Secretary of Agriculture www.usda.gov Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is helping rural communities provide essential services and in general improve access to healthcare across rural America. USDA is in the process of funding grants and loans amounting to more than $1.2 billion for some new projects.
Specifically, USDA’s “Rural Development’s Community Facilities” (CF) program www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/community-facilities-direct-loan–grant-program is going to invest $50 million in CF funds over the next three years to develop or improve mental health facilities and services. CF funding in 2015 with more than $213 million, has gone to more than 80 projects in 34 states.
For example, USDA entered into a letter of commitment to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp (YKHC) www.ykhc.org located in Bethel Alaska for a low interest loan for $165 million to help renovate their hospital, and provide a primary care clinic to include additional providers. YKHC will pay for the construction and the Indian Health Service will pay for increased staffing and operations.
The USDA loan is one part of a three part financing package for the project. YKHC is providing cash and is currently working to secure additional funds with two other financing partners, the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority http://treasury.dor.alaska.gov/ambba and the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority www.aidea.org.
YKHC President and CEO Dan Winkelman said, “The renovations and construction plus the increased staffing will enable us to deploy a new model of care that will integrate various service lines into one comprehensive system of care delivery to become one system that treats the whole patient.”