Rural Reporter

  • Telehealth Could Facilitate Sexual Assault Evidence Collection

    Nurses that are trained to provide expert care to sexual assault victims are a highly valuable resource—they have specialized training in forensic examination and understand best practices in evidence collection. Yet in communities with no access to such nurses, it falls either to the emergency room to examine sexual assault patients or to the patient themselves to travel to a hospital with a trained examiner on staff. 

     

    But Pennsylvania State University has found success addressing this shortage and improving care for sexual assault victims with the help of a technological solution: telehealth. It's among a growing number of states and hospitals that have found success using telehealth to connect rural and remote healthcare providers with examiners who are trained to collect evidence and provide expert testimony in court proceedings, reports Fierce HealthCare. (Photo by EME on PixaBay)

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  • States Are Allowing Dental Therapy. Is Wisconsin Next?

    Dental therapists work under the supervision of a dentist, providing preventive and routine restorative care, such as filling cavities or placing temporary crowns. They have midlevel roles similar to that of physician assistants or nurse practitioners who operate under the supervision of a doctor. Advocates say dental therapists can help to increase broaden access to oral health care.
     

    In the past year, six states have passed laws authorizing dental therapists to practice. Now, lawmakers in Wisconsin are trying to do the same. Fifty organizations across the political spectrum back dental therapy in Wisconsin, and a study from the McIver Institute hints at the potential economic benefit of allowing them to practice. 
     

    Senate Bill 89, currently in the state legislature, would provide for the licensure of dental therapists. The Senate plans to hold a public hearing on the bill next week Wednesday morning. The hearing, which also has other items on the schedule, will begin at 10am on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, in Room 411 South in the State Capitol Building. (Photo by Moses Vega on Unsplash)

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  • State Lawmakers Outline Mental Health Bills

    Republican state lawmakers outlined four bills aimed at supporting mental health services in a news conference on Tuesday. 
     

    One proposed bill, LRB 3881, is aimed at quelling the shortage of psychiatrists in Wisconsin, particularly in rural and underserved parts of the state. State Senator Kathleen Bernier pointed to the high price of employing locum tenens psychiatrists—temporary psychiatrists that work in short-staffed facilities—as evidence the bill would "pay for itself a number of times over" in underserved areas. The bill would give a $200,000 tax incentive to psychiatrists practicing in underserved areas, and a $100,000 tax incentive to psychiatrists who locate in other areas of the state. 
     

    Other proposed bills mentioned at the press conference would match mental health funding for clubhouses up to $50,000; update standards used by the Wisconsin Psychology Examining Board, and provide funding to nonprofits for trauma-informed care services. The bills were prompted by a 2013 task force on mental health. Watch the press conference here. (Photo of Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health)

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  • State Assembly to Recognize First Responders

    The Wisconsin State Assembly has announced a new recognition program for first responders. Winners in each district will be recognized during an October Assembly floor session as part of First Responders Appreciation Month. 
     

    Any Wisconsinite, especially local leaders, can submit nominations. The nomination can be based on a variety of factors, including a heroic action, significant professional achievement, community work, and/or length of service. The person nominated can be a police officer, sheriff's deputy, a firefighter, or any level of EMS provider. 
     

    Submit nominations to your state representative before early September. Find your Assembly representative here. (Photo from the Wisconsin State Assembly website)

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  • Task Force Looks At Suicide Prevention Among Law Enforcement, First Responders, Veterans

    A bipartisan state task force on suicide prevention met again on Monday. This time, they met in Eau Claire to look at the suicide rates among law enforcement, first responders, and veterans.
     

    “They do have higher rates of suicide than the general population and that’s why we focused on those three areas,” said Representative Joan Ballweg, chair of the task force.
     

    But the current approaches to helping people talk about suicide are changing, and a technique called QPR—question, persuade, and refer—encourages individuals to talk directly about suicidal thoughts. The task force will meet next in September in Milwaukee, where they'll learn more about the QPR approach and review an updated report about suicide in Wisconsin. WQOW reports. 

