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This includes $368,389 for Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton and $518,434 to Five Rivers Health Centers.
Federally-qualified health centers like Five Rivers Health Centers and Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton provide primary care and other services geared toward patients who are underserved. They charge based on a sliding-fee scale based on the patient ability to pay and have a governing board made with patients as a majority of board members.
HRSA stated in an announcement that the health centers can use the money to expand the range of testing and testing-related activities to best address the needs of their local communities, including the purchase of personal protective equipment; training for staff, outreach, procurement and administration of tests; laboratory services; notifying identified contacts of infected health center patients of their exposure to COVID-19; and the expansion of walk-up or drive-up testing capabilities.
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Five Rivers CEO Gina McFarlane-El said the after getting input from their board, this additional funding may be used to provide to testing for patients within community for both active infection and prior exposure, provide telehealth equipment for some patients that are not able to come into the office for their appointments, purchase more personal protective equipment for staff, and provide more community education about COVID-19.
“Five Rivers Health Centers will be reaching out to our community partners in Montgomery and Greene Counties on what is needed so that we are not duplicating services,” McFarlane-El said.
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