August 19, 2023 • 29 mins
Ryan Gorman hosts an iHeartRadio nationwide special featuring Thomas Tighe, President & CEO of Direct Relief. Thomas Tighe explains Direct Relief's work in all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide, working to improve the health and lives of those impacted by poverty or emergencies, including efforts underway to help the deadly Hawaii wildfires victims.
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Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks so much for joining us
here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman, and we have a very important
conversation lined up for you for thisshow. I'm joined now by Thomas Tige,
President and CEO of Direct Relief,a humanitarian aid organization active in all
(00:24):
fifty states and more than eighty countries, working to improve the health and lives
of people impacted by poverty or emergencies. You can learn more and help support
the work they do at direct reliefdot org. Thomas, thank you so
much for coming on the show,and of course in a bit we're going
to spend some time on your effortsright now in Hawaii helping those affected by
the deadly wildfires on the island ofMaui. But where I want to start
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is at the very beginning. Tellus about how Direct Relief was first created
and the idea behind it. Well, thank you very much, Ryan's pleasure
to be with you and Direct Relief. You know, I think you give
a great overview, but it's rootsfor really going back to World War two,
and what's now direct relief was initiallythe efforts of business. Two businessmen
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who were had to flee the warin Europe and found themselves as war immigrant
refugees in California, and they hadbeen done well in Europe. I think
the founder was an industrialist that AdolfHitler tried to recruit, you know,
as he was rising to power,because he was an industrialist and the Nazi
Party was a national socialist industrialist party, and he tried to recruited this man
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called William Zimden, who then famouslyat the time said what a complete fool
of a person is about Hitler.So good call historically, but you know,
put him on the enemy's list,which is what led him to become
to flee to California. So theidea that drove which now direct relief was
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a business war immigrants who was lookingat his at Europe just bombed out,
tried to sort of use his ownmoney and people like himself, you know
who the people there needed what youknow, business has made. But it
wasn't a very attractive place for business. But he this was before the time
of corporate social responsibility. It wasan idea, but his approach was to
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call other companies and tell them that, look, I'm putting my own money.
These people need help. The warsover and what they need you do.
But so you're not going to losea sail there because there's not not
a lot of money, But whydon't you help because you can and you
can operate at scale, and it'sgood. It's a good thing for you,
it's a good thing for the people, it's a good thing for the
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world. So that idea kind ofborn in those times is really what's been
part of direct belief ever since.How do we invite the participation of regular
people who cared just as much aboutthe world as people in government and find
a way to channel all the talentand resources that exist privately for the public
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benefit for people who are born intotough circumstances or find themselves in tough circumstances
because of an emergency. Many timesit's both the people who find themselves in
an emergency and the toughest situations arethe people who have the least to begin
with, and they tend to stuffwith them. So I think over the
years, directly it focuses on healthspecifically, and we have particular accreditation to
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handle prescription medications. We work withmany of the manufacturers, if not most
of them, around the world toremind them that not everyone who could benefit
from their products shows up on theirsales forecast because they just happen to be
poor. So so I think that'swhat we're trying to do, encourage the
participation of private people and businesses forthe public benefit and health. And you
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know, with these kind of themoment we're in now, with or in
these historic types of kind of cataclysmicevents, there's a real need for everyone
to do what they can in athoughtful, productive way makes it more efficient.
And I think it's it's a weknow that we can solve many of
these problems, and we do themevery day for business reasons, but I
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think it's important to apply some ofthose same tools in learnings to things that
aren't necessarily business problems, but they'rethey're human problems. So I think that's
what Directly finds itself trying to doin response to events and just the circumstances
that many people find themselves in.And how much has this organization and the
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need grown over the past few decades. I think it's now the largest channel
for humanitarian medical systems in the world, which is kind of weird to even
say, but I think that's it'sbeen an evolution looking at how businesses have
evolved and how important distribute. Itsfunction of distribution is powered by technology.
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We were seeing as a nonprofit whatorganizations like Amazon or Costco we're doing.
They're just very efficient, they operateat scale and they have good controls,
and then thinking gosh, we shoulddo that. These tools work, and
they work at scale, and theyallow for precision, which is important if
you're handling drugs. So I thinknow the past few years it's been about
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two billion dollars of medical material flowingthrough direct relief and there no charge to
the people on the other end tomake sure that they have what they need
and can't afford. And so that'sgrown from much smaller in the prior decades.
Are started nineteen forty eight, soit's seventy five years old. But
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the growth is it's doubled in thepast five years, in part because we
have a capacity to handle it andthe world needs it, and so it's
been a privilege for us to stepup and and do whatever we can and
with kind of keen sensitivity is stayingout of politics. We're a political we
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don't have a religious affiliation, sowe love everybody, you know, and
I think it's important, particularly ina kind of a noisy time, in
a politically intense time, not tobe about that, just to kind of
stick to focus on helping people whofind themselves are born into tough circumstances or
find themselves in tough circumstances which canhappen to any one of us. So
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try to, you know, workfast, and work smart, and work
efficiently, but with great sensitivity forpeople who respect for the people who we
are providing assistance to. And that'sbeen the approach for seventy five years,
and it seems the basics seems toseem to hold true even as circumstances change.
