When disasters strike, people look for safety, shelter and care. Health workers and first responders are the ones who step forward—providing care, delivering medicine and offering reassurance to families in need.
But in those moments, health workers themselves need support to serve their communities, work that begins long before a storm makes landfall and continues after the news coverage fades.
During September, we mark National Preparedness Month, reflecting on the year-round work that enables effective disaster response. Through J&J CareCommunity, our social impact platform from Johnson & Johnson and the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Foundation, we are providing support to the health workers who are responding to natural disasters, strengthening communities’ ability to withstand and recover from disasters.
As part of this comprehensive approach, the J&J Foundation has committed $1 million to Americares to improve readiness for and enable rapid response to disasters worldwide by providing support for frontline health workers and local health systems. Combined with deepening collaborations with Heart to Heart International and the American Red Cross, we’re helping equip, support and care for health workers and communities when disasters occur and through the long road of recovery.
Preparedness in action
Disaster response starts with preparedness. Together with Heart to Heart International, Johnson & Johnson, alongside the J&J Foundation, is equipping health workers with emergency preparedness backpacks specifically designed to provide frontline responders with personal protection, sustenance and critical tools to ensure they can continue caring for others.
Across the United States, J&J employees are gathering at J&J CareCommunity volunteer events offered through Goodera to pack these backpacks by hand, preparing health workers in our backyards and beyond. Each backpack includes first aid supplies, protective gear, essential tools and handwritten notes of encouragement from J&J employees.
“Through the support of the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, our healthcare worker preparedness backpacks allow us to stand alongside those who sacrifice so much to care for their communities,” said Heather Lee, Vice President of Development at Heart to Heart International. “This support enables us to be there not only in the aftermath of disaster, but also beforehand, helping healthcare workers not just respond and recover, but prepare and prevent, ensuring they can continue their lifesaving work when it matters most.”
By ensuring health workers have immediate access to the tools they need to protect themselves while caring for others, we prepare them to reach more lives when every moment counts.
Enabling swift response
When disasters unfold, communities need immediate relief.
The American Red Cross responds to more than 60,000 disasters of all sizes each year—providing shelter, hot meals, emotional support and resources to aid recovery. The J&J Foundation’s $250,000 pledge as a member of the Disaster Responder Program helps the American Red Cross maintain critical systems and supplies in place before the first shelter opens or volunteer arrives. This pre-investment in disaster relief ensures that Red Cross volunteers have the resources to bring hope to communities and help rebuild.
Johnson & Johnson also supports the Red Cross by hosting blood drives to keep the nation’s blood supply strong, so health workers have the resources to treat patients in both daily care and when emergencies occur.
During the Southern California Wildfires response in September 2024, a registered nurse speaks to another volunteer about the importance of having nurses in Red Cross shelters to support clients. These volunteers, who are trained health care workers, help assess health needs, provide, or assist with care as needed, and replace medications, supplies and equipment that may have been lost or destroyed during the disaster. (Photo by Jaka Vinsek / American Red Cross)
“Families are relying on the Red Cross now more than ever to provide food, shelter, health support and more in the wake of nearly non-stop disasters,” said Linda Fahey, chief nurse of the American Red Cross. “As a long time, frontline caregiver, I’ve seen the importance of pre-investment in our services. Disaster Responder members like the J&J Foundation are essential in helping us stay prepared to provide critical comfort and care to people on their darkest days.”
That readiness is most important when care has to reach people who suddenly have nowhere to turn for it. With support from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, International Medical Corps delivers lifesaving healthcare, supplies, services and training to disaster-affected communities around the world and the health workers serving them, often in remote and hard-to-reach locations. Over the past year, that work has included 6.7 million health consultations and support for 1,317 health facilities—keeping care within reach even where disasters have left health systems stretched or shut down.
Together, this rapid response helps stabilize communities in crisis, creating the immediate support that allows health workers to focus entirely on providing lifesaving care.
Supporting recovery and resilience
From the immediate disaster to when the news cameras leave, health workers face challenges. While helping others who are processing trauma and loss, they often struggle themselves and can experience compassion fatigue and survivor’s guilt that can prevent them from seeking the support they need.
The J&J Foundation’s $1 million grant to Americares helps address this critical gap, supporting the mental health and wellbeing of health workers during and after disasters. Recognizing the unique layer of distress they face, Americares provides health workers responding to disasters with psychological first aid, crisis stabilization, coping support and specialized training in stress management and resilience building.
Americares staff member Prabu Selvam (left) consults with Catalina, a resident of Swannanoa, North Carolina, at an Americares Mobile Medical Unit deployed to local nonprofit Bounty & Soul. The unit delivered critical care to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene with support from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation. (Photo by Mike Demas)
Mike Demas
“We didn’t just get the mental health support in the wake of the storm, we’re getting the mental health support now,” Rachel Sossoman, president and CEO of Mercy Urgent Care in Asheville, N.C., said more than one year after Hurricane Helene. “We have an Americares team that is, in the coming weeks, visiting all of our facilities again and helping people process grief as it appears to them a year out from the disaster. That’s exactly what we need.”
The Foundation has also dedicated an additional $1.4 million to support survivors of disasters including Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton and the Los Angeles wildfires, helping communities rebuild well past the initial emergency response.
To further strengthen the workforce for the next disaster, the J&J Foundation is also supporting Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing to provide specialized training for nurses. Its free, accredited online training Disaster to Recovery: Prioritizing Nurse Wellbeing offers evidence-based resources to support readiness, performance and mental health before, during and after disasters. By building skills like scenario-based decision-making, interdisciplinary teamwork and coping with burnout, the course helps nurses enter disaster zones more confident and better equipped to manage uncertainty and recover in the aftermath. Since launching this year, the training has reached more than 2,600 nurses.
“Disaster response doesn’t end when the immediate crisis is over—and neither does its impact on nurses,” said Sigma Chief Executive Officer Lucas M. Davis, MEd, CAE. “This program ensures nurses are supported at every stage, so they can continue to lead and care with strength, skill and confidence.”
Combined, this work extends beyond addressing immediate trauma to building sustainable practices that protect the resilience of health workers for whatever challenges may come next.
In a world where hurricanes and flooding are becoming more frequent and severe and extreme weather more intense, supporting health workers isn’t just about responding to individual crises—it’s about building resilient communities that can better withstand and recover from disaster. By ensuring that health workers are empowered before, during and after disasters, entire communities are stronger, safer and better able to heal