County secures health grant

BENTONVILLE — Benton County has been awarded a $ 3.9 million health grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a county news release.

Benton County will partner with other Northwest Arkansas institutions to identify racial and ethnic minority populations at highest risk for health disparities and low health literacy through a Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Heath grant, according to the release.

Benton County Judge Barry Moehring mentioned the grant as part of his monthly report at the Quorum Court meeting Thursday night.

Benton County partnered with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to apply for the Reaching Everyone to Achieve Community Health Grant in April, according to the release.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health and

Science awarded the county the grant late this month. The grant project period runs from July 1 through June 30, 2023. The grant was awarded as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act. The county acted as the lead applicant, while UAMS and a number of organizations will implement the larger health plan, according to the release.

Benton County, UAMS, the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Health Care Transformation Division and Washington County will work together to promote public health messages in Benton and Washington counties, according to the release.

The partners will create and operate a health literacy plan to improve health among those who were hit hardest by covid-19. Materials from the health education campaign will be culturally and linguistically appropriate and will seek to increase appropriate health literacy practices and intervention resources for vulnerable communities, according to the release.

“We look forward to partnering with Benton and Washington counties and community health care providers throughout Northwest Arkansas to increase health literacy related to covid-19 and the covid-19 vaccination,” UAMS Northwest Vice Chancellor Dr. Pearl McElfish said in the release. “Our partnership will also focus on other community health and prevention efforts such as flu, diabetes and cardiovascular disease as we seek to make Benton and Washington counties the healthiest place in the nation.”

Moehring told the justices McElfish would provide updates to the court as the program moves along.

In June 2020, disparities amid covid-19 deaths in Northwest Arkansas were so stark the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came to the area to investigate, according to the release.

The CDC reported 45% of all adult covid-19 cases in Northwest Arkansas were Latino, with 19% Marshallese. These populations only account for 17% and 1.6% of the region’s population. The numbers of covid-19 cases in these minority populations were significantly lowered with the assistance of CARES Act funding and community engagement. The grant will advance health literacy and enhance equitable community response to covid-19, which will directly impact these disproportionately impacted populations in Northwest Arkansas, according to the release.

“Covid-19 exposed racial and ethnic public health disparities in our region during the last year and a half. These federal funds will be used at a local level in the next stage of the pandemic to reach those most impacted by the virus,” Moehring said in the release. “Whether addressing the lingering effects of covid-19 or the larger scope of overall health literacy, this grant is a crucial next step for keeping our community safe.”

In new business Thursday night, the justices of the peace moved through a small batch of items. The meeting lasted less than an hour.

Among the items, the county was given approval to apply for a Office for Victims of Crime Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force Grant to combat human trafficking.

An appropriation to pay for an additional case manager for the Public Defender’s office due to the change in the process of assigning case managers upon the onset of covid-19 also was approved by the court.

Also approved was an appropriation to pay for the training of two people in July and August in order to backfill two long-term employees who will retire from the Prosecutor’s office effective Aug. 31.

During the announcements part of the meeting, Justice of the Peace Joseph Bollinger said he planned to bring a resolution to make Benton County a pro- life county to next month’s Committee of the Whole meeting.