---
title: "Sutter Offers Wildfire Relief for Affected Employees | Sutter Health"
description: "Sutter Health provides emergency pay, financial assistance, free lodging and counseling to employees impacted by Northern California wildfires."
url: "https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires"
---

1.  [Home](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/) /
2.  [Media resources](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources) /
3.  [Press releases](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases) /
4.  Sutter Offers Emergency Resources For Teammates Impacted By Wildfires

# Sutter Offers Emergency Resources for Teammates Impacted by Wildfires

Sutter Health provides emergency pay, financial assistance, free lodging and counseling to employees impacted by Northern California wildfires.

August 21, 2020 by Sutter Health

![Sutter Offers Emergency Resources for Teammates Impacted by Wildfires](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/press-releases/iStock-864424840-128ef5d0.jpg?h=436&iar=0&w=802 "Sutter Offers Emergency Resources for Teammates Impacted by Wildfires")

The wildfires burning throughout Northern California have impacted thousands—including Sutter employees. Tragically, some employees have already lost their homes, while hundreds have had to evacuate. Complicating the situation, many communities are also facing rotating power outages and poor air quality. For employees who have had to evacuate or have lost their home due to the Northern California wildfires, Sutter Health is providing a variety of special programs and services, including:

**Emergency Financial Assistance**

Sutter employees who are displaced or who have otherwise experienced a devastating loss from the wildfires are eligible for funds to help cover expenses related to emergency housing, transportation, food and/or clothing.

**Disaster Recovery Pay**  
Sutter is making Disaster Recovery Pay available to employees impacted by the wildfires. This includes up to 40 hours of pay (based on FTE status) for employees who are unable to work due to a mandatory evacuation, and an additional 40 hours of pay (based on FTE status) for those employees who experience greater impacts, like home loss or significant property damage.

**Sutter Health Philanthropic Disaster Relief Fund**

Sutter Health has activated its Sutter Health Philanthropic Disaster Relief Fund, which provides financial support to help employees recover from the impact of natural disasters and is funded in part through the generosity of other Sutter colleagues.

**Lodging Initiative**

As a way to support onsite front-line workforce members impacted by evacuations, Sutter Health is temporarily offering free lodging through Airbnb, select hotel chains and Outdoorsy for eligible employees and clinicians who work at patient care sites.

To request any of these services, employees call a dedicated phone number, available on the Sutter intranet, or complete an electronic request form on the Sutter Employee Assistance Program (EAP) website.

**Counseling Support**

For Sutter employees not directly affected by the wildfires across Northern California, just hearing about them may trigger memories from a past event, leading to fear, anxiety or other strong emotions. Employees are encouraged to contact Sutter’s 24-hour EAP for free counseling support and referrals to local resources, such as emergency housing. Additionally, any Sutter employee or eligible dependent directly impacted by the fires can contact Sutter’s EAP to receive authorization for five additional EAP counseling sessions beyond the number typically provided.

For additional resources and helpful information from such agencies as Red Cross and FEMA, employees may visit the appropriate resource page available on Sutter’s intranet. Employees may also call the Sutter Health Employee Line at any time.

## Check your Vitals

Get the latest in health innovation, community impact and patient care from Sutter Health — delivered straight to your inbox.

[Subscribe to Vitals](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/subscribe)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","name":"Sutter Offers Wildfire Relief for Affected Employees","description":"Sutter Health provides emergency pay, financial assistance, free lodging and counseling to employees impacted by Northern California wildfires.","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires#breadcrumblist"}}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires#article","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires","headline":"Sutter Offers Wildfire Relief for Affected Employees","description":"Sutter Health provides emergency pay, financial assistance, free lodging and counseling to employees impacted by Northern California wildfires.","articleSection":"Press releases","inLanguage":"en-US","datePublished":"2020-08-21T02:53:46-07:00","dateModified":"2026-11-02T19:47:18-08:00","author":[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","name":"Sutter Health"}],"publisher":{"@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org"},"abstract":"Sutter Health provides emergency pay, financial assistance, free lodging and counseling to employees impacted by Northern California wildfires.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/press-releases/iStock-864424840-128ef5d0.jpg?h=436&iar=0&w=802","width":"802","height":"436","caption":"Sutter Offers Emergency Resources for Teammates Impacted by Wildfires"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/press-releases/iStock-864424840-128ef5d0.jpg?h=436&iar=0&w=802","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/#website","name":"Vitals - Sutter Health","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires"}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-offers-emergency-resources-for-teammates-impacted-by-wildfires#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Media resources","item":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Press releases","item":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Sutter Offers Emergency Resources For Teammates Impacted By Wildfires"}]}
```