VOLUME 30, ISSUE 1

At the TSA House of Delegates meeting held just weeks after Hurricane Harvey, TSA members wanted to assist their colleagues adversely affected by the storm. In particular, there was concern for residents and fellows who were now feeling the financial stress while trying to continue their training. However, since it was not possible for the TSA to accept and distribute donated funds under current by-laws and tax status, the TSA President appointed an ad hoc committee with a charge that included an immediate task of developing a mechanism for grants to be funded and distributed to anesthesiology residents and fellows.

The Anesthesia Foundation (www.anesthesiafoundation.org) was identified as a possible organization with whom TSA could collaborate. The Anesthesia Foundation is one of the affiliated ASA Charitable Organizations. It was founded in 1956 as a tax-exempt organization whose mission is “Helping Anesthesiologists Succeed”. The main activity of the Anesthesia Foundation is to provide low interest loans to anesthesiology residents.

TSA representatives (Chris Bacak and myself) contacted Dr. Charles Otto, the current chair of the foundation’s board, to explore if the Anesthesia Foundation could be a “vehicle” to accept donations for Texas residents and then distribute the funds. After hearing the proposal, Dr. Otto was very supportive and quickly consulted with the foundation’s board and administrative staff. The foundation not only agreed to be the “vehicle”, but the board approved funds to be distributed as grants even before any donations were collected.

Because of the Anesthesia Foundation’s commitment, we were able to work with them in creating a donation webportal while simultaneously accepting grant applications from residents. The result was that the first grants were mailed to residents approximately one month after Hurricane Harvey made landfall.

In total 16 residents and fellows received grants varying from $400 (automobile damage) to $2500 (for significant home damage) for a total of $20,300. In addition several of these residents are receiving low interest loans through the Anesthesia Foundation loan program. The TSA-led fundraising effort resulted in much of these grants to funded by donations from over 60 donors from Texas as well as the rest of the United States. (http://www.anesthesiafoundation.org/hurricane-harvey-disaster-relief/)

With the success of this partnership with a state society, The Anesthesia Foundation is developing a formal process to have in place so that, when the next disaster occurs, the same fundraising and grant process can be initiated more quickly. The TSA’s collaboration with the Anesthesia Foundation has positively impacted the lives of those residents and fellows affected by the storm and allowed them to get a head start on the recovery process.

** Accompanying vignettes from recipients of these grants tell the real story of how overwhelming
the storm was and how the grants came at just the right moment.