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  • Medical Simulators for Practicing Patient Care Providers Skill Acquisition, Outcomes Assessment and Technology Development (Deadline: 01/07/2022)
    The National Institutes of Health will promote the assessment and development of simulation technologies intended to improve patient safety and healthcare outcomes provided by practicing patient care providers and experienced physicians. The funding announcements seeks applications directed at skills acquisition, outcomes assessment, and technology development.    Funding »
  • America Walks Stipends (Deadline: 11/02/2019)
    Community Change Grant Program awards $1,500 in community stipends for projects related to creating healthy, active, and engaged places to live, work, and play. Funded projects will increase walking and benefits of walkability in communities, work to grow the walking movement by engaging people and organizations new to the efforts, and take steps towards creating a culture of inclusive health.  Funding »
  • Annie's Grants For Gardens (Deadline: 11/01/2019)
    Annie's Grants for Gardens program offers funding for edible garden projects that help connect kids to nutritious food. Grants can be used to purchase gardening tools, seeds, or other needed supplies for new gardens or to support existing garden projects.  Eligible applicants include schools or non-profits that support schools.   Funding »
  • Overdose Data to Action (Deadline: 09/01/2019)
    State and local/county health departments or their bona fide agents can apply for the Overdose Data to Action grant from the Centers for Disease Control. This three year funding opportunity will continue work focused on: increasing comprehensiveness and timeliness of surveillance data; building state and local capacity for public health programs determined to be promising based on research evidence; making Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) easier to use and access; and working with health systems, insurers, and communities to improve opioid prescribing.  An estimated synopsis post date is February 1st, 2019.  Funding »
  • Samull Classroom Herb Garden Grant (Deadline: 10/01/2019)
    The Herb Society of America will select ten 3rd through 6th grade schools or classrooms to receive a Samull Classroom Herb Garden Grant for $200 “Seed Money” to establish an indoor or outdoor herb garden. The funds may be used for supplies such as soil, plant trays, containers, child or youth sized tools, etc. Funding »
  • Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program (Deadline: 10/15/2019)
    The Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program will award $2,000 for the planning, construction, and operation of new or existing edible garden projects for K-12 schools and nonprofit organizations that engage children in grades K-12.   Funding »
  • 27th Annual Hermes Monato $2,500 Rural Health Essay Prize (Deadline: 06/01/2020)
    The Hermes Monato, Jr. Prize of $2,500 is awarded annually for the best rural health paper. It is open to all students of the University of Wisconsin (any campus) as well as those who will be recent graduates by June 1st, 2020. Students are encouraged to write on a rural health topic for a regular class and then to submit a copy to the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative as an entry by June 1st.  The prize is open to all students of the University of Wisconsin (any campus) as well as those who have graduated since June 1st. For previous examples, click here.  Funding »
  • 2019 RWJF Culture of Health Prize (Deadline: 11/01/2019)
    The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize (the Prize) recognizes communities that have come together around a commitment to health, opportunity, and equity through collaboration and inclusion, especially with historically marginalized populations and those facing the greatest barriers to good health. The Prize honors those communities that are working to give everyone the opportunity to live well, including residents that are often left behind.  Because the Prize recognizes whole communities, applicants must think beyond their own individual organizations and initiatives to what has been accomplished across the community. Applications will be judged based on the following criteria:  Defining health in the broadest possible terms;  Committing to sustainable systems changes and policy oriented long-term solutions;  Creating conditions that give everyone a fair and just opportunity to reach their best possible health;  Harnessing the collective power of leaders, partners, and community members;  Securing and making the most of available resources;  Measuring and sharing progress and results.    Funding »
  • "Imagine the Amazing" School Wellness Contest (Deadline: 09/30/2019)
    Selected schools in Sauk, Rock, Columbia, Dodge, Dane, Green, and Jefferson counties will compete in a voting contest to give one school $25,000 to improve the health and well-being of its students. Prize money can be used toward a garden, yoga mats, new playground equipment, mental health resources, etc. Ten runner-up schools will win $1,000 to invest in a health and wellness need at their school. Click here for a list of all eligible schools. Funding »
  • America's Farmers Grow Communities Project (Deadline: 11/01/2019)
    Through the America's Farmers Grow Communities program, farmers enroll for a chance to direct $2,500 awards to local nonprofit organizations that are important to them and their communities. This opportunity is only open to those in selected counties in 41 states, are 21 years or older, and actively engaged in farming at least 250 acres. Funding »
  • Preventing Opioid Misuse in Pregnant Women & New Moms Challenge (HRSA) (Deadline: 09/30/2019)
