Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program - Project Track: Regular Outreach. Funds Requested: $250,000/year for 5/1/2025- 4/30/2029 Focus Areas/Needs: Improved primary care services with a focus on cardiovascular screenings, behavioral health care, suicide prevention interventions, dental screenings and preventive care, COVID-19 and flu testing and vaccinations, pregnancy testing and prenatal consultations with referrals, as well as health education programs. Target Population: Vulnerable, uninsured, underserved, low-income residents of Bladen, Columbus, Duplin, Harnett, Jones, Lee, Montgomery, Richmond, Sampson and Stanly counties, North Carolina. Consortium members: Goshen Medical Center, Inc. (FQHC), Monarch, ECU Health, Lee County Public Health Department, Jones County Health Department, Sampson County Health Department, Stanly County Health Department, and Duplin County Health Department. Project Description: GMC aims to expand and enhance the services originally offered through Project HOPE by leveraging existing partnerships and forming new collaborations. Mobile clinics will be strategically stationed within these counties to provide a comprehensive range of sliding fee services. These services will include primary healthcare services, cardiovascular screenings, behavioral health care, suicide prevention interventions, dental screenings and preventive care, COVID-19 and flu testing and vaccinations, pregnancy testing and maternity/prenatal consultations with referrals, as well as health education programs. In efforts to impact the poor birth outcomes in rural North Carolina, Project ROADS will include a focus on young families of child-bearing age living and working in the targeted service area by partnering with industries to provide mobile clinics for employees and families on the premises of the businesses. This strategy will benefit workers and local business as there will be minimal lost work hours as the services will be offered on the premises of the business and will also accommodate the family members of the employees as many are not covered by insurance plans due to the cost of adding family members. The consortium will facilitate referrals for specialty services and primary care that exceed the capacity of GMC’s mobile clinics, providing maternity care, specialized diagnostics, crisis intervention, and follow-up care to ensure comprehensive and continuous health services. GMC will modify and use a combination of the following Promising Practice Models: The Health-able Communities Program, the Health Wagon, and Project HOPE, which is a current project, developed by GMC using a consortium of partners and mobile units to address cardiovascular health and access to primary care services in Stanly County. Expected Outcomes include: an increase in locations to operate a mobile unit clinic will be identified through the current Project HOPE in Stanly County, and new locations to be added in each of the targeted counties of Project ROADS for vulnerable rural patients to access high quality patient-focused health care each year. At least 6,000 low-income patients will receive high quality, patient-focused health care in the targeted service area; patient satisfaction surveys and promising-practice models will be used in the delivery of health care services throughout Project ROADS; increase in the number of women referred for appropriate prenatal care throughout the service area, improvements in population health, health status, and health outcomes across the ten-county service area; and continuation and expansion of Project ROADS after the end of the project period. GMC operates 49 service delivery sites across 17 counties where GMC serves all people regardless of their ability to pay via a sliding fee discount.Funding Preference: GMC is requesting a funding preference based on Qualification 1: Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). All counties identified within the targeted service area located in a HPSA and are eligible for rural health funding.
