USDA is providing $2.4 million for healthcare projects in rural Mississippi. The grants are provided through the Delta Health Care Services Grant Program. According to Sam Rikkers, Administrator for the USDA Rural Business Cooperative Service, “The grants will be used to improve technology and education services such as EHRs and telehealth capabilities.”
Rikkers visited the campus of Coahoma Community College www.coahomacc.edu in Clarksdale Mississippi one of the USDA grant recipients along with the Delta Health Alliance www.deltahealthallinace.org, University of Mississippi Medical Center www.umc.edu, and Blue Mountain College www.bmc.edu.
The Delta Health Care Services program provides grants to academic research institutes along with institutions of higher education and economic development entities in the Delta region. The program was created to help about 10 million people living in the Delta region.
The Delta region includes 252 counties and parishes in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Grant recipients can use the grant funding for a variety of health related activities, including mobile health units, for telemedicine, and to train healthcare professionals. The minimum grant is $50,000 up to the maximum of $1 million.
Last year, Coahoma Community College received a $728,000 USDA Delta Health Care Services grant to purchase telehealth equipment. The funding enabled nurses in small rural health units to consult with primary or specialty care providers at larger healthcare hubs via telecommunications.
The telehealth equipment was placed in five school districts and four rural health clinics in northwestern Mississippi. The equipment was made possible through a partnership between Coahoma Community College, Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center www.aehchc.org, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Go to www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/delta-health-care-services-grants for information on the Delta Health Care Services Grant Program. Go to www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-business-cooperative-services for information on the USDA Rural Business Cooperative Service.