Federal government issues $703K in grants to local clinics

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services picked four local clinics for $702,800 in grant funding designed to treat mental health and opioid abuse.

All of the local clinics are federally qualified health centers, meaning they qualify for federal funding under U.S. law.

Part of nearly $4 million picks for grants in Missouri, the local clinics are:
    •    Springfield-based Advocates for a Healthy Community Inc., dba Jordan Valley Community Health Center, $175,700;
    •    Neosho-based County Health Consortium, dba Access Family Care, $175,700;
    •    Ava-based Douglas County Public Health Services Group Inc., $175,700; and
    •    Fordland Clinic, $173,700.

Blunt serves as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee funding the Department of Health and Human Services and its Health Resources and Services Administration agency, which issued the grants, according to a news release.

“In 2015, more than 1,000 Missourians died from a lethal drug overdose, more than triple the number of overdose deaths in 1999,” Blunt said in the release. “Addiction is treatable, but only around 10 percent of those struggling with the disease get the help they need. Missouri’s community health centers are on the front lines when it comes to combating the opioid epidemic.”

Blunt also said the funding would help clinics bring mental and behavioral health care services into primary care.

Military funding
Blunt last week issued a news release in support of the National Defense Authorization Act, a military funding bill.

The bill contains funding for Springfield’s Army Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot.

If passed, the legislation would give the helicopter repair facility $32 million in fiscal 2018 for construction and land acquisition projects, according to the bill text.