Virginia Health Care Foundation

Contact:
Debbie Oswalt, Executive Director
Virginia Health Care Foundation
(804) 828-5804
doswalt@vhcf.org

Richmond, Virginia, July 1, 2024 – The Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) has awarded more than $1.7 million in grants to 19 Virginia organizations for increasing access to behavioral health, medical and dental services for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians.

“From the Eastern Shore to Bristol, Virginia, all of these grantees are addressing urgent and ongoing needs,” said Deborah Oswalt, VHCF’s Executive Director. “The current shortage of healthcare professionals and Virginia’s mental health crisis require an ‘all hands-on deck’ approach to ensure all Virginians have access to the care they need.”

A list of the grants awarded by VHCF follows:

Behavioral Health: The organizations listed below are taking a well-planned approach to increasing or maintaining greatly needed behavioral health services in Virginia via new and continuing grants.

• Bradley Free Clinic: $75,000 to help support the salary of a full-time Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who will expand behavioral health capacity and increased access for psychiatric medication management in Roanoke.
• Bacon Street Youth and Family Services: $70,800 to fund one full-time Resident in Counseling to expand availability of mental health services in the greater Williamsburg area.
• YWCA of Richmond: $41,850 for a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who provides pediatric behavioral health services.
• ARROW Project: $28,125 to help support the salary of a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and expand access to behavioral health care in the Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro area.

Dental Safety Net: Each of these grants is expanding the availability of oral health care.

• Augusta Regional Dental Clinic: $176,250 to support the addition of new dental operatories and to help fund a dentist to increase capacity to serve more patients.
• New Horizons Healthcare: $75,000 to help support the salary of a dentist to help increase capacity and serve more patients at the dental clinic.
• Healing Hands Health Center: $67,500 to help fund the salary of a full-time dental hygienist for residents of Bristol and Southwest Virginia.
• Fauquier Free Clinic: $56,250 to help support the salaries of a full-time dentist and a part-time oral surgeon to meet increased demand for dental services.
• Northern Neck Middlesex Free Health Clinic: $52,875 for part of the salary of a full-time dental hygienist to increase capacity for delivering preventive care.
• Appalachian Highlands Community Dental Center: $43,373 to purchase digital milling equipment which will bring denture production in-house and will result in delivering dentures more quickly and efficiently.
• Free Clinic of Powhatan: $38,714 to add another day of dental care in response to high local demand and the lack of local dental providers who accept Medicaid.

Medical: The following grants expand the availability of primary medical care services in their communities.

• Neighborhood Health: $75,000 to help support the salary of a family medicine physician expanding primary care services and women’s health services in Alexandria.
• Blue Ridge Medical Center: $63,281 to help fund a full-time Family Nurse Practitioner providing primary care in Appomattox.

Medicaid/FAMIS Application Assistance: Each of these grants enables the grantee organizations to provide one-to-one application assistance for state-sponsored health insurance in areas with high numbers or rates of uninsured Virginians. These Project Connect grantees work closely with local schools, health safety net providers, health departments, and community organizations to identify, enroll or renew eligibility for those who are eligible for coverage.

• Neighborhood Health: $180,688 to fund three full-time Outreach Workers to help enroll eligible residents of the cities of Alexandria, Arlington and southern Fairfax County.
• Inova Partnership for Healthier Communities: $388,706 to fund six Outreach Workers to help enroll eligible residents of Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, and the City of Alexandria.
• Norfolk Department of Public Health: $160,797 to fund two Outreach Workers to help enroll eligible Virginians from the Hampton Roads area.
• Virginia Legal Aid Society: $150,061 to fund two Outreach Worker to help enroll eligible residents of Danville and Halifax County.
• Cumberland Plateau Health District: $128,079 to fund two Outreach Workers to help enroll eligible Southwest Virginians.
• Connect Health + Wellness: $65,700 to fund one Outreach Worker to help enroll eligible residents in Martinsville and Henry County.
• Bradley Free Clinic: $63,200 to fund one Outreach Worker to help enroll eligible Roanoke residents.
• The Health Wagon: $62,819 to fund one Outreach Worker to help enroll eligible Southwest Virginians.

The Virginia Health Care Foundation is a non-profit public/private partnership with a mission to increase access to primary health care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians. The Foundation was initiated by the General Assembly and its Joint Commission on Health Care in 1992. Since its inception, it has funded 540 community-based initiatives throughout the Commonwealth and established multiple programs and partnerships. Combined, they have helped more than 800,000 uninsured and medically underserved Virginians obtain the health care they need.

For more information about VHCF visit http://www.vhcf.org. For information about its behavioral health initiatives visit https://www.vhcf.org/who-and-how-we-help/behavioral-health/ or call (804) 828-5804.

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Last Updated on July 1, 2024