WHITESBURG, Ky. — For 31 years, Dr. Van Breeding has taken care of the people of Whitesburg, but when floodwaters came rushing into Eastern Kentucky, no one was prepared for the devastation they would soon face.
“Nothing compared to what patients experienced. They’ve lost their homes and lost their families,” Breeding, director of clinical services at Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation in Whitesburg, said. “One couple who has been my patient for 30 years got swept away trying to go to work and both drowned.”
Hallways, patient rooms and medical equipment are now unusable.
The aftermath of the floodwaters of a patient room at MCHC in Whitesburg. (Spectrum News 1/Erin Wilson)
“It was dark, the power was off, no air conditioning running. It was hot, muggy and just mud everywhere,” Breeding said. “I went to every room in the clinic to see if we had anything to spare, but everything had been filthy with mud and water.”
Patients are now dealing with the loss of medications, glasses and essentials they need to survive, but that hasn’t stopped Breeding and his staff from doing what they were trained to do.
“We’ve got ten patient rooms cleaned out so we can see some patients here,” Dr. Breeding said. “We worked out of a gymnasium yesterday and saw over 200 that were in desperate need of their medicines and supplies.”
The Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation in Whitesburg hopes to be fully open by Monday. That’s thanks to staff and volunteers like Cheikh Ndiaye, who is taking his day off work to get his hands dirty.
“I’m not in a position where I can provide financially, but I know I can provide time and hopefully by everyone doing that and playing their part, we can help these families,” Ndiaye said. “I couldn’t do something else with my time knowing that these people need help.”
If you are looking to donate to the clinic, they are desperately in need of the following items:
- IV fluids
- tetanus shots
- Hepatitis A shots
- IV tubing
- oxygen concentrators
- oxygen tanks
- nebulizer machines
- nebulizer tubing, CPAP Machines
- Insulin and supplies
- glucometers and strips
- constant glucometers and readers like libre and dexcom
- dental equipment, portable dental clinic trucks
- portable X-ray machines and trucks
- portable lab trucks
- food trucks for patients and staff
- water bottles
- gallons and emergency tankers
- exam tables and equipment
- desktop and laptop computers for medical charting
- suture equipment, sterile dressing and wound treatment supplies
- disinfectant like hibiclens and betadine
- blood pressure cuffs and digital scales
- thermometers
- office chairs
- cleaning materials
MCHC/Whitesburg Medical Clinic is located at 226 Medical Plaza Lane, Whitesburg, Ky. They are open seven days a week to help care for flood victims. You can text Van Breeding MD at 606-634-1570 or email at vanbreedingmd@gmail.com.