MT ORAB, Ohio — Ohio is making historic investments in Appalachian communities to improve health care, infrastructure and workforce development. Now, the first group of approved projects are being awarded funding to improve several rural counties in Ohio.
“This is going to change these communities for the better,” said Kimberly Patton, president and CEO of HealthSource of Ohio. “Hands down.”
HealthSource in Ohio is one of the first projects approved for funding through the Appalachian Community Grants Program. The organization will receive $3.62 million to expand the Mount Orab Health Center.
Brown County lost its hospital in 2014.
“With the hospital closing, these communities lost a lot of specialty care,” Patton said. “They've significantly lost their ability to undergo surgery. They've lost their ability to receive inpatient care. It's important for us to bridge that gap as best we can.”
The funding will allow Ohio HealthSource to essentially double its existing health center and enhance primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, and dental services within the facility.
“Currently, our dental services can take up to six months to receive a new patient,” Patton said. “That is never acceptable.”
This expansion will also lead to the creation of job training sites, helping the facility develop its own pipeline for filling medical positions.
“We don't want new high school graduates saying, 'I'm going to go to Cincinnati, get trained in Cincinnati, and then work in Cincinnati,'” he said. “We want to give them the opportunity to train where they live.”
Some Brown County residents say they're happy with the commute to their health care provider, while others say they have to drive an hour away for routine doctor's appointments.
“I think you should get a breast exam once a year,” said Georgetown resident Betty Sullivan. “I tend to go more toward my third-year goals.”
Sullivan blamed her commute. She said her access to health care would increase “incredibly.”
HealthSource of Ohio also received funding to expand a school-based health center in Loveland and to add telehealth services to a school-based health center in Goshen.
The Adams County Ohio Valley School District also received funding from the grant program to establish a telemedicine and mobile clinic program.
As more awards are announced, dozens if not hundreds of other projects could be funded through Ohio State's Appalachian Grants Program.
