UNC alumna in the US Virgin Islands gathering medical donations after Hurricane Irma

UNC alumna Jennie Rabinowitz reached out to ABC11 after escaping storm devastation in the US Virgin Islands. She's fundraising for medical supplies and urging medical professionals to help after Hurricane Irma destroyed the only hospital on the island of St. Thomas.

Rabinowitz said she escaped the devastation there by boat and is now in Puerto Rico.

You can donate to her cause here.

Rabinowitz reached out to ABC11 via email, saying:

"To anyone who can help -

My name is Jennie Rabinowitz. I am a UNC alumni (class of 2009) and have been a resident of St. Thomas USVI for nearly five years. I am safe in Puerto Rico after escaping St. Thomas yesterday afternoon by boat with one book bag. My friends and family on St. Thomas are safe and ok. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the rest of the island's residents and infrastructure.

The island is mostly without power. The hospital has sustained significant damage and patients were evacuated. We have emergency medical relief stations set up where doctors on island are doing the best they can with the supplies they have, but we are quickly running out.

I am working with doctors, lawyers, and relief distribution stations in St. Thomas to collect desperately needed supplies and get them there from Puerto Rico immediately. We are doing what we can to get medical supplies to St. Thomas as fast as possible and this is our fundraising campaign:

However, what is really needed is medical supplies and practitioners from the States at a greater level than we can coordinate. If anyone has any contacts with local or national media or news outlets to spread the word, hospitals, any relief organizations, we need your help."