NADL provides disaster relief for dental labs affected by Superstorm Sandy

For dental labs devastated by Superstorm Sandy, there is help available. The National Association of Dental Laboratories is providing disaster relief in amounts of up to $800 per lab.

Lab operators from throughout the country, some of whom have weathered previous hurricanes, tornados, floods and other disasters in other parts of the country, are stepping in now to make donations to the NADL Relief Fund and showing it’s possible despite enormous odds to rise again.

“We just a call from a lab that gave $1,000,” said Rachel Luoma, Chief Staff Executive for the NADL. “They’re providing that help because they got help after Hurricane Katrina.”

She said the disaster relief fund was started in 2005 when members of the industry asked for a way to assist other labs affected by the monster storm that hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern states.

“It was driven by the industry; by people who wanted to help other people,” Luoma said.

She said it’s likely that many lab operators in the six states, mostly in the Northeast, affected by Hurricane Sandy are still trying to assess and come to terms with their losses.  

As soon as they are ready, they can complete a short online victim assistance request form. She said the money can be used for any need a lab may have - even for buying groceries, a generator or whatever day-to-day living supplies are needed.

“It’s not required that they tell us what they need but they should let us know how they were affected by the hurricane,” she said.

It is not required that those seeking help be members of the NADL, but she said most who have asked for assistance in the past are one of the 1,200 members.

She said requests for assistance will be answered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

There also is an online form for others labs, manufacturers, technicians and dental lab suppliers who want to make donations to the relief fund.

Luoma said the dental lab industry is generous and she has gotten numerous inquiries from labs looking for a way to help. Donations in any amount, from as little as $25 to $1,000, are welcome, she said.

For more information, go to nadl.org.