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I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by ThomasTime, President and CEO of Direct
Relief, a humanitarian aid orzation activeall across the country and all across the
world. You can learn more andoffer your support for the work they do
at direct Relief dot org. You'vebeen serving as president and CEO since October
of two thousand. How did youget into this line of work? Well,
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you know, it wasn't a consciouschoice. I think like many of
us, I always admire people whosay I always wanted to be a dentist
and they are a dentist now andthey love it. But I think for
me it was and I went tolaw school, which was interesting, but
not at the moment particularly fulfilling asa career choice. So I joined the
Peace Corps. Was a Peace Corpsvolunteer for a few years in Thailand,
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and after that I ended up workingin Washington, DC on Capitol Hill as
a lawyer in the US Senate ona committee, and then I became the
chief operating officer of the Peace Corps, and that preceded me coming to Direct
relief and the Peace Corps, youknow, the resources mayor can people who
volunteer to go serve overseas to helpand learn and kind of promote goodwill and
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also to do important work. AndDirect Relief was kind of the flip side
of that, which was people whoare already trained and know how to do
certain things in healthcare, but don'thave the means to buy the material,
either the diagnostic equipment, or havethe medicines to diagnose and treat the patients.
So it was in retrospect it lookedmuch like much more of a straight
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line than it was at the time. But I think the kind of the
I was an army brat, soyou know, grew up in My father
was killed in Vietnam. So Ithink that motion of public service was one
of those dimensions that was always presentin our lives as a family. And
so I think this has been away to do public service, both in
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government but also increasingly public service,and so much good work for the public
benefit is done privately by you know, nonprofit organizations around the country, and
they care deeply about their people andtheir communities. And you know, sometimes
we end up looking only with governmentofficials do and say they kind of define
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the terms. But I don't thinkit's true that people in government are even
elected people care more about this countrythan the citizens do. So I think
it's nice to have an opportunity,just as a regular person to do things
that are good for people, thekind of things you learn in the second
grade and if somebody needs to helpthem, and don't make it about something
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else. And so it's a muchbigger version of that. But I think
that's been really important as we've seenwith COVID, in these big historic events
that even overwhelmed governments sometimes and there'sno government in the world, Ryan,
who has the reach that iHeartRadio does. I mean, just put it that
way. I mean, just howmuch things have evolved, and I think
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just the technology and the networking thatexists, and so to apply those kind
of modern tools to difficult problems makesa lot of sense to me. And
it's really a privilege to be partof a team that gets up and does
that every day. You just mentionedthe COVID nineteen pandemic, and that's where
I wanted to go anyway, becausewhat came to light during that pandemic were
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issues within the global cold chain network. And I'm sure a lot of people
don't really know what that means,what that is, but this has apparently
become a big focus for your organization, Direct Relief. Can you tell us
about that, inform us on whatthat issue is and what you're working to
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do to address it, right thank, You know, it's really important,
somewhat obscure point that people wouldn't normallythink about, but so much things like
insulin, for example, that isimportant for people with diabetes to maintain their
health. When it's manufactured and it'sdistributed, has to stay in a controlled
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temperature, and it's like it refrigeratedfrom the point of the time it's manufactured
to the time it actually gets toa patient. And we Direct Relief manages
the largest flow of charitable insulin inthe world. So we are acutely sensitive
to the making sure that the productsthat are donated by the manufacturers as they're
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transported, they maintain their integrity.They have to be specially packaged, they
have to stay in refrigeration, packagedand then stored upon receipt at the destination.
And we knew just from that experiencethat in developing countries, in many
places, in rural areas, they'rejust as an adequate cold storage basically refrigeration,
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but with very good controls. Thinkof like an ice cream vendor,
right, I mean, it's kindof the pharmaceutical version of that. And
that's just not the case in manyplaces. And so and also the reliability
of power in many places is notstrong, including increasingly even in the United
States at times as the grid getsso much pressure. So we were when
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we saw that covid arise and thesolution to that was a vaccination and the
vaccines themselves not only had to becold, that they had to be kept
ultra cold. That first of onewe heard minus seventy degrees. We thought
that the science is amazingly in it, uh you know, fast, but
the distribution is going to be compromised. So we had leaned into it just
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to kind of build out the coldchain capacity, which is really kind of
the chain of custody of how formedical products flow from a manufacturer, particularly
in rural areas and in lower incomecountries. And COVID just put that a
very kind of stark relief. Itshown a light trying to light on kind
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of the capacity limitation. So we'vecontinued to work on that because we see
it all the time on a dayto day basis, and trying to make
sure there's adequate cold pharmaceutical grade storageand transportation channels so that these breakthroughs that
are incredible, I mean for cancerin biologic therapies, it's amazing what science
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is doing in medicine. And ifwe don't solve that problem, no person
who lives in a lower income countrywhere they don't have this capacity will benefit
from these advances in science. Justbecause the pathway isn't built and we know
how to do that. We knowhow to do refrigeration. It does take
power, but you know, whichis a challenge. So that's what we've
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been trying to lean into on anongoing basis, that direct relief, trying
to make sure that how can webuild a network in particularly places where it's
not really attractive from a business perspective, so that as a philanthropy we can
put the money in there, makesure the storage capacity is there, the
transportation channels are well understood, andthere's available power increasingly through solar power and
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backup batteries that will stay intact evenif the grid goes down, which you
know we've seen again and again fromPuerto Rico to even most recently in Hawaii.
So I think it's important we nowhave other alternatives to power the refrigeration
necessary to maintain the integrity of theso called cold chain for medical products.
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So that's sorry if that was toolong, but it's very close to it.
And yeah, and it's sort ofprobably there's analogies to other industries,
but you know, I think it'swe do it well commercially if there's a
business reason to do it, itwill get done. I think the dilemma
is that if it's not a drive, if there's not a strong business reason,
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yeah, profitability, who's gonna what'sthe rationale to do it? Who's
going to put up the money?That is why you have philanthropic actors.
