Monday, March 17, 2025
3/17/2025
Project Title Frederiksted Health Care Behavioral Health Service Expansion Applicant Name Frederiksted Health Care, Inc. Address 516 Strand Street, Frederiksted VI 00840-3533 Project Director Masserae Sprauve-Webster Phone (340) 772-1992 extension 2132 Email/Web URL mwebster@fhc-inc.net/ www.fhc-inc.net Congressional District U.S. Virgin Islands At-Large (VI-000) Funding Request GY1 $600,000; GY2 $500,000 Frederiksted Health Care, Inc. is the only Health Center Program funded or Look Alike organization on the medically underserved and geographically isolated island of St. Croix in the U. S. Virgin Islands. In 2023, Frederiksted Health Care provided medical, dental, mental health, substance use disorder, pharmacy and enabling services to almost 9,000 unduplicated individuals. The vast majority (93%) of these individuals had income below 200% of federal poverty guidelines. The entire island is designated as a Medically Underserved Area and primary care, dental, and mental health Health Professional Shortage Areas. Frederiksted Health Care operates four service delivery sites on St. Croix which are located in key populations areas. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates only 59% of overall behavioral health needs are met in the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to the 2022 U.S. Virgin Islands Healthy Virgin Islands 2030 Community Health Improvement Plan, there are fewer than nine psychiatrists practicing in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and few have pediatric credentials. In 2016, Governor Kenneth E. Mapp declared a state of emergency in mental health care in the U.S. Virgin Islands due to the severe shortage of psychiatric physicians in the territory. At that time, there were three budgeted psychiatric positions within the Mental Health Division of the Health Department, all of which were vacant. In 2018, the Legislature of the Virgin Islands reported that approximately 390 individuals living on St. Croix received behavioral health outpatient services. Despite the passage of laws in 2019 and 2022 mandating the construction of at least one 25-bed inpatient psychiatric facility on St. Croix, there have been no inpatient psychiatric services available on St. Croix since 2012. Frederiksted Health Care proposes to expand behavioral health services to address the significant gap in outpatient mental health services on St. Croix. The organization’s 2023-2026 strategic plan includes a goal to increase access to behavioral health services which identified several steps including increased use of telehealth services, introduction of group therapy services, and introduction of dependently licensed clinical social workers to expand the pool of available candidates. This application proposes to increase behavioral health staffing which supports this vision of care developed by the Board of Directors, key leadership and members of the Frederiksted Health Care team. At full implementation, this project will provide behavioral health services including mental health and substance use disorder services with medication assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder and medications for opioid use disorder to 500 unduplicated individuals annually.
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).