Planning Grants Awarded
(RICHMOND, Va.) – With high rates of substance abuse and suicide in rural Virginia, primary care doctors are working to improve behavioral health services in their communities. Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic and Southside Area Health Education Center are two organizations that have recently received grant funding to develop strategies to better integrate behavioral health and primary care in Alleghany Highlands, Rappahannock, Southside and Southwest.
In rural Virginia, primary care doctors often deliver behavioral health care, although they are limited in training to detect behavioral illnesses and resources to treat them. To compound the issue, residents of rural communities face increased stigma towards behavioral health care and have fewer options for behavioral health care compared to those living in urban areas.
“Approximately 50 percent of patients seen in rural primary care practices present mental health issues. These issues are often concurrent with other health issues, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. We want to be the impetus to encourage practitioners to begin talking about the issue. We know that the grant funding is not enough to implement the strategies and programs developed, but if we are going to really make a difference, we need to start the process of collaboration within our health systems and providing training,” explains Dr. Kathy Wibberly, Director of the Division of Primary Care and Rural Health in the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy.
The Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic received $3,990 for their project which will increase behavioral health care for patients between two community service boards and two free clinics. They plan to have a regular mental health provider see patients at both clinics and incorporate telemedicine to alleviate the transportation challenges that many patients face. The Southside Area Health Education Center received $7,500 to conduct a needs assessment of rural primary care providers to determine their behavioral health training needs and develop training and resources.
For more information about the recipients, contact Luanne Osborne with the Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic, (540) 863-3019 extension 205 and Wayne Terry, with the Southside Area Health Education Center, (434) 395-2862.
New Report “Integration of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and Primary Care”
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