The nonprofit organization Team PHenomenal Hope is welcoming applications for $500 micro-grants awarded through a program that aims to help cover the non-medical needs of pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients.

Grants given through the Team PH Unmet Needs Patient Impact Fund are intended to cover expenses such as groceries, travel and lodging for doctor visits, and emergency home repairs.

The fund began in 2017 when Team PHenomenal Hope made $40,000 available to victims of Hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma, which buffeted Puerto Rico and large swaths of Texas and Florida. This one-off program assisted 80 affected PH patients.

Grants were funded by individual donations, and by corporations or groups such as the Blue Lips Foundation, Reata Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, and phaware Global Association.

Grants for October have already been awarded, and the program reopens on Nov. 1. Other than being a PH patient, applicants must have a PayPal account, and cannot use funds to purchase medications. Patients may apply once each year. More information on how to apply or donate can be found here.

With other previous recipients, Tammy Stephens of Smithville, Texas, is quoted on the organization’s website as being grateful for funds that enabled her to buy gas and food for her six-hour round-trip cardiologist appointments.

“Beyond blessed and thankful for this overwhelming kindness and generosity that is available to us PH patients! It’s enough that we deal with daily and most times unspoken emotional/physical trying times. This is such a relief!” she wrote.

According to the Team PHenomenal Hope, the decision to re-establish a grant program came partly because of the “financial insecurity” surrounding healthcare in the U.S., and the ending of Caring Voice Coalition’s financial assistance fund.

Patricia George, MD, a pulmonologist and founder of Team PHenomenal Hope, said the organization is pleased to be able to offer grants to those living with such an isolating disease.

“We are living in a time of uncertainty in the world of healthcare, and people who have PH are obligated to deal with that on top of their debilitating disease,” George said in a press release. “The Team PH Unmet Needs Patient Impact allows us to lend a helping hand to these folks, and alleviate some of the stress that comes with being diagnosed with a chronic disease.”

A Beloit, Wisconsin-based nonprofit, Team PHenomenal Hope works to raise awareness of PH, to support patients, and to advance research into improved treatments and possibly a cure for PH.