mutual aid project that jumps into full gear when federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reach their limits.
"There are people going down with pack mules, people with off-road dirt bikes, people hiking with backpacks to get supplies into these more isolated areas. It's not about will or commitment to these isolated areas. It's about access," they said. "These kind of efforts that we are doing is taking care of the outer areas, because FEMA couldn't get there if they wanted to."
Clawson said the Virginia coalition will supply its sister organizations with safer drug use kits to help prevent the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C, plus infections like endocarditis.
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"Infection is the last thing that people need right now in this kind of crisis," they said. "We're also taking down Narcan that is going to help protect people from overdose. People don't stop using drugs just because there's a crisis. It's a chemical dependency. They don't have a choice. They will become deathly ill and could die if they don't use. We can't stop our services just because there's a crisis."
The coalition is also delivering tents and stoves to members of western North Carolina's unhoused community.
"I just was talking this morning to somebody from Asheville," Clawson said. "Unhoused folks that were living in Asheville, they were only allowed to take one backpack into the shelters. Everything that they had in a setup, like their tent, tarps, anything that they had that they were using to survive on the streets, that's gone now, so we have to replace them, so that they can start again."
Clawson said the Virginia coalition is sourcing supplies from both national and local partners. But the needs of people in western North Carolina continue to change.
"The situation down there is incredibly dynamic," they said. "At first it was water and food, and so everybody was bringing down water and food. Now, the issue is personal protective equipment."
Clawson said residents and authorities are encountering toxic water as they begin to clean up and rebuild.
"There's a lot of chemical spills, as well as sewage, in the water, as well as deceased animals and unfortunately deceased humans," the said. "The people down there are incredibly resilient. They are doing everything in their power to take care of each other, and all we're doing is giving them the tools necessary to help themselves."
As those needs shift, Clawson said the Virginia coalition is staying "nimble."
"So far, we've raised over $5,000 that we will be using to purchase supplies on the way down that are newly identified so that we're meeting the needs of the communities in real time," they said.
The coalition plans to send more supplies to impacted communities next week. If you would like to support the organization's efforts, you can make a monetary donation at carrynoloxone.org/give. You can also drop items off at its Roanoke office, 350 Albemarle Avenue Southwest.
Emma Coleman (540) 981-3198
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