Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Assistance for Hurricane Response and Recovery Efforts (CARE) - The Brevard Health Alliance (BHA) is Brevard County’s Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and has provided primary care services to the vulnerable and underserved communities for Brevard County since March 2005 by providing over 1,000,000 medical, dental, behavioral health, and enabling encounters. Reported in the 2022 UDS Report, BHA served 60,527 unique patients; 45,528 (or 85.7%) of the total patients with known incomes are 200% and below the Federal Poverty Guideline. This compares to 27.8% of individuals in Brevard that live in households with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level as reported by Florida Health Charts in 2021. According to Brevard County’s 2022 Community Needs Assessment, the area’s top barriers include trouble getting an appointment (34.3% vs. 14.5% in the U.S.), trouble finding a doctor (25.6% vs. 9.4% in the U.S.), cost of doctor visit (21.8% vs. 12.9% in the U.S.), cost of prescriptions (19.2% vs. 12.8% in the U.S.), inconvenient office hours (16% vs. 12.5% in the U.S.), lack of transportation (11% vs. 8.9% in the U.S.), and language/culture (2.3% vs. 2,8% in the U.S.). To reduce barriers and assist in addressing these needs, we provide primary and dental care; behavioral health, OB/GYN, pharmacy, specialty, and enabling services throughout the county at twelve fixed sites and a mobile medical and dental unit. BHA also provides highly discounted care, extended office hours, free bus passes, and cost-savings through the 340B pharmacy program to BHA patients totaling more than $58.9 million since 2005. The health center currently participates in the Vaccines for Adults (VFA) and Vaccines for Children (VFC) programs; these programs provide vaccines for our uninsured and underinsured patients. By continuing to provide these services to Brevard County, BHA will address the community’s health needs while determining additional services required by our target population. In order to continue to provide a seamless continuity of care for our target population, BHA is committed to proactively exploring avenues to renovate and when necessary, build new infrastructure to better respond to the needs of our target population in the event of a hurricane or other FEMA Designated Disaster or Emergency Declaration affecting our service area. Through the Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Assistance for Hurricane Response and Recovery Efforts (CARE) funding opportunity, BHA proposes to construct a new health center owned service delivery site on land purchased located at Lot 25 on Malabar Rd. Malabar, Florida 32950 to take the place of a current leased location with a lack of weather-resistant construction located at 775 Malabar Rd. Malabar, Florida 32950. The Real Property ID numbers for the land are 2963184 and 2963183. The land is located adjacent to our current clinic and will give the health center the opportunity to build a larger facility, offering more access and capacity for services delivered by the health center to the same patient population ensuring no lapse in care and no observed inconvenience or additional access barriers for health center patients. The new proposed clinic will be built on an elevated foundation to accommodate for flooding and will be outfitted with a generator to enable the provision of services and to safely maintain vaccines, medications, and supplies. With the participation in the VFA, VFC, and 340B programs, it is imperative BHA identify ways to store and maintain these vaccines and medications in a safe way in the event of a disaster or emergency. This new construction would be our second service delivery site with a generator, enhancing our ability to respond during and post-storm.
