Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program - Project Title: Rural Patient Transportation Program (RPTP) Organization: Centro de Salud de la Comunidad de San Ysidro, Inc. DBA San Ysidro Health Address: 1601 Precision Park Lane, San Diego, CA 92173 Project Director: Sonia Tucker, Vice President of Population Health Contact Numbers: 619.653.9211 Email: sonia.tucker@syhealth.org Funding Track: Regular Track Funding Requested: $250,000 annually ($1,000,000 total over four years) Funding Preference: #1 (HPSA) and #3 (Focus on Primary Care, and Wellness and Prevention Strategies) Need for the Program: The Mountain Empire (ME) subregional area (SRA) of East San Diego County is a vast 650 miles of rural high desert backcountry communities with lush vegetation and diverse wildlife. The Palomar-Julian (PJ) SRA is a 561-square-mile mountain community proximal to the ME SRA, encompassing the Cleveland National Forest and the county’s highest elevation levels (6,000+ feet). The isolated mountainous and desert topographies bring numerous challenges and barriers to social determinants of health, resulting in a variety of unmet health needs – especially for historically underserved and under-resourced populations. Among the East County SRAs, ME SRA had the highest death rate due to 3-4-50 chronic diseases in 2021 (624.6 per 100,000) compared to 330 per 100,000 population countywide. Common topography-related issues experienced by residents in these rural catchment areas include high rates of limited or no access to transportation, food insecurity, limited broadband, social isolation and lack of a reliable support system for seniors, inadequate health systems (including basic access to a health clinic or pharmacy), inadequate homes, and lack of walkability. A recent gap analysis conducted by San Ysidro Health (SYHealth) for its East San Diego County service area identified transportation as a significant barrier to community health, vitality, and well-being. Proposed Services: To address the health needs of residents of rural East San Diego County (including social determinants barriers), SYHealth will use HRSA RHCSOP funding to establish comprehensive and coordinated patient transportation services in the rural Mountain Empire and Palomar-Julian SRAs via implementation of the proposed Rural Patient Transportation Program (RPTP). The proposed RPTP is a multi-pronged approach to mitigating transportation barriers and aims to 1) provide under-resourced residents with coordinated transportation to and from medical, dental, and behavioral health primary care appointments at SYHealth’s Mountain Health Family Medicine clinic and SYHealth’s Julian Family Medicine clinic locations; 2) provide under-resourced residents with coordinated transportation to specialty care appointments throughout the urban and suburban areas of San Diego County; and 3) leverage the resources, experience, and expertise of the East County Rural Health Coalition members (consortium members) to assist in the planning, design, and implementation of coordinated transportation services in the service area. Target Population: SYHealth’s proposed RPTP will serve all residents of the rural Mountain Empire and Palomar-Julian SRAs of East San Diego County. The program will primarily benefit subpopulations with the greatest barriers to accessing timely and quality health care due to transportation and several other social determinant barriers, such as older adults age 65+, Limited English Proficiency individuals, individuals with chronic conditions, school-age youth, individuals with behavioral health disorders, housing-insecure individuals, individuals with high acuity, and individuals with a disability. These patients will benefit immensely from the coordination of care, establishment of a medical home, and follow-up care, all of which will be available through the program.
