Apria Lends Critical Support in the Wake of Hurricane Matthew

As the devastating Hurricane Matthew continues to bring severe rains, winds and floods to the Southeastern U.S., Apria Healthcare – one of the nation’s largest home healthcare companies – remains steadfast in delivering equipment to hundreds of critical respiratory patients in the affected areas.

The storms may have hit the Carolinas last Saturday, but Apria had begun its vigilant planning and relief efforts well in advance. Given the critical nature of home respiratory equipment, Apria has well established emergency preparedness protocols across the country. As part of these protocols, Apria tracked Hurricane Matthew’s path, alerted its local branch managers to the timing of the storm’s anticipated arrival, checked equipment inventory, held weekly (sometimes even daily) calls with its distribution centers to help make sure adequate inventory was on hand and ready to deliver, and individually contacted hundreds of patients to ensure they would know what to expect in terms of support from Apria and how to access that support as they prepared for the looming storm.

Since Hurricane Matthew’s landfall, the local teams have worked night and day to deliver much-needed ventilators and respiratory equipment to hundreds of patients. These branches span across Charleston, Savannah, Myrtle Beach and Florence in South Carolina, as well as Fayetteville, Wilmington and Greenville in North Carolina.

“It has been truly inspiring to see our teams and community in action during this difficult and tragic time,” said Chad Rickman, Market Vice President in NC and SC. “We have a serious ‘all hands on deck’ situation here, and every single member of these branches – from technicians, to sales representatives, respiratory therapists and branch managers – have gone to tremendous lengths to stay on the ground and deliver what is needed. We are right in the thick of it now, but will continue to be personally available to our patients as the storm persists.”

This unwavering support is driven by Apria’s nationwide emergency preparedness plan, which aims to prepare local branches for natural disasters that may affect patients’ safety, homes and life-sustaining respiratory equipment. Most recently during the 2016 Louisiana flooding, Apria employees contacted more than 700 patients and travelled through dangerous weather to successfully deliver equipment to hundreds of displaced families. “Fighting for our patients is a value that the entire Apria team embodies,” added Chad. “From the CEO, to our local branch staff, we are proud to stand together and do everything in our power to help our communities.”

For more information on Apria, visit www.apria.com.

About Apria Healthcare Group Inc.

Apria is a privately held company owned by a group of investment limited partnerships managed by affiliates of Blackstone (NYSE:BX). Through its Apria Healthcare LLC operating unit, Apria provides home respiratory therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, home enteral nutrition therapy and support, and home medical equipment through more than 370 locations throughout the continental United States and Hawaii and serves more than 1.8 million patients each year. As one of the nation’s largest and leading home healthcare companies, Apria was the first company of its type to obtain voluntary accreditation from The Joint Commission and has been continuously accredited for more than 25 years. For more information, visit www.apria.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161012005457/en/