Connections for Community Care (C3) is a collaborative project with the National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC), funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to advise and provide support to FORHP and NARHC efforts to grow testing among RHCs by working closely with the SORH to provide technical assistance (TA). To date, the NOSORH C3 project team has conducted one-on-one virtual meetings with 30 of the 45 SORH that have RHCs and have provided TA to over 60 RHCs who have reached out with questions through the program email!

To demonstrate the impact of over 4,500 RHCs receiving this federal funding, a monthly report is required that includes the number of tests conducted, number of positive tests, location of testing sites, and other ways the funds have been utilized to support testing-related expenditures. SORH receive information, resources and state-specific information on RHC reporting through the NARHC supported reporting portal. The SORH outreach efforts have significantly increased the number of RHCs completing this reporting requirement.

NOSORH is hosting Small Educational Exchange and Development (SEED) sessions dedicated to COVID testing in RHCs on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 3:00 pm ET. These sessions provide SORH an informal opportunity to share related information, discuss challenges, best practices, experiences, etc. as well as a time for the C3 project team to respond to requests for information and resources that can help in outreach efforts. Please mark your calendars and join the next SEED session on Tuesday, December 22 at 3:00 pm ET.

A sincere thank you for all your time and dedication to our rural neighbors. If you have questions or are interested in learning more, please send an email to Lynette Dickson (ldickson@nosorh.org).