Rural SWFL communities get millions to close health care gaps

MOORE HAVEN, Fla. (WINK)—Gov. Ron DeSantis announced nearly $188 million in awards to expand rural health care access across Florida.

According to the governor's press release, the funding will support more than 80 awards serving communities across 31 rural counties, home to nearly 1.2 million Floridians. Millions of those dollars will help rural neighbors in Southwest Florida, with 21 awardees in the Southwest region totaling $45 million.

The Glades County Board of Commissioners will receive more than $316,000 for their health care workforce needs. County officials told WINK News the majority of those funds will help reinforce skills and resources for paramedics and EMTs.

"We love it here. We really do," said Reagan Keeling, an incoming resident of Glades County.

For Keeling, Glades County is where she plans to call home and raise her growing family.

"Me and my husband we have a five-year-old daughter already. We're expecting two twin boys," Keeling said.

With two little ones on the way, she's juggling a lot, including her doctor appointments.

"There's nothing convenient or efficient about any of it," Keeling said. "In order to get all the different options or the opportunities that I want to be able to have my babies, I have to. I mean, either way, I have to travel."

Traveling for health care is a reality for Keeling and thousands of others in rural communities like Glades County.

"We don't have hospitals here. Hendry County is our nearest hospital," said Paul Carlisle, Glades County manager. "The rural counties in general don't have a lot of family practitioners. We don't have a lot of in prenatal care, so it's a challenge for us."

Carlisle said his team applies for grants to support rural health care. As a result, DeSantis announced more than $316,000 are heading to the Glades County Board of Commissioners.

"The majority of that is going for training and training apparatus to train our existing paramedics and EMT," Carlisle said. "It's critical for us to have this type of funding just so that we can make sure we're up to date on the most technological health care available for our paramedics, EMS."

Carlisle said the money will help reinforce the resources Glades County has and hopefully attract new employees.

Meanwhile, Keeling hopes it's a sign for more health care options in the future, closer to home.

"It sounds positive. That's all positive," Keeling said. "I want to see the equal amount of opportunities in these places just as much as I was able to see them in bigger, larger, more funded counties."

The awards are part of Florida's Rural Health Transformation Program, administered by the Agency for Health Care Administration. According to the governor's office, Florida received $209 million through the federal-state initiative to strengthen rural health care systems, modernize infrastructure, expand access to services and build the health care workforce.

Awardees include hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers, rural health clinics and other health care providers and community organizations working to meet the unique needs of rural Floridians. These investments will support a range of initiatives across Florida's rural communities, including expanded clinical training and rural rotations, start-up funding for rural and satellite clinics, mobile health units, remote patient monitoring and advanced telehealth services.

Glades County isn't the only rural community benefitting from this funding. Florida State University also received millions of dollars in these funds.

According to a press release from the university, the school has been awarded more than $19 million in grants through the Rural Health Transformation Program to launch six new projects and provide resources to improve the quality of life of individuals and communities throughout the state. 

Dr. Heather Flynn, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the FSU College of Medicine, told WINK News the overall intent of the funds is to improve access and quality and coordination of care in the region.

"We have a statewide reach, and we have a lot of training and clinical care and research activities already in the Southwest region of the state with our Immokalee campus, as well as with some of our residency programs at Sarasota Memorial, Lee Health and other locations," said Dr. Flynn.

A full list of Florida’s Rural Health Transformation Program awardees, including award amounts and project details, is available here.