Five USDA www.usda.gov Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grants are approved to provide treatment for the growing opioid epidemic in rural central Appalachia. The five grants are included in the first new round of USDA DLT projects that are going to be announced this summer. The funding includes $1.4 million for five projects in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
In Kentucky, USDA approved two applications of over $720,000 to establish telemedicine networks that will provide treatment for medical conditions to include mental health and drug addiction treatment.
A part of the $377,121 funding is going to the Baptist Health Foundation Corbin, Inc. www.supportbaptisthealth.org/corbin to help connect clinical specialists to ten school-based health centers and two primary care sites. This project will provide mental, behavioral, and psychiatric care services in high poverty StrikeForce www.usda.gov/strikeforce areas and in Kentucky’s southeastern Promise Zone.
In Whitesburg, Kentucky, funding for $343,600 was approved for the Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation www.mountaincomprehensivehealth.com to provide a telemedicine network to allow greater access to primary and behavioral healthcare for those facing transportation and economic challenges.
In Tennessee, USDA approved $67,572 to go to the Carey Counseling Center to expand and improve six rural counseling centers to help with mental, behavioral, and psychiatric care, and substance treatment services.
Virginia is scheduled to receive $587,000 for telemedicine projects to provide healthcare services in rural areas, to include mental health and drug addiction treatment. A grant for $434,182 was approved to help the Carilion Medical Center www.carilionclinic.org deliver healthcare in twelve rural counties in southwest Virginia.
Also, funding for $153,082 was approved to help the Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia www.virginia.edu invest in an advanced system to provide eleven rural community centers with access to care that will serve nine StrikeForce Counties. Two mobile health units will canvass six of these counties to provide on-site care and provide telemedicine using video conferencing to connect with doctors and specialists.
In addition to DLT investments, USDA’s Rural Development www.rd.usda.gov has been funding rural hospitals and healthcare clinics through USDA’s Community Facilities Loans, and Business and Industry Loans. These projects provide communities with much needed services to address healthcare, which may include overdose and opioid addiction.
Go to www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/distance-learning-telemedicine-grants for information on the DLT grant program. Go to www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/all-programs for information on loans for rural communities.