Direct Relief https://www.directrelief.org recently announced the recipients of their Innovation Awards in Community Health: Addressing Infectious Disease in Underserved Communities. Grants totaling $2.5 million.
The awards will be implemented by Direct Relief and directed to 11 U.S Safety-Net Community Healthcare Providers to support innovative approaches to infectious disease education, screening, testing, treatment, and care.
The Pfizer Foundation https://pfizer.com/purpose-health/strenthening-health-systems/the-pfizer-foundation is funding the innovation award program that spans 10 states and the awards are going to a mix of urban and rural initiatives that will work to create greater health equity among vulnerable communities.
Community Health Centers and Free Clinics to provide:
- Mobile vans and pop-up clinics to improve access to healthcare
- More telehealth and health technology
- More community partnerships
- More outreach and education
- More EHRs to standardize and track clinical care
- More community leaders to promote healthcare
For example, the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas https://chcsek.org now serves a population where immunization rates for children and adults have fallen far below the state average. The Center has proposed an initiative to help control infectious diseases throughout 10 Southeast Kansas counties,
To help in Kansas, The Plan includes having an outreach team provide immunizations at area companies, mental health centers, churches, shelters, and jails. The goal is to redesign their service delivery model to triage every adult patient for gaps in protection against infectious diseases and have the appropriate vaccines available at no out-of-pocket expense. Once the vaccine to prevent COVID-19 is available, a campaign will be conducted to provide the vaccine for everyone in the area.