Sunshine Health Mobilizes Community Resources to Support Those Impacted by Hurricane Ian

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunshine Health is committed to helping Floridians impacted by the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian. The health plan is actively assisting health plan members, providers, employees and communities who have been impacted by this catastrophic storm.

In the aftermath of the storm, Sunshine Health Welcome Rooms that are located in areas impacted by Hurricane Ian were immediately mobilized into community resource, service, and goods distribution centers to provide support in partnership with the Department of Children and Families (DCF).

DCF Family Resource Support Centers were live at the Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa and New Port Richey Welcome Room locations promptly after the storm's passing to support. Sunshine Health employees from around the state quickly mobilized to purchase, transport and distribute food and supplies, such as water, shelf-stable foods, diapers, wipes and formula, at these locations.

Family Resource Support Center sites are serving as a central hub for people impacted by Hurricane Ian to have access to Hope Navigators, behavioral health specialists and public benefit eligibility specialists.

Center locations are changing and expanding to areas as needs evolve. Sites are currently open in Cape Coral, Sarasota and Arcadia. Sunshine Health is continuing to support sites with employee volunteers and relief supplies distribution. A list of centers and their addresses currently open to the public can be found on DCF's Family Resource Support Center webpage.

For basic immediate needs, Sunshine Health's 11 Welcome Rooms are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. These locations are open to the public for anyone in need of snacks, supplies, internet or community resource connections. All Sunshine Health Welcome Room locations can be found here.

Sunshine Health members are a top priority, and as such, the health plan is taking the following actions during the state of emergency:

• Proactively reaching out to high-risk members, supporting their needs and safety
• Waiving early refill time limits on active prescriptions
• Waiving authorization requirements for both pharmacy and medical claims
• For Ambetter (Marketplace) members, we will ensure members are covered by ensuring no member policies will be canceled or face a non-renewal for the duration of the state of emergency

Any Sunshine Health member who is affected by Hurricane Ian can visit SunshineHealth.com or call Member Services at 1-866-796-0530 (TTY: 1-800-955-8770) for assistance with physical or mental health needs, or community resource connections.

Immediately following the storm's landfall, Sunshine Health, in collaboration with the Centene Charitable Foundation, committed $1 million to the Florida Disaster Fund. Sunshine Health believes that supporting this fund is critical to Florida's recovery and is proud to partner with Volunteer Florida for recovery efforts. 

"On behalf of Volunteer Florida, we would like to thank Sunshine Health for its significant financial contribution to the Florida Disaster Fund in response to the statewide recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian," said CEO of Volunteer Florida Josie Tamayo. "Their contribution to the Florida Disaster Fund will help provide essential services in rebuilding our affected communities."

Sunshine Health, which provides specialized healthcare for children in or adopted from Florida's child welfare system, committed $30,000 to the Florida Coalition for Children Foundation's Disaster Relief Fund. These funds will go directly to families in Florida's child welfare system for needs such as temporary housing, clothing, gas cards and other basic necessities.

Kurt Kelly, CEO and president of the Florida Coalition for Children, said, "Once again, Sunshine Health has shown their genuine love and compassion for the children, youth, and families of Florida. We greatly appreciate their proactive and generous response to this crisis."

Sunshine Health also committed $25,000 to Farm Share, Inc. Farm Share, Inc. has already supplied over 500,000 pounds of food, water and disaster supplies to the communities impacted most by Hurricane Ian and we are proud to assist in continuing their mission. In addition to our financial donation, our employee volunteers also helped load food and supplies onto trucks traveling to Fort Myers.

"We are grateful for partners like Sunshine Health who are helping us bring needed resources to impacted communities," said Stephen Shelley, founder and CEO of Farm Share.

Finally, Sunshine Health Community Resource Database offers anyone in need ? not just members ? connections with local programs for support. These programs provide valuable resources year-round, but especially at a time of crisis. Anyone can use the online database or call the Community Connections Help Line at 1-866-775-2192.

Sunshine Health is committed to its fellow Floridians and will continue to work on rebuilding and strengthening communities through members, employee, provider and community initiatives.

"Sunshine Health is deeply embedded in the communities we serve, and we're proud to be able to answer the call of need in what is many Floridians' darkest hour in the devastating wake of Hurricane Ian," said CEO and Plan President Nathan Landsbaum. "Our heartfelt thoughts are with our neighbors, our fellow Floridians, and our resources and assets will be deployed to help Florida recover from this catastrophic storm."

Sunshine Health is a managed care plan with a Florida Medicaid contract. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. Limitations, co-payments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, premium and/or co-payments/co-insurance may change. For more information contact the Managed Care Plan.

Headquartered in Broward County and with offices across the state, Sunshine Health is among the largest healthcare plans in Florida. Offering coordinated care and a network of support for our members, Sunshine Health is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. Sunshine Health is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise. It offers government-sponsored managed care through Medicaid, Long Term Care, the Health Insurance Marketplace (Ambetter), and Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans (Wellcare). Its specialty plans include the Child Welfare Specialty Plan serving children in or adopted from the state's Child Welfare system; the Serious Mental Illness Specialty Plan for people living with serious mental illness; and the Children's Medical Services Health Plan, operated by Sunshine Health on behalf of the Florida Department of Health for children and adolescents with special healthcare needs. For more information, visit SunshineHealth.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter @SunHealthFL.

SOURCE Sunshine Health