Posted on January 19, 2013

Virginia Health Care Foundation Awards $2.4 Million to Health Safety-Net Providers

The Virginia Health Care Foundation has announced eight grants totaling $2.4 million to free clinics, community health centers, and other health-related organizations working to increase access to health care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians.

Grantees include the Richmond-based CrossOver Health Ministry clinic, which received $89,740 to hire a nurse practitioner to help with an influx of new patients; the Eastern Shore Rural Health System, which was awarded $131,144 to equip five dental operatories at the center's new Atlantic facility in Accomack County; the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic, which received $100,000 through a 2:1 challenge grant to help underwrite a larger facility; and the Free Clinic of the New River Valley, which was awarded $126,100 to help integrate primary medical care and behavioral healthcare professionals.

The fourth-quarter grants also included $1.2 million in support of the foundation's RxRelief Virginia initiative, which supports organizations working to help uninsured Virginians obtain free medicines for chronic illnesses; $89,000 to Pittsylvania County Community Action, a grantee of the foundation's Project Connect program, to increase outreach and enrollment of children in the Danville-Pittsylvania area in state-sponsored health insurance; and other grants totaling $567,556 to initiatives that help expand oral health care and medical care at nine health safety-net organizations.