Elevating Health Equity At Home
Our local health program was launched in 2019 in recognition of healthcare access gaps in our own state and region… and grew dramatically during the Covid pandemic when SOS supplied PPE to hundreds of local hospitals, clinics and social service organizations.
Today, we balance our work between support of social service agencies and safety net clinics who serve marginalized members of our community and responses to individuals in crisis who are struggling with gaps in insurance and low income. SOS changes the lives of our local neighbors by providing medical and mobility equipment to those with nowhere else to turn. We also provide supplies to animal welfare organizations– elevating the level of care they can offer to animals in dire need. Our Local Health Program also maintains a constant state of readiness to provide disaster relief in the event of regional natural disasters; our expertise and efficiency in reacting to these crises earned us a place in KY VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster).
Meet Carolina
Carolina is one of the hundreds of individuals in crisis we served in 2024. Her mother had been struggling with insurance for over a year, in an attempt to get her a special standing wheelchair so she could fully engage with her classmates when she started first grade. Within 24 hours of being referred to SOS, we were able to fit her with this special wheelchair so she could join her classmates at recess and in classroom activities instead of sitting on the sidelines.
Our Local Impact
Social service agencies & safety-net clinics
Rescue animals in local shelters
In domestic disaster relief
Free Wheelchair Repair & Cleaning Clinics
Our work with unhoused and housing insecure members of the disability community became a priority in 2023. In response to the growing numbers of houseless members of our local community, we wrote and received a grant from The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to start a first-of-its-kind series of free wheelchair and mobility aid repair clinics for these marginalized neighbors who often go without or wait years for costly repairs. These clinics restore mobility, independence and access to essential services and community. “I thought people stopped caring,” said Adam, a partially paralyzed, houseless client, who came to our first clinic with his tiny dog Roxy perched on his lap. “But you care. Thank you for not forgetting us."