It's because it's not a good businessdecision. It doesn't mean it's still not
a good decision for people. Andso that's what we've been trying to do
and lean in to build out thatcold chain capacity around the world. I'm
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Ryan Gorman, joined by Thomas Tige, President and CEO of Direct Relief,
a humanitarian aid organization active in allfifty states and more than eighty countries,
working to improve the health and livesof people impacted by poverty or emergencies.
Again, you can learn more andhelp support the work they do at direct
Relief dot org. That's Direct Reliefdot organ In just a few moments,
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will get to their efforts taking placeright now in Hawaii following those deadly wildfires
on the island of Maui. Anothercrisis though that I wanted to talk to
you about that we've been dealing within this country for quite some time.
Now the opioids tell us about thework you're doing in that area. I
think again, I think what we'vemost of what we do in the United
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States is working with the network ofnonprofit community health centers and free and charitable
clinics. And you know it's interesting, right in the US, there's only
about under fifty five hundred hospitals,right, so, and you think of
hospitals is where you get healthcare,and they're really not. I mean,
really hospels are essential, but they'retypically for when you get really sick,
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we're really hurt or injured, right, But otherwise you want to have access
to health services at primary care levelsso you have your routine checkups and they
can see things. So I thinkthat this network of nonprofit community health centers
that we're initiated in the mid sixties, there's over fourteen thousand of them and
they take care of about thirty millionpeople in this country. Those who really
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don't have other options are access toother private insurance or private providers. So
I think they're typically in medically underservedareas. Their patients are much more diverse
than the general US population, lowerwealth, lower income, and high challenges
and a lot of all the challengesthat everyone has and then some. So
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I think that's where direct Leaf hasworked, and we're trying to make sure
that we focus on strengthening the accessto things that their patients and healthcare providers
need. So in the US,that's been our focused trying to work from
the grassroots up. And it's sortof important for emergencies because people who rely
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on those community health centers because theyhave low incomes, also are more vulnerable
when something bad happens. So it'sreally important for us to continue to keep
those folks strong, and they're agood signal. So with respect to opioid
abuse, I think we got earlysignals that both for the opioid addiction and
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including fentanyl, and so we hadbecome the distributor for some of the loxone,
really the principal distributor for much ofthe charitable in lockxone in the country,
and we're trying both to maintain thatflow. I think it's it's becoming
more accessible now with the change ofhow it's how restricted it is, but
I think it's it's just this horribleplague and the medications is their opiates are
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so highly addictive in the killia,particularly as fentanyl. So I think having
access to the ANTII overdose medications thenloxone, which Fiser contributed millions of doses
of that, and we distributed tothe network of these thousands of community health
centers and that's where the rubber hitsthe road and a lot of lower income
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communities and they're deeply dedicated and wewant to continue to do that and help
them get in front of it becausethey do have trust of the patients.
They're based on these communities, andbut it's just kind of an unfolding tragedy
and we're hopeful there's you know,just having more medicine isn't going to solve
the problem. That's deeply rooted,highly addictive, and there are people who
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have an incentive to sell the sortof stuff that's highly addictive illegally. But
I mean the role that we playwith is a public health crisis. I
think what philanthropy and direct relief inparticular can do is make sure that those
treatment medications for combating an overdose,and then financial support for the groups who
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know what to do to get people, you know, on a path whether
they're not addictive and can get backto having a productive life. I'm Ryan
Gorman, joined by Thomas Time,President and CEO of Direct Relief. You
can find out more about this organizationat direct relief dot org, including work
they're doing in Hawaii in the aftermathof the awful and deadly wildfires that have
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taken place on the island of Maui. So, Thomas, let me ask
you about the work you're doing there. Step us through how this process unfolds
for your organization. The wildfires breakout, it's a huge, huge disaster
and humanitarian issue. How do youstep in and what are you doing on
the ground there in Maui. Yeah, I think it's it's just such a
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heartbreaking, devastating loss to a beautifulplace and just a loss of life.
