Partnering with Your Local Community Health Care Provider
Last week HHS announced over $117 million in awards to 1,318 community health centers (CHCs) across the country. Federally funded health centers will use these investments to strengthen their improvement activities and expand quality primary health care service delivery. View awardees in your community. These and other funds provided to local community health providers are essential to local public health efforts and to the opportunity for local partnerships.
Did you know?
- There are nearly 1,400 HRSA-funded health centers operating approximately 12,000 service delivery sites nationwide. Find a Community Health Center (CHC) near you.
- These health centers deliver care to the nation’s most vulnerable individuals and families, including people experiencing homelessness, agricultural workers, residents of public housing, and the nation’s veterans.
- Approximately 93% of health centers provide mental health counseling and treatment and 67% of health centers provide substance abuse, behavioral, and patient services.
Local Partnership Opportunities
Across the country, faith and community organizations are partnering with CHCs and other local health care providers to gain access to the most up-to-date health information and critical health care services for their members — including COVID-19 testing. Here are just a few examples:
- Family Health Centers of Georgia is coordinating with local faith and community organizations to provide health and support services including free drive-thru COVID-19 testing and food bank events. Partners include the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, among others.
- United Believers Community Church, Kansas City, partnered with their local CHC, Swope Health Services, to become a COVID-19 testing site. (FYI – CHS’s first clinic started in the basement of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church.)
- Central Health in Austin, TX is delivering COVID-19 resource kits to businesses, apartment complexes, and faith-based centers located in communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic through its outreach campaign Protect Yourself, Protect Your Family/Protéjase y Proteja a Su Familia. Central Health is also bringing together diverse community members to participate in their Community Health Champions
- Norwell Health partners with faith communities, including Mother AME and 60 other churches, to do antibody and diagnostic testing in low-income communities and communities of color in Westchester, New York City, and Long Island. View other ways Norwell partners with community-based organizations.
- And in Ohio, MetroHealth, Ohio, works with its faith-based partners to conduct 2,000 COVID-19 tests in underserved communities.
COVID-19 Related Community Health News
NIH COVID-19 Communities Responding Together
This website offers resources for use in talking to community members about COVID-19, the vaccines under development, how they are developed, and the importance of representation in research studies. Information includes:
- NIH Clinical Trials and You for information on basic questions often asked about clinical trials.
- Minorities in Clinical Trials
- Minority Participation in Clinical Trials in Spanish and the FDA video, Latinos Can Make a Difference in Clinical Trials.
If you, or anyone you know, is interested in helping find a vaccine for COVID-19, please visit coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org. Please be aware of the importance of minority populations in clinical trials.
Provider Relief Funds Deadline Extended to 9/13
Funds are still available and the deadline to apply for Phase 2 General Distribution funding for Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), dental providers, and certain Medicare providers has been extended to Sept. 13, 2020.
Is Your Hand Sanitizer on FDA’s List of Products You Should Not Use?
FDA testing has determined that some hand sanitizers carry toxic ingredients. Before you buy hand sanitizer or use hand sanitizer you have at home, check the FDA’s do-not-use list.
HHS Announced the Release of 1.5 million N95 Respirators for Distribution to Nursing Home Facilities
Beginning Aug. 28, 2020, N95 respirators will be directly shipped to 3,336 nursing home facilities across the country.
CDC 2020 Public Health Ethics Forum: Ethical Dilemmas in Rural Health
Web Forum: Fri., Sept. 11, 2020, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. EDT, Register here.
The National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University and CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity will host the 2020 Public Health Ethics Forum with the theme Ethical Dilemmas in Rural Health. The final agenda is forthcoming.
Registration Open! Thurs., Sept. 17, 2020, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. EDT, Register here.
HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) will host this virtual symposium to highlight state, tribal, territorial, and community-based efforts addressing COVID-19 among racial and ethnic minority populations. Learn more here.
USDA Rural Development has provided an update on the number of immediate actions they are taking to help rural residents, businesses, and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
HHS Community Health News
CDC’s Tips® Campaign Led 1 Million U.S. Adults to Quit Smoking During 2012–2018
Last week the CDC released findings that show that their Tips From Former Smokers® (Tips®) campaign led more than 1 million U.S. adults to quit smoking and an estimated 16.4 million U.S. adults to attempt to quit smoking during 2012–2018 — marking a milestone for Tips as the first federally funded anti-smoking ad campaign.
People with diabetes may wish to fast for dietary, medical, or religious reasons. This new NIH blog post shares that advance planning with a health care professional may reduce complications.
Awards & Grant Opportunities
HHS Releases $1.5 Billion to States, Tribes to Combat Opioid Crisis
HHS/SAMHSA is distributing the first-year funds of its two-year State Opioid Response (SOR) and Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grant programs. The two programs ultimately will award nearly $3 billion over two years to help states and tribes provide community-level resources for people in need of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services.
DOL Announced $20 million in grants to Fight Opioids
The U.S.Department of Labor (DOL) announced nearly $20 million in funding to four states (Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin). The goal of this pilot program is to address the health and economic impact of widespread substance and opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose by providing retraining and other services to workers in communities significantly impacted by the opioid crisis. Grantees will use these funds to collaborate with a network of communithy partners to address the drug epidemic in their local areas.
National Community Anti-drug Coalition Institute (NCI)
DFCNCI-2020 – The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is seeking applications from any national non-profit organization that represents, provides technical assistance and training to, and has special expertise and broad, national-level experience in community anti-drug coalitions. ONDCP encourages applications from national nonprofit institution/organization. Questions: dfc@ondcp.eop.gov, (202)-395-6665. Closing date: Sept. 25, 2020.
Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Program
FR-6400-N-05 HUD – This grant program is designed to assist residents of Public and Indian Housing make progress towards economic and housing self-sufficiency by removing the educational, professional, and health barriers they face. Closing date: Sept. 19, 2020.
Women’s Preventive Services Initiative
HRSA-21-045 – The purpose of HHS’s Women’s Preventive Services Initiative (WPSI) is to improve women’s health across the lifespan. Closing date: Oct. 5, 2020.
Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program
HRSA-21-031 – Program supports innovative, community-based initiatives to improve the health status of infants, children, adolescents, and families in rural and other underserved communities by increasing their access to preventive care and services. Closing date: Oct. 6, 2020.
Rural Health Network Development Planning Program
HRSA-21-021 – The purpose of this grant program is to promote the development of integrated health care networks and bring together key parts of a rural health care delivery system, particularly those entities that may not have collaborated in the past, to work together to establich or improve local capacity and coordination of care. For example, a critical access hospital, a rural health clinic, and a public health department may collaborate to form a network around a shared purpose. These networks can include a wide range of community partners, including social service agencies, State Rural Health Associations, Primary Care Associations, academic medical centers, mental health agencies, charitable organizations, educational institutions, employers, local government agencies, or other entities with hold an interest in a community’s health care system. Closing date: Nov. 16, 2020.
