LUMBERTON — The Robeson County Department of Public Health has been awarded almost $37,000 to help it be better prepared for disasters.

The department is to receive $36,977 from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health, said Melissa Packer, county assistant health director.

The county Health Department received one of 23 grants funded through a $1 million grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, according to information from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office. The grants will support safety net health care providers, including rural health centers and nonprofit rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers, health departments and small rural hospitals, with service sites impacted by a storm. The grants provide up to $50,000 for infrastructure-related capital needs, emergency supplies and equipment to sustain services during emergencies and natural disasters.

“Health providers at all levels are working to ensure they are ready for disasters, and this money strengthens the safety net in counties across the state as they prepare for the next storm,” Cooper said.

The grants were competitive, and the county Health Department submitted its application just before the Oct. 7 deadline, Packer said.

The Health Department will use the money to buy a larger fuel tank for the department’s existing generator, to buy automatic external defibrillators to be included in existing emergency shelter kits, repair exterior lighting, and replace weather damaged carpet with tile flooring, according to application documents provided by the department.

With the larger fuel tank, the department plans to install required impact protection around the tank; and purchase fuel three times over the course of the 20-month funding period, according to the documents.

“The capacity of our existing tank is 120 gallons; and we want to purchase one with the capacity to hold 330 gallons. Our rationale behind the request for funds to fuel the tank three times (initial and two refills) is based upon the fact that over the funding period, there will be two winter seasons (with potential inclement weather/power outages) and one complete hurricane season (with potential severe weather/power outages), and the onset of another hurricane season just prior to funding conclusion,” the grant application narrative reads in part.

The narrative further explains that during hurricanes Matthew and Florence the department’s generator was run continuously for days and ran out of fuel during each storm. The loss of power resulted in the loss of vaccines and drugs that needed to the refrigerated. The department’s attempts to transfer the vaccines and drugs to Southeastern Regional Medical Center, which maintained its power supply through the use of its generator, failed because of flooded roadways.

“We consider the AEDs as a critical ‘add-on’ to our existing basic sheltering kits that accompany our public health nurses when called to staff our county’s six shelter sites. Our primary shelter sites are public school gymnasiums; and typically each school’s AED is located and locked elsewhere on the school premises — usually in or near the main office area. Thus, if our nurses staffing the shelters need immediate access to an AED, and an EMS official or other trained first responder is not on hand to offer urgent life-saving assistance, the outcome will not be a good one,” the narrative reads in part.

The narrative explains that 32 canopy lights are in need of replacement, including all the lights along the building’s perimeter. Improper lighting creates safety hazards for staff and visitors.

“Last, but certainly not least, we intend to allocate a portion of our requested funding to replace weather damaged carpeting with tile flooring. Presently there are 40 offices and hallways on the new flooring ‘waitlist,’ as documented in our 2019-2020 strategic plans for facility upgrades,” the narrative reads in part.

The grants were awarded to sites in 18 counties, including Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Onslow, Pender, Robeson, Wayne and Wilson, according to Cooper’s office. In addition, these sites reported service to Moore, New Hanover, Richmond, Sampson and Scotland counties, for funding reach in 23 of the 34 counties 34 counties included in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s declaration of counties affected by Hurricane Florence.