I think you know we're doing alot, but I just wanted to acknowledge
everything we do it's with a heavyheart and this is just deeply troubling for
the kind of the heart of Hawaiianculture. But our response typically in Hawaii,
as it often is, is checkingin with people we are already working
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with, and thankfully we had alreadybeen working with a community health center on
Maui. There's really two that's anative Hawaiian Community Health Center that whose patients
are primarily needive Hawaiians, and thenSystem Mali Community Health Center, which also
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has a lot of Native Hawaiian people, but served folks who don't have other
options. So we checked in withthem. They were affected and were swinging
into gear and really ask how canwe help. We've been through similar situations
because we're in California with wildfires,and I think people may have forgotten but
into the deadliest wildfire in one hundredyears until Maui was in California in Paradise
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five years ago, and it wasthe same thing we did there. We
saw people had to flee, peopletragically lost their lives. So we've been
working ever since the fires saying howcan we help. But here's what we've
seen previously in a mass evacuation,people who have to flee, and they
have to flee without the medications thatkeep them healthy, like insulin. If
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you have diabetes, they may getout of the harms way in the near
term, but within two or threedays, if they have a chronic condition
that becomes unmanaged, it can becomeacute health crisis. So I think we've
been working with the local groups onMaui and then at the state level and
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even nationally to say here's what we'veseen. This has all unique characteristics because
it's on an island, it's avery concentrated acute crisis within a particular area,
but the ritical effect is strong.So we've been providing medications for respiratory,
for insulin for people who are evacueweighted and may have their typical source
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cut off, and just basic chronicmedications as well as the first aid kits
in working with the Maui Search andRescue teams who are volunteers and buy their
own gear. So I think wework with the search and rescue teams in
many places in California. They playan important role, so providing funding to
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them, medications and supplies to thefrontline health providers. And the other great
Hawaiian group that we've worked with asa group called Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies,
and their particular focus is on helpingwomen have a safe delivery and taking
care of their children. So theywere the first actually medical team to arrive
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in Lahina on the Thursday after thefire by boat and jet ski. Kind
of midwives who are intensely focused onmaking sure that women who are pregnant or
had little kids were looked after specifically. So I think that's going Our approach
start with the local people and keyoff of them because they know best,
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and people trust them because they livethere, and you know, it's a
tight knit culture Hawaii is it isin many places, and there's levels of
distrust for outsiders and understandably, saysso we are basically a support organization trying
to make sure that resources are availableto the people who live there. And
we'll live there and have the biggeststake in how the response and recovery is
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done. So we continue to keepthe pipeline of supplies and medications and financial
support to the local groups as bestwe can. And then things that have
been just fortunate for us. There'sa private membership air shottle called Rome Air
Maui and they offered their private aircraftto ferry both people and material to Maui
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and it's been a wonderful contribution tothe assistant effort so far. Kind of
an example of how the private folkscan move a little bit faster because we're
smaller. There's big wheels of government. They go far when they start turning
but it takes a little bit oftime for those big wheels to start turning.
So since the event, I meanwithin a couple of days, we
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had both people and material on theground and medications in the shelters that were
being set up, and our focusis still on a near term but with
recognition there's a massive rebuilding and recoveryeffort. But for now it's just those
who were able to get out safely. Let's make sure they're taking care of
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and the resources are available, andalso provide support so that they can find
the people who've died and and burythem with respect and consistent with the cultural
traditions. It's just that the enormouspull as a humanitarian issue, it's in
a personal issue. It's just deeplysaddening. So we try to just step
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gently and respectfully and provide the supportas we did in Paradise, California,
five years ago when they had atthat time the most deadly wildfire event in
a hundred years. Now, thetwo most deadly wildfire events in the US
in the hundred years are within fiveyears, so I think unfortunately going through
it, it's tragic. You learnedsomething from it, and we've been able
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to put the teams from the hospitalsand the clinics from Paradise, California in
touch with the folks in Maui andthat's been helpful for us to make that
connection as well. And the searchand rescue teams as well from the county
affected Dike County in California and MauiSearch and Rescue. We're able to make
that connection. They're talking and we'reproviding financial support to Maui Search and Rescue
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and will continue to do that goingforward. So, now knowing the work
that you're doing in response to thedeadly wildfires on the island of Maui,
for those who want to help,maybe want to get involved with the work
that you're doing at Direct Relief.And we've been talking for about twenty seven
minutes now, we've just scratched thesurface of all the work you're doing across
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the country and around the world.What are some different ways that people can
help support your organization and become apart of the vital work that you're doing.
I think the website the best placethat we have more than anyone any
normal person would want to know aboutdirectly because we've got seventy five years or
so. But I think with Hawaiispecifically, you know Directly is in one
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lane, but there's so many otherimportant lanes like the rebuilding and reconstruction and
animal care things that Directly does notdo. So I think in general,
if people are concerned, we alwayslook for who's the local group that's going
to be there in five years,and that's what we do. That's what
Direct Leaf is doing with its resources, and that's a good kind of kind
of rule of thumb. If yousee any place that's affected. It takes
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a little bit of time. Thegroups that Direct Leaf is working with r
on our website at direct leot Order. But I think it's just great if
anyone wants to help find a goodcause, make sure they're a legitimate charitable
organization and do what you can.So yeah, I think in general,
I'm sensitive because I think we're asupport organization and I'm close to what we
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do, but I know ultimately it'speople want to help people on Maui,
and there are other groups that arealso doing important work in Maui, and
those are findable either three Direct Reliefor other sources. And the media has
been very good at identifying the Hawaiiangroups that may otherwise be overlooked because they're
not nationally prominent in many ways,but that's who everyone should be looking to
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support these days. And again,the website is direct relief dot org and
right there at the top of thewebsite you'll see Hawaii fires and then you
can scan through again so many ofthe other efforts under way on the part
of Direct Relief, Ukraine relief,hurricane relief. We're in hurricane season now.
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Hopefully that doesn't end up being ahuge issue that we need you for,
but it's quite possible. It seemslike, you know, every year
there's a new area around the UnitedStates that is dealing with some kind of
hurricane disaster. So you can learnmore about all of that. Again at
direct relief dot org. You candonate, you can find out about different
ways to get involved. Thomas Tag, president and CEO of Direct Relief,
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with us here on iHeartRadio Communities.Thomas, thank you so much for the
work you're doing and for taking afew minutes to come on the show.
