| Rural Assistance Program for Churches and Schools (RAPCS) The Rural Assistance Program for Churches and Schools (RAPCS) assists communities in Greene, Sumter and Marengo counties in identifying, addressing and resolving their health problems.
Click here for more information and a printable pdf with information on this program. Coordinated Approach for Total Congregational Healthcare (CATCH) For the past 20 years, the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program has provided approximately $14 million in community grants to distinguished health care organizations across the country and Puerto Rico. Each year, grants are reviewed by faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and rated by a separate selection panel of opinion leaders and advisors in community health care. Grants support initiatives that enable medically underserved people to access quality health care services in their community. This year’s grants focus on programs serving Hurricane Katrina affected areas. The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina was not just material devastation of buildings and structures. People with medical conditions are still experiencing repercussions from the natural disasters. Many of these people migrated to rural, west-central Alabama after the hurricanes. They are in need of health care treatment, education and transportation. Tombigbee Healthcare Authority will use funds from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care grant to implement “Coordinated Approach to Total Congregational Healthcare” (CATCH). The project will improve access to health care for hurricane victims in this region by executing three specific programs: - Churchgoers in rural areas will have the opportunity to be trained in basic first-aid, CPR, and blood pressure and blood sugar checks. Nurses will administer the training on a rotating basis.
- A health assessment survey will evaluate the number of people in local churches who developed diabetes, hypertension or heart disease since Hurricane Katrina, and were unable to be treated. After the results are gathered, three community-wide meetings will be held in all targeted counties; the community will have the opportunity to express its needs and the outcomes expected after the project is implemented. Nurses will provide assessments, referrals, health education and counseling following each meeting.
- Transportation will be available for those needing or wanting to attend doctor appointments, pharmacy visits, meetings, or community events that promote healthy living.
To learn more about this program, contact Christina Carr, Program Coordinator, at 334-287-2675. You can also get information on THA and other Johnson & Johnson 2007 Community Health Care Program Awardees at http://www.jhsph.edu/johnsonandjohnson/currentawardees.html Teens Empowering and Motivating their Peers to Opt-out (TEMPO) The principle objective of “TEMPO” is to assist the Alabama Department of Public Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control Division in the implementation of a statewide comprehensive tobacco policy enhancement initiative by focusing on how Second-Hand-Smoke (SHS) affects the people, particularly the youth, of Marengo County. This objective will be accomplished through the provision of: Educational activities, i.e. strengthening public knowledge of SHS and tobacco use through presentations, speaking engagements, special tobacco day participation, distribution of flyers, fact sheets and information packets on the dangers of SHS, the implementation of the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP), Lifestyles curriculum, Operation Storefront, media exposure, and local and state partnerships. The program will be done in partnership with the Theo Ratliff Activity Center in Demopolis, Alabama. For more information on this program, contact Loretta Smith, Program Manager, at 334-287-2610. Delta Rural Assistance Program (DRAP) The Delta Rural Access Program (DRAP) is a new initiative that began on September 1, 2007 and will address eighteen of Alabama’s rural Delta counties’ unmet local health care needs and prevalent health disparities through the development of innovative projects. The primary focuses of DRAP is to: 1) provide a delivery of preventative services for individuals who are at-risk of developing chronic health diseases (i.e. – diabetes, heart disease, obesity, chronic disease health promotion and education); and 2) increase access to prescription drugs for the medically indigent, which include Medicare and Medicaid populations. For more information on this program, contact Loretta Smith, Program Manager, at 334-287-2610. |
