The American Health Information Management Association has set up a disaster-relief fund to help industry professionals recover from this spring's rash of tornados, floods, fires and other disasters.
These professionals "face a unique challenge as they struggle to piece back together their own lives while working to recover as much of their community's patient information as possible," the association says in a news release. The plan is to "assist communities of health information professionals whose personal or professional lives have been severely disrupted by a natural or man-made disaster."
The aid comes by way of the AHIMA Foundation's Health Information Relief Operation (HIRO) Fund. Created with $10,000 in seed money, the fund is accepting additional one-time donations.
To donate, send a check (designated to the HIRO Fund) to: AHIMA Foundation, 25351 Network Place, Chicago, Ill., 60673-1253. The fund is also accepting donations online.
The foundation is still determining criteria for awarding disaster assistance. Applications for relief will be available on AHIMA's website.
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.
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