We really appreciate it. That's mypleasure. Ryan, thank you so much
for having me on. Of course, thanks again, and that's going to
do it for this edition of iHeartRadioCommunities. As we wrap things up,
I want offer a big thanks toour guest, and of course to all
of you for listening. I'm yourhost, Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to
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you again real soon
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks so much for joining us
here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman, and we have a very important
conversation lined up for you for thisshow. I'm joined now by Thomas Tige,
President and CEO of Direct Relief,a humanitarian aid organization active in all
(00:24):
fifty states and more than eighty countries, working to improve the health and lives
of people impacted by poverty or emergencies. You can learn more and help support
the work they do at direct reliefdot org. Thomas, thank you so
much for coming on the show,and of course in a bit we're going
to spend some time on your effortsright now in Hawaii helping those affected by
the deadly wildfires on the island ofMaui. But where I want to start
(00:47):
is at the very beginning. Tellus about how Direct Relief was first created
and the idea behind it. Well, thank you very much, Ryan's pleasure
to be with you and Direct Relief. You know, I think you give
a great overview, but it's rootsfor really going back to World War two,
and what's now direct relief was initiallythe efforts of business. Two businessmen
(01:10):
who were had to flee the warin Europe and found themselves as war immigrant
refugees in California, and they hadbeen done well in Europe. I think
the founder was an industrialist that AdolfHitler tried to recruit, you know,
as he was rising to power,because he was an industrialist and the Nazi
Party was a national socialist industrialist party, and he tried to recruited this man
(01:37):
called William Zimden, who then famouslyat the time said what a complete fool
of a person is about Hitler.So good call historically, but you know,
put him on the enemy's list,which is what led him to become
to flee to California. So theidea that drove which now direct relief was
(01:57):
a business war immigrants who was lookingat his at Europe just bombed out,
tried to sort of use his ownmoney and people like himself, you know
who the people there needed what youknow, business has made. But it
wasn't a very attractive place for business. But he this was before the time
of corporate social responsibility. It wasan idea, but his approach was to
(02:22):
call other companies and tell them that, look, I'm putting my own money.
These people need help. The warsover and what they need you do.
But so you're not going to losea sail there because there's not not
a lot of money, But whydon't you help because you can and you
can operate at scale, and it'sgood. It's a good thing for you,
it's a good thing for the people, it's a good thing for the
(02:43):
world. So that idea kind ofborn in those times is really what's been
part of direct belief ever since.How do we invite the participation of regular
people who cared just as much aboutthe world as people in government and find
a way to channel all the talentand resources that exist privately for the public
(03:06):
benefit for people who are born intotough circumstances or find themselves in tough circumstances
because of an emergency. Many timesit's both the people who find themselves in
an emergency and the toughest situations arethe people who have the least to begin
with, and they tend to stuffwith them. So I think over the
years, directly it focuses on healthspecifically, and we have particular accreditation to
(03:31):
handle prescription medications. We work withmany of the manufacturers, if not most
of them, around the world toremind them that not everyone who could benefit
from their products shows up on theirsales forecast because they just happen to be
poor. So so I think that'swhat we're trying to do, encourage the
participation of private people and businesses forthe public benefit and health. And you
(03:57):
know, with these kind of themoment we're in now, with or in
these historic types of kind of cataclysmicevents, there's a real need for everyone
to do what they can in athoughtful, productive way makes it more efficient.
And I think it's it's a weknow that we can solve many of
these problems, and we do themevery day for business reasons, but I
(04:19):
think it's important to apply some ofthose same tools in learnings to things that
aren't necessarily business problems, but they'rethey're human problems. So I think that's
what Directly finds itself trying to doin response to events and just the circumstances
that many people find themselves in.And how much has this organization and the
(04:41):
need grown over the past few decades. I think it's now the largest channel
for humanitarian medical systems in the world, which is kind of weird to even
say, but I think that's it'sbeen an evolution looking at how businesses have
evolved and how important distribute. Itsfunction of distribution is powered by technology.
(05:04):
We were seeing as a nonprofit whatorganizations like Amazon or Costco we're doing.
They're just very efficient, they operateat scale and they have good controls,
and then thinking gosh, we shoulddo that. These tools work, and
they work at scale, and theyallow for precision, which is important if
you're handling drugs. So I thinknow the past few years it's been about
(05:25):
two billion dollars of medical material flowingthrough direct relief and there no charge to
the people on the other end tomake sure that they have what they need
and can't afford. And so that'sgrown from much smaller in the prior decades.
Are started nineteen forty eight, soit's seventy five years old. But
(05:46):
the growth is it's doubled in thepast five years, in part because we
have a capacity to handle it andthe world needs it, and so it's
been a privilege for us to stepup and and do whatever we can and
with kind of keen sensitivity is stayingout of politics. We're a political we
(06:08):
don't have a religious affiliation, sowe love everybody, you know, and
I think it's important, particularly ina kind of a noisy time, in
a politically intense time, not tobe about that, just to kind of
stick to focus on helping people whofind themselves are born into tough circumstances or
find themselves in tough circumstances which canhappen to any one of us. So
(06:31):
try to, you know, workfast, and work smart, and work
efficiently, but with great sensitivity forpeople who respect for the people who we
are providing assistance to. And that'sbeen the approach for seventy five years,
and it seems the basics seems toseem to hold true even as circumstances change.
(06:54):
I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by ThomasTime, President and CEO of Direct
Relief, a humanitarian aid orzation activeall across the country and all across the
world. You can learn more andoffer your support for the work they do
at direct Relief dot org. You'vebeen serving as president and CEO since October
of two thousand. How did youget into this line of work? Well,
(07:16):
you know, it wasn't a consciouschoice. I think like many of
us, I always admire people whosay I always wanted to be a dentist
and they are a dentist now andthey love it. But I think for
me it was and I went tolaw school, which was interesting, but
not at the moment particularly fulfilling asa career choice. So I joined the
Peace Corps. Was a Peace Corpsvolunteer for a few years in Thailand,
(07:41):
and after that I ended up workingin Washington, DC on Capitol Hill as
a lawyer in the US Senate ona committee, and then I became the
chief operating officer of the Peace Corps, and that preceded me coming to Direct
relief and the Peace Corps, youknow, the resources mayor can people who
volunteer to go serve overseas to helpand learn and kind of promote goodwill and
(08:07):
also to do important work. AndDirect Relief was kind of the flip side
of that, which was people whoare already trained and know how to do
certain things in healthcare, but don'thave the means to buy the material,
either the diagnostic equipment, or havethe medicines to diagnose and treat the patients.
