Tuesday, May 20, 2025
5/20/2025
Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Assistance for Hurricane Response and Recovery Efforts (CARE) - Since May 1993, when a newly created board of directors applied for HRSA 330 funding, Kinston Community Health Center has remained committed to serving Lenoir County’s underserved populations. Beginning with only five staff members, Kinston Community Health Center (KCHC) has grown to include more than one hundred twenty dedicated professionals who address needs in family medicine, dental, and behavioral health. Last year, KCHC opened an onsite pharmacy with delivery services encompassing a twenty-mile radius. KCHC’s service area has extended throughout eastern North Carolina with the help of its dedicated outreach team. KCHC has built upon this work through collaboration with other FQHCs, UNC Lenoir Hospital, and non-profit organizations. KCHC providers prioritize meeting patients where they are, including visiting migrant and unhoused communities. During the COVID pandemic, KCHC dispatched its first mobile medical unit into the community and offered COVID tests and, later, vaccines through this service. Unfortunately, this unit is not equipped for dental services as well. The purchase of a dental mobile unit would enable KCHC to be a comprehensive, accessible point of care not only for those displaced during emergency situations but also for those displaced by socioeconomic barriers. As Category 3 and higher hurricanes appear with greater frequency, it has become imperative for health centers to offer dependable alternatives to traditional healthcare services in order to ensure continuity of care.(1) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “hurricane-force winds can extend...to more than 150 miles...Tropical storm-force winds can stretch out as far as 300 miles from center of a large hurricane.”(2) Within the past ten years, eleven hurricanes have made landfall within two hundred miles of Kinston, NC.(3) Compared to nine from 1983 to 2003 and only two from 1963 to 1983, the increase is apparent and worrying. Emergency readiness is mandatory. A lack of preparation would be a myopic and consequential misjudgment. The advantage of a mobile unit outside of emergency situations is clear. KCHC’s dental clinic has served as many as eighteen schools in a single school year. Currently, the clinic serves twelve elementary and middle schools. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., twenty to thirty children are given dental care that they may not receive otherwise. Anyone in need of more in-depth care is scheduled for a visit to the main clinic. For school visits, the dental team must load their van, unload the van, and set up equipment inside the school. The team travels to schools a day in advance in order to make school visits as time efficient and productive as possible. A dental mobile clinic would allow KCHC to give care in varied locations, regardless of the circumstances. KCHC requests $490,000 to subsidize the purchase of a mobile unit that would adequately address the productivity needs of the dental clinic. A 36 to 40 foot unit would be able to accommodate at least two operatories as well as a waiting room. This would allow more patients to be seen without exposing them to any harsh conditions (e.g. heat, cold, or rain) outside of the unit. Because all staff may not be available in case of severe weather, KCHC would purchase a non-CDL required unit to ensure its utility. A dental mobile unit would ease the burden on not only patients but providers as well.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).