$4.4M going to improve healthcare in rural Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Kentucky will receive $4.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to improve healthcare in rural areas across the state.

Below are the organizations that will receive money:

• God’s Pantry Food Bank will use a $585,000 grant to expand the food bank’s Mobile Pantry Program to increase food distribution to a total of 16 rural counties in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The program is designed to supply food directly to those in underserved areas through the use of refrigerated trucks delivering nutrient-dense food and groceries, including meats, starches, fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and fruit juices
• Memorial Hospital Inc. will use a $1 million grant to expand the intensive-care unit, reduce infection rates, improve testing times, improve patient safety, reduce transmission risks for immunocompromised patients and provide pulmonary services for residents in seven rural Appalachian counties in Eastern Kentucky
• St. Claire Regional Medical Center Inc. will use a $1 million grant to upgrade the air handling units for the hospital. The new state-of-the-art units will provide increased ventilation and filtration, and ultraviolet lights throughout the system will kill viruses and bacteria in the airstream
• Volunteers of America Mid-States Inc. will use a $25,000 grant to launch and administer a COVID-19 vaccine campaign in Clay County
• ARH Tug Valley Health Services Inc. will use an $825,000 grant to upgrade cardiac monitoring equipment and initiate tele-intensive care unit services at Highland ARH Regional Medical Center, a 184-bed hospital in Prestonsburg
• Baptist Health Corbin will use a $1 million grant to purchase equipment including a pulmonary function test body box, nuclear camera, laryngoscope, defibrillators and a centrifuge, all of which will improve the emergency department’s capacity to diagnose and treat residents in Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Laurel, McCreary and Whitley counties in Kentucky and Campbell County in Tennessee

Kentucky is one of 43 states and Guam where $110 million is being invested to broaden healthcare access.