Mark Owen Elkins’ neighbor woke him late at night on Sept. 26 and told him, “It’s time to get out of here.”
The remnants of Hurricane Helene had arrived to bring historic amounts of rainfall to where they lived in Weaverville, a small Buncombe County town. Once outside, Elkins had to get through rising water to make it to his car. Ten minutes later, he watched his home wash down the river. His neighbor’s house followed, then a few mobile homes.
Elkins, 64, is now staying at the Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in nearby Asheville. He’s a disabled veteran who has been able to get care because he is scheduled for surgery in the coming weeks.
“I’ve been in the service, I’ll deal with it,” he told NC Health News. “Yes, it hurts, but I’ll deal with my situation. I don’t have a choice.”
It’s difficult to find gas and food because many roads are still closed, he said. Oct. 1 was his birthday. “What a birthday,” Elkins said. “But it could be worse.”
A large part of western North Carolina is still without power, cell service or safe roads in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which brought flooding that did extensive damage to the area. Many public water systems have been inoperable because of power outages or structural damage, further adding to the challenges.
There were more than 216,000 power outages reported across the state as of Oct. 2 at 10:32 p.m., concentrated in the western region. More than 1,200 people in the region were housed in 26 shelters as of 9 a.m., Oct. 2, the North Carolina Joint Information Center told NC Health News in an email. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office reported in an afternoon briefing on Oct. 2 that 61 people in that single county were confirmed dead.
North Carolina has a large U.S. military footprint, with three branches of service operating bases, air stations or other centers here. To serve the many veterans who end up settling in the state, there are four VA medical centers and multiple veterans centers and clinics.
There were more than 620,000 veterans in N.C. in 2022, according to data from the Census Bureau. More than 16,000 veterans lived in Buncombe County in 2023, according to a bureau estimate reported by WLOS.
The devastation caused by the Helene stormwaters and winds is particularly challenging for medically vulnerable groups, such as disabled veterans and others with chronic medical needs. Getting help can be difficult when many roads are still unsafe to travel, but reaching out to those with special medical needs has been a priority.
Accessing medical care
People with high-risk medical conditions who can’t stay at home are being moved to medical emergency shelters or health care facilities, according to a spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
A 20-bed center in Caldwell County is one such shelter. People who are too sick to remain at home but do not need to be in a hospital can go there — such as those who are receiving hospice services, are on ventilators or are bedridden.
NCDHHS is also using a dataset maintained by the federal government to reach out to medically fragile vets and other residents who need procedures and health care treatments that require electricity.
To serve them, the state opened specialized medical shelters to provide medical care and treatment, the DHHS spokesperson wrote in an email to NC Health News.
The Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and two of its community-based outpatient clinics are open for essential and emergency services, according to the center’s public affairs office. Most regularly scheduled appointments were canceled.
Hickory and Franklin outpatient VA clinics began operating regularly Oct. 2. The main facility in Asheville and the Master Sergeant Jerry K. Crump VA Clinic in Forest City remain closed pending the full restoration of power.
The Charles George VA Medical Center, where Elkins has been staying, was running on generator power on Oct. 1, the public affairs office wrote in an email. The center did have water, power, telephone and IT outages, but the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System and other VA staff across the VISN 6 VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network team provided supplies, water and food needed for the center to function.
The Western North Carolina VA Health Care System also deployed teams to the local emergency shelters at A-B Tech and the Ag Center in Buncombe County to address the health care needs of displaced veterans. These teams are composed of professionals that have specialties in social work, pharmacy and mental health, as well as a specialized Homeless Veteran team.
Getting oxygen and medications
NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley told reporters during an Oct. 1 briefing there’s a “significant need” for oxygen in the affected communities. Three large shipments of portable oxygen tanks and machines have been delivered, and more will be sent, he said.
Sheila Setzer, director of the Jackson County Veterans Office, took calls from people saying they were on oxygen and asking where to go over the weekend when Helene hit the area. Her office is in the same building as the county department on aging, where others could seek help. She told them to try to get to the building, which was turned into an emergency shelter and on generator power.
The chaos of the past few days has been “unnerving and emotional,” Setzer said.
Heidi Moser, who works for the VA in Durham, and other VA employees across the region were given call lists of veterans in the Asheville system and asked over the weekend to check on them. The list was over a thousand people long, she said.
Moser made about 100 calls Sunday morning and only heard back from 10 percent to 15 percent of them, she said. Many veterans are independent and live on their own. Moser spoke to some children and spouses of veterans, but most calls went to voicemail.
“People are really dispersed, and so it's hard for them to get anywhere,” she said.
Veterans who were evacuated because of Helene also might not have access to their medications such as insulin, Moser said.
One veteran called Setzer because she had run out of her medications. The VA made it possible for veterans to receive medications through local pharmacies, and the veteran was able to access her medications, Setzer said.
The North Carolina Board of Pharmacy has a list of operational pharmacies in western N.C. on their website.
Need for housing
Setzer helped another veteran who was homeless get transportation.
Veterans Restoration Quarters, which provides transitional and permanent supportive housing for homeless veterans in Asheville, was damaged by Helene. The housing was provided through Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry. Executive Director Scott Rogers said about 40 rooms on the second floor are untouched. Around 160 residents need alternative housing and are temporarily housed for the week, he said.
A lot of people will need housing as a result of the storm’s damage, Ric Vandett of the nonprofit Foothills Veterans Helping Veterans told NC Health News. Even minor damage to one’s house can be “devastating” for a veteran, he said.
Vandett said Catawba County, where he is, wasn’t hit as hard by Helene. The nonprofit is developing plans to get ice to communities where people are without power so they don’t lose all their food, he said. The organization partnered with their local O’Charley’s restaurant, which is donating the ice.
Vandett said he canceled the organization’s Friday morning meeting in anticipation of Helene, but a couple people still showed up. One was a veteran who needed dialysis but wasn't able to get it because of the storm.
County veterans services departments without power and limited access:
- Canton
- Morganton
- Hickory
Veterans Homes:
- State Veterans Home in Salisbury is operating normally.
- The Black Mountain State Veterans Home is operating on generator power, and its phone/internet connectivity is operational.
All Veterans Services personnel are accounted for and safe, according to Tammy Martin, director of communications at the N.C. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Rep. Eric Ager (D-Fairview), who is also a veteran, said his house in Fairview, a Buncombe County community just outside Asheville, is intact. But because so many areas are blocked off, “there’s still a lot we don’t know,” he told NC Health News. While it’s good that so many people are trying to rush resources into the region, he said, recovery will be a marathon — not a sprint.
“We’re going to need a long, sustained effort here,” Ager said. “If you can’t get water in here tomorrow, we’re going to need water next week and the next week and the next week.”
Veteran-specific resources:
- Updates and Resources | VA Asheville Health Care | Veterans Affairs: for veterans and staff to get information on resources and emergency assistance.
- Veterans Crisis Line: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
- Free, confidential support is available 24/7 for veterans in crisis by phone, text or chat. Dial 988, then press 1. Send a text to 838255 or call 800-799-4889. Veterans who need immediate housing assistance in the aftermath of a natural disaster can call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans, available 24/7: 1-877-424-3838.
This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
North Carolina Health News is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina. Visit NCHN at northcarolinahealthnews.org.