    The Preventing Opioid Misuse in Pregnant Women & New Moms Challenge will award $375,000 in prizes to support tech innovations to improve access to quality health care, including substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, recovery, and support services for pregnant women with opioid use disorders (OUD), their infants, and families, especially those in rural and geographically isolated areas. The competition consists of three phases, and will award grants at every phase. The phases will examine design, development and small-scale testing, and scaling.  Funding »
  • Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge (HRSA) (Deadline: 09/30/2019)
    The Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge will award $375,000 in prizes to support the creation of tech innovations to help prenatal care providers remotely monitor the health and wellbeing of pregnant women, as well as place health data into the hands of pregnant women themselves as a tool to monitor their own health and make informed decisions about care. Solutions would especially benefit women who live in rural and medically underserved areas who have limited access to on-site prenatal care. The challenge will proceed in three phases: design, development and small-scale testing, and scaling.  Funding »
  • Alliant Energy Hometown Safety Grants (Deadline: 12/01/2019)
    Alliant Energy will award Hometown Safety Grants in communities they serve.  Grants up to $2,000 will be awarded for the purchase of life-saving and other protective equipment such as Jaws of Life, defibrillators, community emergency alert systems, and personal protective equipment for service providers. You can see if your community is in their service area here. There are deadlines throughout the year—see website for exact deadlines.  Funding »
  • Alliant Energy Hometown Safety Grants (Deadline: 04/01/2020)
    Alliant Energy will award Hometown Safety Grants in communities they serve.  Grants up to $2,000 will be awarded for the purchase of life-saving and other protective equipment such as Jaws of Life, defibrillators, community emergency alert systems, and personal protective equipment for service providers. You can see if your community is in their service area here. There are deadlines throughout the year—see website for exact deadlines.  Funding »
  • Alliant Energy Hometown Safety Grants (Deadline: 08/01/2020)
    Alliant Energy will award Hometown Safety Grants in communities they serve.  Grants up to $2,000 will be awarded for the purchase of life-saving and other protective equipment such as Jaws of Life, defibrillators, community emergency alert systems, and personal protective equipment for service providers. You can see if your community is in their service area here. There are deadlines throughout the year—see website for exact deadlines.  Funding »
  • Wisconsin Community Grant Programs (Deadline: 09/01/2019)
    The Wisconsin Partnership Program is seeking applicants for the 2019 Community Catalyst Grant Program, which provides funding to support creative health equity approaches designed to actively reduce gaps in access, outcomes, or opportunities. Catalyst Grants support early-stage projects with innovative, community-driven plans to reduce health inequities. The grant program provides up to $50,000 in funding over two years.  Funding »
  • Behavioral & Social Research Networks in Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias (Federal) (Deadline: 02/01/2020)
    This funding opportunity from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) invites applications to provide infrastructure support for advancing development of specific high priority areas of behavioral and social research of relevance to Alzheimers disease and related dementias. The infrastructure support will facilitate research networks through meetings, conferences, small scale pilots, short term educational opportunities (such as intensive workshops, summer institutes, or visiting scholar programs), and dissemination to encourage growth and development of specified priority areas and build resources for advancing aging-relevant research in the field at large. Eligible applicants are: Native American tribal organizations, federally-recognized Native American tribal governments, nonprofits with or without a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, small businesses, county governments, for-profit organizations other than small businesses, private or public or  state controlled institutions of higher education, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, state governments, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and others (see "eligibility" section). Award Ceiling:    $250,000. Funding »
  • Compeer Financial’s Emergency Response Equipment Grant Program (Deadline: 08/31/2019)
    Compeer Financial’s Emergency Response Equipment Grant Program supports rural communities in their service area by funding emergency response equipment for volunteer fire, rescue and ambulance departments.   Funding is available up to $3,000 for emergency response equipment.  The application period is August 1 through 31. Funding »
  • Walmart Community Grant Program (Deadline: 12/31/2019)
     The Walmart Foundation is accepting applications through its Community Grant Program.  They will award grants up to $5,000 to support local nonprofit organizations within the service area of individual Walmart stores in the areas of hunger relief and healthy eating, medical screening, treatment, social services, and public safety equipment, among other topics.  Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until December 31. Funding »
  • Alliant Energy’s Hometown Challenge Grant (Deadline: 09/01/2019)
    Alliant Energy’s Hometown Challenge Grant awards matching grants up to $2,000 for one-time, safety-related purchases for communities served by Alliant. Eligible purchases include equipment and tools for first responders, including EMS, such as Jaws of Life and PPE.  This opportunity is offered several times throughout the year. Funding »
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