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SWGA Rural Health Clinic Awarded $1.2 Million In Recovery Act Funds

December 9, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) announced today that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $1,208,700 in grant funding for Southwest Georgia Health Care, Inc. (Richland, Ga.) to support construction and renovation projects, create new job opportunities in construction and health care and provide care for additional patients in an underserved rural community of Southwest Georgia. The grant is provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Stimulus bill”).

“This funding will provide much-needed support to an underfunded community health center in a rural area of Southwest Georgia,” Bishop said following a bipartisan grant announcement ceremony at the White House. “Many citizens in this area do not receive adequate preventative and primary care services. This grant will allow Southwest Georgia Health Care, Inc. to improve and expand access to health care services. In addition, the multiplier effect that these funds will create in terms of job creation and economic growth will have an immediate impact on this area.”

Through Stimulus funding for this project in Richland, Ga., jobs will be created for contractors, construction workers, manufacturers of building supplies, health care workers, as well as at small and medium sized businesses where these workers and their families will spend their pay.

The grant will be awarded through HHS’s Facility Investment Program (FIP), which addresses pressing health center facility needs. The funds are the latest in a series of grants awarded to community health centers, which deliver preventive and primary care services to more than 17 million patients nationwide, regardless of their ability to pay.

Today’s $508.5 million awarded in Facility Investment Program grants to community health centers nationwide will address the pressing needs of health center facilities and expand their capacities to serve an additional 500,000 patients. These funds will also help health centers build new facilities, modernize current sites and create employment opportunities in underserved communities.

Recipients of FIP funds are expected to commit grant funds and complete the proposed projects within two years. The grants will cover two types of projects:

1. Alteration/renovation: This project type includes work required to modernize, improve or change the interior arrangements or other physical characteristics of an existing facility, and purchase/install equipment. Alterations and renovations make existing space usable for another purpose. This type of project does not increase square footage.

2. Construction (new site or expansion of existing site): This project type includes—(i) adding a new structure to an existing site that increases the total square footage of the facility; and (ii) permanently affixing structure (e.g., modular units, prefabricated buildings) to real property (i.e., land).

FIP grants, along with the entire health center program, are administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Of the 85 FIP grants announced by the White House today, the grant to Southwest Georgia Health Care, Inc. is one of only two grants awarded in the state of Georgia. The other went to Palmetto Health Council, Inc. in Palmetto.

For more information about Facility Investment Program grants, visit https://bphc.hrsa.gov.