With these issues in mind, the Dent County Health Center applied for a grant from the Department of Health and Senior Services designed to address the health disparities created or worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic we have listened to the community’s needs and responses to the hardships created by COVID-19. We attend as many community meetings, collaborations, and events as possible. We perform “social listening” on social media sites to try to keep a finger on the pulse of Dent County. We conduct surveys and focus groups. Finally, we combined all this information together to create a plan to address the issues we identified.
After approving our plan and proposed budget, the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) offered us a contract in the amount of $1,215,902.78. The entirety of this contract is federally funded through the CDC.
There are three main issues we hope to address with this funding:
Access and Affordability of Childcare
Childcare is financially difficult for many families in Dent County. In addition, many county residents report difficulty finding childcare. This lack of accessible and affordable childcare was worsened by COVID-19. Many parents report being unable to go back to work because they don’t have childcare. Our plan is to work with existing and new childcare providers to provide free and reduced cost childcare for all Dent County residents. The goal is to increase the capacity of childcare providers in Dent County by 50 children by June 2023. Our hope is that by reducing the cost and increasing capacity that more Dent County parents will be able to look for jobs and return to work.
Access to Primary Care
Access to affordable laboratory testing has been a primary focus of the Dent County Health Center for several years. During COVID-19, we saw laboratory testing volume decrease substantially. These are people who are not checking their cholesterol, their blood pressure, their glucose. Cardiovascular disease is still the number one cause of death, and we are concerned that the long-term effects of the pandemic will be increases in heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and more. We plan to increase our laboratory capacity and provide a limited number of free tests. In addition, we will be employing a nurse practitioner to help provide screenings and treatment for acute illnesses like COVID-19.
Access to Care due to Immobility and Distance
COVID-19 highlighted the vulnerability of the elderly, disabled, and immunocompromised. We plan to use project funds to facilitate the implementation of a mobile team that could deliver immunizations, draw blood for laboratory tests, offer COVID and Flu tests, and more.
We are overjoyed at the opportunity to improve the health of Dent County Residents. We are still in the early stages of implementing this program, so this information is subject to change. Please follow us on our social media to stay up to date.