So it was in retrospect it lookedmuch like much more of a straight
(08:28):
line than it was at the time. But I think the kind of the
I was an army brat, soyou know, grew up in My father
was killed in Vietnam. So Ithink that motion of public service was one
of those dimensions that was always presentin our lives as a family. And
so I think this has been away to do public service, both in
(08:54):
government but also increasingly public service,and so much good work for the public
benefit is done privately by you know, nonprofit organizations around the country, and
they care deeply about their people andtheir communities. And you know, sometimes
we end up looking only with governmentofficials do and say they kind of define
(09:16):
the terms. But I don't thinkit's true that people in government are even
elected people care more about this countrythan the citizens do. So I think
it's nice to have an opportunity,just as a regular person to do things
that are good for people, thekind of things you learn in the second
grade and if somebody needs to helpthem, and don't make it about something
(09:39):
else. And so it's a muchbigger version of that. But I think
that's been really important as we've seenwith COVID, in these big historic events
that even overwhelmed governments sometimes and there'sno government in the world, Ryan,
who has the reach that iHeartRadio does. I mean, just put it that
way. I mean, just howmuch things have evolved, and I think
(10:00):
just the technology and the networking thatexists, and so to apply those kind
of modern tools to difficult problems makesa lot of sense to me. And
it's really a privilege to be partof a team that gets up and does
that every day. You just mentionedthe COVID nineteen pandemic, and that's where
I wanted to go anyway, becausewhat came to light during that pandemic were
(10:24):
issues within the global cold chain network. And I'm sure a lot of people
don't really know what that means,what that is, but this has apparently
become a big focus for your organization, Direct Relief. Can you tell us
about that, inform us on whatthat issue is and what you're working to
(10:45):
do to address it, right thank, You know, it's really important,
somewhat obscure point that people wouldn't normallythink about, but so much things like
insulin, for example, that isimportant for people with diabetes to maintain their
health. When it's manufactured and it'sdistributed, has to stay in a controlled
(11:05):
temperature, and it's like it refrigeratedfrom the point of the time it's manufactured
to the time it actually gets toa patient. And we Direct Relief manages
the largest flow of charitable insulin inthe world. So we are acutely sensitive
to the making sure that the productsthat are donated by the manufacturers as they're
(11:26):
transported, they maintain their integrity.They have to be specially packaged, they
have to stay in refrigeration, packagedand then stored upon receipt at the destination.
And we knew just from that experiencethat in developing countries, in many
places, in rural areas, they'rejust as an adequate cold storage basically refrigeration,
(11:50):
but with very good controls. Thinkof like an ice cream vendor,
right, I mean, it's kindof the pharmaceutical version of that. And
that's just not the case in manyplaces. And so and also the reliability
of power in many places is notstrong, including increasingly even in the United
States at times as the grid getsso much pressure. So we were when
(12:13):
we saw that covid arise and thesolution to that was a vaccination and the
vaccines themselves not only had to becold, that they had to be kept
ultra cold. That first of onewe heard minus seventy degrees. We thought
that the science is amazingly in it, uh you know, fast, but
the distribution is going to be compromised. So we had leaned into it just
(12:37):
to kind of build out the coldchain capacity, which is really kind of
the chain of custody of how formedical products flow from a manufacturer, particularly
in rural areas and in lower incomecountries. And COVID just put that a
very kind of stark relief. Itshown a light trying to light on kind
(13:00):
of the capacity limitation. So we'vecontinued to work on that because we see
it all the time on a dayto day basis, and trying to make
sure there's adequate cold pharmaceutical grade storageand transportation channels so that these breakthroughs that
are incredible, I mean for cancerin biologic therapies, it's amazing what science
(13:24):
is doing in medicine. And ifwe don't solve that problem, no person
who lives in a lower income countrywhere they don't have this capacity will benefit
from these advances in science. Justbecause the pathway isn't built and we know
how to do that. We knowhow to do refrigeration. It does take
power, but you know, whichis a challenge. So that's what we've
(13:46):
been trying to lean into on anongoing basis, that direct relief, trying
to make sure that how can webuild a network in particularly places where it's
not really attractive from a business perspective, so that as a philanthropy we can
put the money in there, makesure the storage capacity is there, the
transportation channels are well understood, andthere's available power increasingly through solar power and
(14:13):
backup batteries that will stay intact evenif the grid goes down, which you
know we've seen again and again fromPuerto Rico to even most recently in Hawaii.
So I think it's important we nowhave other alternatives to power the refrigeration
necessary to maintain the integrity of theso called cold chain for medical products.
(14:37):
So that's sorry if that was toolong, but it's very close to it.
And yeah, and it's sort ofprobably there's analogies to other industries,
but you know, I think it'swe do it well commercially if there's a
business reason to do it, itwill get done. I think the dilemma
is that if it's not a drive, if there's not a strong business reason,
(15:00):
yeah, profitability, who's gonna what'sthe rationale to do it? Who's
going to put up the money?That is why you have philanthropic actors.
