| The Connections for Community Care (C3) project, funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), just wrapped up its first quarter! This NOSORH/National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) collaborative project provides Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) across the nation easy access to and technical assistance (TA) for comprehensive, community-centric COVID-19 onsite testing and is available at no cost to any SORH and/or RHC! The Connections for Community Care Small Educational Exchange and Development (SEED) sessions will begin on Tuesday, November 24 at 3 PM ET (and then monthly on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 3 PM ET) for SORH to share related information, discuss challenges, “best” practices, experiences, etc. as well as a time for the C3 team to respond to SORH and RHC requests for information, resources, tools, etc., as requested. In these first three months, a strong anchor of transparent information was ensured by announcing the project while advising and providing support to FORHP and NARHC efforts to grow testing among RHC. Activities included hiring two expert contractors, launching and branding the project to grow visibility, development of a project work plan, as well as in-depth analysis of data from the annual TA Survey to identify baseline of SORH TA testing activity capacity. As the project moves forward, the NOSORH team will disseminate information to all 45 SORH that currently have RHCs within their state. The information includes direct communication from HRSA to RHCs regarding mandatory reporting requirements and the reporting process through the NARHC supported reporting portal. We will share the HRSA and NARHC FAQs and related tool(s) as they are developed and will facilitate state summaries on RHC reporting (when available). Also, outreach will continue to SORH and RHCs (as requested) for individual meetings. Remember, it’s easy to access additional information or jump in to get started with the program. Simply send an email expressing interest to Lynette Dickson (ldickson@nosorh.org) with questions or if you have interest in learning more about the project. We appreciate your service to our rural neighbors! |
