http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140913/NEWS01/709139901
Published September 13, 2014 in the Rutland Herald
Federal grants to expand Vt. health centers
By Josh O’Gorman
Vermont Press Bureau
Health centers in Vermont will receive more than $2 million in federal grants to expand services and reach out and find new patients.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., announced Friday that Vermont will receive $2.1 million as part of the Affordable Care Act.
All told, the federal government is releasing $295.5 million in grants to nearly 1,200 health centers across the country, including 10 in Vermont.
“As chairman of the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, I am pleased that this funding will provide community health centers across Vermont and around the country with the resources to improve access to primary medical, dental, mental health, and vision care as well as improve access to low-cost prescription drugs for millions of Americans,” Sanders said.
The federal funds are part of a provision written by Sanders for the Affordable Care Act that authorized $11 billion for community health centers.
Nationally, the money is projected to connect 1.5 million new patients with health centers across the U.S., including more than 137,000 oral health patients and more than 38,000 mental health patients.
In Vermont, the money is projected to allow health centers to hire 47 new staff members and connect with 11,850 new patients. In 2014, one in four Vermonters will use the services of one of the state’s community health centers.
“The purpose of this money is to expand services,” said Grace Gilbert-Davis, CEO of Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington.
The health center will use the money to connect with 750 new patents — 40 percent of whom are uninsured or underinsured — within the next two years.
Also, the health center — which opened in February to little fanfare — will hire what Gilbert-Davis referred to as a “community relations specialist,” who will reach out to groups who work with uninsured populations.
Thus far, the health center has identified 54 of organizations, such as the Bennington County Coalition for the Homeless. The community relations specialist will perform outreach with employees of companies who do not offer health insurance, Gilbert-Davis said.
The health center is also looking to expand hours to include evenings and Saturday as early as spring, as well as to hire another licensed nurse practitioner, bringing the total to three.
@$ID/[No paragraph style]:Gifford Medical Care, based in Randolph, will use a $187,000 grant to reach more patients with its Twin River Health Center in White River Junction.
“We’ve always identified the White River Junction clinic as a place that could benefit from more primary care providers,” said Eric Medved, vice president of medicine for Gifford Medical Center. “We’re very excited to be able to reach out to that community living downtown.”
Other grant recipients include:
— Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region, Bomoseen, $258,340.
— Five-Town Health Alliance, Bristol, $187,000.
— Copley Professional Services Group, Morrisville, $222,030.
— Gifford Health Care, Randolph, $187,000.
— Springfield Medical Care System, Springfield, $225,100.
Inflation-adjusted federal tax revenues hit a record $2,663,426,000,000 for the first 11 months of the fiscal year this August, but the federal government still ran a $589,185,000,000 deficit during that time, according to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement.
ReplyDeleteNational Debt: $17,743,071,245,342.00 and rising.
Get a taste of the sugar now, because Uncle Sammy can't continue to dole it out forever. Bernie and his Uncle Sammy have become nothing more than government pushers, looking to get as many states and towns "hooked" on their wanton spending and thus as beholden as possible to them.
They are selling us all down the river, one sweet spoonful at a time.