It's because it's not a good businessdecision. It doesn't mean it's still not
a good decision for people. Andso that's what we've been trying to do
and lean in to build out thatcold chain capacity around the world. I'm
(15:24):
Ryan Gorman, joined by Thomas Tige, President and CEO of Direct Relief,
a humanitarian aid organization active in allfifty states and more than eighty countries,
working to improve the health and livesof people impacted by poverty or emergencies.
Again, you can learn more andhelp support the work they do at direct
Relief dot org. That's Direct Reliefdot organ In just a few moments,
(15:45):
will get to their efforts taking placeright now in Hawaii following those deadly wildfires
on the island of Maui. Anothercrisis though that I wanted to talk to
you about that we've been dealing within this country for quite some time.
Now the opioids tell us about thework you're doing in that area. I
think again, I think what we'vemost of what we do in the United
(16:07):
States is working with the network ofnonprofit community health centers and free and charitable
clinics. And you know it's interesting, right in the US, there's only
about under fifty five hundred hospitals,right, so, and you think of
hospitals is where you get healthcare,and they're really not. I mean,
really hospels are essential, but they'retypically for when you get really sick,
(16:32):
we're really hurt or injured, right, But otherwise you want to have access
to health services at primary care levelsso you have your routine checkups and they
can see things. So I thinkthat this network of nonprofit community health centers
that we're initiated in the mid sixties, there's over fourteen thousand of them and
they take care of about thirty millionpeople in this country. Those who really
(16:56):
don't have other options are access toother private insurance or private providers. So
I think they're typically in medically underservedareas. Their patients are much more diverse
than the general US population, lowerwealth, lower income, and high challenges
and a lot of all the challengesthat everyone has and then some. So
(17:19):
I think that's where direct Leaf hasworked, and we're trying to make sure
that we focus on strengthening the accessto things that their patients and healthcare providers
need. So in the US,that's been our focused trying to work from
the grassroots up. And it's sortof important for emergencies because people who rely
(17:45):
on those community health centers because theyhave low incomes, also are more vulnerable
when something bad happens. So it'sreally important for us to continue to keep
those folks strong, and they're agood signal. So with respect to opioid
abuse, I think we got earlysignals that both for the opioid addiction and
(18:07):
including fentanyl, and so we hadbecome the distributor for some of the loxone,
really the principal distributor for much ofthe charitable in lockxone in the country,
and we're trying both to maintain thatflow. I think it's it's becoming
more accessible now with the change ofhow it's how restricted it is, but
I think it's it's just this horribleplague and the medications is their opiates are
(18:32):
so highly addictive in the killia,particularly as fentanyl. So I think having
access to the ANTII overdose medications thenloxone, which Fiser contributed millions of doses
of that, and we distributed tothe network of these thousands of community health
centers and that's where the rubber hitsthe road and a lot of lower income
(18:55):
communities and they're deeply dedicated and wewant to continue to do that and help
them get in front of it becausethey do have trust of the patients.
They're based on these communities, andbut it's just kind of an unfolding tragedy
and we're hopeful there's you know,just having more medicine isn't going to solve
the problem. That's deeply rooted,highly addictive, and there are people who
(19:19):
have an incentive to sell the sortof stuff that's highly addictive illegally. But
I mean the role that we playwith is a public health crisis. I
think what philanthropy and direct relief inparticular can do is make sure that those
treatment medications for combating an overdose,and then financial support for the groups who
(19:41):
know what to do to get people, you know, on a path whether
they're not addictive and can get backto having a productive life. I'm Ryan
Gorman, joined by Thomas Time,President and CEO of Direct Relief. You
can find out more about this organizationat direct relief dot org, including work
they're doing in Hawaii in the aftermathof the awful and deadly wildfires that have
(20:07):
taken place on the island of Maui. So, Thomas, let me ask
you about the work you're doing there. Step us through how this process unfolds
for your organization. The wildfires breakout, it's a huge, huge disaster
and humanitarian issue. How do youstep in and what are you doing on
the ground there in Maui. Yeah, I think it's it's just such a
(20:29):
heartbreaking, devastating loss to a beautifulplace and just a loss of life.
