$4.8 million Health Equity Grant awarded to TidalHealth

SALISBURY – TidalHealth is pleased to announce that it recently received a five-year grant totaling $4.8 million to work with partners to build a Health Equity Resource Community on the Lower Eastern Shore. Funds were made available by the Maryland General Assembly through the Maryland Health Equity Resource Act of 2021. 
 
Grants awarded under this initiative are designed to address health disparities, improve health outcomes, expand access to primary care and prevention services, and help reduce healthcare costs.  Under the Act, a Health Equity Resource Community is defined as “a geographic area that is small enough to have a significant impact on improving health outcomes.” The Maryland Community Health Resources Commission (CHRC) is administering the grant program. TidalHealth is one of 12 Health Equity Resource Communities awarded by the CHRC earlier this summer. 
 
The grant expands the programming and services developed through the Rural Equity and Access Community (REACH) project which began as a two-year pilot project in 2022.
The funding will aid TidalHealth and its partners in Wicomico and Worcester counties to address health disparities, improve health outcomes, expand access to primary care and prevention services, and reduce healthcare costs.
 
“This is an incredible opportunity for TidalHealth to work with community partners to improve the health of our friends, families, and neighbors,” said Kat Rodgers, MPH, Director of Community Health Initiatives and Project Director. “We are taking lessons learned from the past two years and applying them to this expanded project so we can better address the social factors that negatively affect a person’s ability to manage chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.”
 
The REACH project is focused on advancing health equity and improving health outcomes by addressing social risks that drive health disparities. Strategies include expanded mobile health screenings and outreach, increased access to healthy lifestyle programming, building a network of community health workers, and improving access to transportation and healthy food.
 
The strategies and initiatives of the project are co-designed by a coalition of partners from organizations such as Chesapeake Health Care, Eastern Shore Area Health Education Center, Ephphatha Medical Clinic, Haitian Development Center of Delmarva, HealthPort, Maryland Food Bank, Rebirth, Inc., Salisbury Fire Department, United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Wicomico and Worcester county health departments, and the Richard A. Henson YMCA. Additional partnerships will be established throughout the project.
 
About the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission
The Maryland Community Health Resources Commission (CHRC) was created by the Maryland General Assembly in 2005 to expand access to health care services in underserved communities, support programs that serve low-income and vulnerable populations, and strengthen the capacity of Maryland’s network of safety net providers across the state through its grant making authority. Since its inception, the CHRC has awarded 866 grants, totaling $291.7 million, supporting programs in every jurisdiction of the State.  These programs have collectively served more than $628,000 Marylanders and the grants awarded by the CHRC have enabled grantees to leverage $44.7 million in additional federal, and private/non-profit resources.