Madison Health Network Receives Grant

For Immediate Release
September 9, 2003
Madisonville Health Network Grant
Contact: Andrea Pool at (979) 458-0773
Office of Communications
School of Rural Public Health
The Texas A&M University System
Health Science Center
http://www.srph.tamushsc.edu
Madison Health Network Receives Grant
The Madison Health Network, a group of 14 service organizations, has received a $40,000 grant from the state’s Office of Rural and Community Affairs (ORCA). The health network is using the grant to begin providing a variety of services at the Madison Health Resource Center in Madisonville, which opened for business on September 8.
The grant is a result of the efforts of the Community Health Development Program (CHDP) at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center’s School of Rural Public Health (SRPH) and the Brazos Valley Health Partnership, working with the Brazos and Piney Woods Area Health Education Centers, Audiologist Ronny Baker, the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency (WIC), the Brazos Valley Council of Governments (County Indigent Health Program), the Brazos Valley Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, the Brazos Valley Telehealth Partnership, Central Texas Mental Health, Madison St. Joseph Health Center, the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of the Brazos Valley, Project Unity, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and the Texas Department of Health.
“The rural areas of our community have resources that don’t get utilized because the health care delivery system is so fragmented,” said Monica Wendel, assistant director of the Community Health Development Program, which helped the network write the grant.
“By co-locating providers and coordinating services in Madison County, we are confident that residents will be able to get higher quality services at a lower cost to them and to the service providers,” Wendel stated. “The Office of Rural and Community Affairs recognized this and awarded the Brazos Valley Health Partnership a small grant to begin operations. This is an innovative model that has the potential to revolutionize service coordination across the Brazos Valley.”
The partners will offer services such as health education, audiology, maternal/prenatal care, substance abuse counseling and care, mental health services, immunizations, HIV/STD screenings, and public assistance/insurance eligibility screenings and enrollment. Telehealth technology and the anticipated development of a transportation system will provide area residents with access to specialists and services not available locally.
The Brazos Valley Health Partnership, assisted by the CHDP, created this health resource center model. Following a comprehensive community health status assessment in 2001, community leaders and organizations participated in task groups to develop recommendations on how to address health issues in the Brazos Valley community. These recommendations included service coordination and comprehensive case management, partnerships and co-locating resources to help rural and underserved residents have better access to health services.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components located in communities throughout Texas are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.
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