I think you know we're doing alot, but I just wanted to acknowledge
everything we do it's with a heavyheart and this is just deeply troubling for
the kind of the heart of Hawaiianculture. But our response typically in Hawaii,
as it often is, is checkingin with people we are already working
(20:53):
with, and thankfully we had alreadybeen working with a community health center on
Maui. There's really two that's anative Hawaiian Community Health Center that whose patients
are primarily needive Hawaiians, and thenSystem Mali Community Health Center, which also
(21:14):
has a lot of Native Hawaiian people, but served folks who don't have other
options. So we checked in withthem. They were affected and were swinging
into gear and really ask how canwe help. We've been through similar situations
because we're in California with wildfires,and I think people may have forgotten but
into the deadliest wildfire in one hundredyears until Maui was in California in Paradise
(21:38):
five years ago, and it wasthe same thing we did there. We
saw people had to flee, peopletragically lost their lives. So we've been
working ever since the fires saying howcan we help. But here's what we've
seen previously in a mass evacuation,people who have to flee, and they
have to flee without the medications thatkeep them healthy, like insulin. If
(22:00):
you have diabetes, they may getout of the harms way in the near
term, but within two or threedays, if they have a chronic condition
that becomes unmanaged, it can becomeacute health crisis. So I think we've
been working with the local groups onMaui and then at the state level and
(22:22):
even nationally to say here's what we'veseen. This has all unique characteristics because
it's on an island, it's avery concentrated acute crisis within a particular area,
but the ritical effect is strong.So we've been providing medications for respiratory,
for insulin for people who are evacueweighted and may have their typical source
(22:48):
cut off, and just basic chronicmedications as well as the first aid kits
in working with the Maui Search andRescue teams who are volunteers and buy their
own gear. So I think wework with the search and rescue teams in
many places in California. They playan important role, so providing funding to
(23:08):
them, medications and supplies to thefrontline health providers. And the other great
Hawaiian group that we've worked with asa group called Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies,
and their particular focus is on helpingwomen have a safe delivery and taking
care of their children. So theywere the first actually medical team to arrive
(23:30):
in Lahina on the Thursday after thefire by boat and jet ski. Kind
of midwives who are intensely focused onmaking sure that women who are pregnant or
had little kids were looked after specifically. So I think that's going Our approach
start with the local people and keyoff of them because they know best,
(23:51):
and people trust them because they livethere, and you know, it's a
tight knit culture Hawaii is it isin many places, and there's levels of
distrust for outsiders and understandably, saysso we are basically a support organization trying
to make sure that resources are availableto the people who live there. And
we'll live there and have the biggeststake in how the response and recovery is
(24:14):
done. So we continue to keepthe pipeline of supplies and medications and financial
support to the local groups as bestwe can. And then things that have
been just fortunate for us. There'sa private membership air shottle called Rome Air
Maui and they offered their private aircraftto ferry both people and material to Maui
(24:41):
and it's been a wonderful contribution tothe assistant effort so far. Kind of
an example of how the private folkscan move a little bit faster because we're
smaller. There's big wheels of government. They go far when they start turning
but it takes a little bit oftime for those big wheels to start turning.
So since the event, I meanwithin a couple of days, we
(25:02):
had both people and material on theground and medications in the shelters that were
being set up, and our focusis still on a near term but with
recognition there's a massive rebuilding and recoveryeffort. But for now it's just those
who were able to get out safely. Let's make sure they're taking care of
(25:22):
and the resources are available, andalso provide support so that they can find
the people who've died and and burythem with respect and consistent with the cultural
traditions. It's just that the enormouspull as a humanitarian issue, it's in
a personal issue. It's just deeplysaddening. So we try to just step
(25:44):
gently and respectfully and provide the supportas we did in Paradise, California,
five years ago when they had atthat time the most deadly wildfire event in
a hundred years. Now, thetwo most deadly wildfire events in the US
in the hundred years are within fiveyears, so I think unfortunately going through
it, it's tragic. You learnedsomething from it, and we've been able
(26:08):
to put the teams from the hospitalsand the clinics from Paradise, California in
touch with the folks in Maui andthat's been helpful for us to make that
connection as well. And the searchand rescue teams as well from the county
affected Dike County in California and MauiSearch and Rescue. We're able to make
that connection. They're talking and we'reproviding financial support to Maui Search and Rescue
(26:32):
and will continue to do that goingforward. So, now knowing the work
that you're doing in response to thedeadly wildfires on the island of Maui,
for those who want to help,maybe want to get involved with the work
that you're doing at Direct Relief.And we've been talking for about twenty seven
minutes now, we've just scratched thesurface of all the work you're doing across
(26:55):
the country and around the world.What are some different ways that people can
help support your organization and become apart of the vital work that you're doing.
I think the website the best placethat we have more than anyone any
normal person would want to know aboutdirectly because we've got seventy five years or
so. But I think with Hawaiispecifically, you know Directly is in one
(27:19):
lane, but there's so many otherimportant lanes like the rebuilding and reconstruction and
animal care things that Directly does notdo. So I think in general,
if people are concerned, we alwayslook for who's the local group that's going
to be there in five years,and that's what we do. That's what
Direct Leaf is doing with its resources, and that's a good kind of kind
of rule of thumb. If yousee any place that's affected. It takes
(27:44):
a little bit of time. Thegroups that Direct Leaf is working with r
on our website at direct leot Order. But I think it's just great if
anyone wants to help find a goodcause, make sure they're a legitimate charitable
organization and do what you can.So yeah, I think in general,
I'm sensitive because I think we're asupport organization and I'm close to what we
(28:07):
do, but I know ultimately it'speople want to help people on Maui,
and there are other groups that arealso doing important work in Maui, and
those are findable either three Direct Reliefor other sources. And the media has
been very good at identifying the Hawaiiangroups that may otherwise be overlooked because they're
not nationally prominent in many ways,but that's who everyone should be looking to
(28:32):
support these days. And again,the website is direct relief dot org and
right there at the top of thewebsite you'll see Hawaii fires and then you
can scan through again so many ofthe other efforts under way on the part
of Direct Relief, Ukraine relief,hurricane relief. We're in hurricane season now.
(28:52):
Hopefully that doesn't end up being ahuge issue that we need you for,
but it's quite possible. It seemslike, you know, every year
there's a new area around the UnitedStates that is dealing with some kind of
hurricane disaster. So you can learnmore about all of that. Again at
direct relief dot org. You candonate, you can find out about different
ways to get involved. Thomas Tag, president and CEO of Direct Relief,
(29:18):
with us here on iHeartRadio Communities.Thomas, thank you so much for the
work you're doing and for taking afew minutes to come on the show.
We really appreciate it. That's mypleasure. Ryan, thank you so much
for having me on. Of course, thanks again, and that's going to
do it for this edition of iHeartRadioCommunities. As we wrap things up,
I want offer a big thanks toour guest, and of course to all
of you for listening. I'm yourhost, Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to
(29:41):
you again real soon
Host
Manny Munoz
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