The Healthy Delta Initiative is helping the region address several serious health issues. Recent figures highlighted in a Delta Regional Authority (DRA) publication show major challenges in the Delta region. For example, 33.9 percent of the region’s adults 20 years of age or older are considered obese, 11.0 percent of adults in the Delta have diabetes, and 19.2 percent of Delta residents under 65 do not have health insurance. All of these figures are above the respective national averages.
The Delta Region consists of 252 counties and parishes within the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. For more information, go to www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_deltahealthcare.html
The DRA part of the Delta Health Care Services operating the Delta Regional Authority Grant program, has formed an interagency partnership with USDA. The partnership provides financial assistance to address unmet health needs in the region.
The funding for the DRA grant program is to be used to assist in the economic development in rural areas in the Delta region by providing technical assistance for healthcare related business and economic development planning.
USDA program funding available as announced in the April 14, 2014 Federal Register page 20857 totals $5,775,327 with a maximum grant amount of $1,000,000 and minimum grant amount of $50,000. DRA funding for $300,000 is available with a maximum grant amount of $100,000. A total amount of more than $6 million will be made available through this program.
The program funding is currently open with the deadline to submit an application on June 13, 2014. For more information, contact Mirielle Burgoyne at mburgoyne@dra.gov or call 202-434-4847.
In another move, the DRA has partnered with the HHS Office of Minority Health to provide funding in terms of Rural Health IT Loan Funds to spur the transition to EHRs in the region. The fund offers interest free loans of up to $7,500 to small healthcare provider offices throughout the region to use the funds to install and adopt an EHR system.
In addition, the Healthy Delta Initiate has initiated a Healthy Delta Research Database to address the need for better information and data on the health and wellness of DRA communities. The database offers data reports for individual counties, parishes, for each state in the Delta region, and for the region as a whole.
In taking action to improve the health of the Delta’s workforce, the DRA has also launched the Healthy Workforce Challenge, providing funding to organizations and institutions for programs that use innovation and creative programming to improve the health and wellness of the community and workforce.