Federal grant expands OU-COM regional health services, research

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awards $189,677 for Appalachian Health Care Access Project

A $189,677 federal grant will expand affordable health care access to underserved and uninsured residents living in 15 Appalachian Ohio counties.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the
grant to Ohio University’s Appalachian Health Care Access Project.
The project is a collaboration among the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Community Health Programs unit and its Appalachian Rural Health Institute, and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.

“Our physicians and staff are delighted to receive this funding to expand the breast and cervical cancer screening clinics, increase the awareness of the importance of colon cancer screening, and continue to expand access to our free clinic,” says Kathy Trace, director of the Area Health Education Center and Community Health Services for OU-COM. “Residents of Southeastern Ohio will benefit greatly from these services.”

With the funding, the Appalachian Health Care Access Project plans two objectives. The first is to improve clinical preventive services, chronic disease management and episodic health care by:

·        expanding clinical preventive services through the Healthy Adult Project;

·        increasing the frequency of breast and cervical cancer clinics and expanding the clinical preventive services offered by those clinics; and

·        providing chronic illness management and episodic health care and health education through the Ohio Free Clinic and the Diabetes Endocrine Center. 

The second objective is to conduct a Health Needs Assessment Survey in seven Appalachian Ohio counties: Gallia, Lawrence, Belmont, Jefferson, Monroe, Muskingum and Noble. OU-COM previously surveyed ten other Appalachian Ohio counties using the same assessment, which is modeled on the Center of Disease Control Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Once completed, the surveys will help design targeted health interventions at the county level. 

For more information on the Appalachian Health Care Access Project, contact Anita Martin, OU-COM assistant director of communication, at (740) 593-2199 or martina@ohio.edu.