HSSA Awards 7 Local Organizations Nearly $325,000 in Access to Care Grants
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
SPOKANE, WA – The Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane County has announced the organizations who will receive $324,865 in total grants in 2022 for the important access to health care work they do. HSSA said it received well over $750,000 in grant requests for its annual Access to Care grants.
The Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS) will receive a $50,000 grant from HSSA for its new “Street Medicine” program. campus in a neighborhood where no dentists currently provide services.
Daybreak Services of Spokane will receive $23,000 to help fund its Restorative Receiving Center for sexually exploited youth who are victims of sex trafficking, childhood prostitution and other related crimes.
Partners with Families and Children will receive $85,000 in 2022 to help it continue to meet the growing needs of found at its Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) where our community’s most vulnerable population, children who are victims of physical and/or sexual abuse, receive services.
HSSA will grant Pioneer Human Services $20,000 to address mounting substance abuse in Spokane County at its Pioneer Center East facility in downtown. Spokane County has twice the methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths as King County with five times more populace, Pioneer claims.
Providence Health Care Foundation will receive $86,865 to fund a mid-level primary family nurse for homeless adolescents for one year.
Spokane Prescription Assistance Network will receive $30,000. It is one of the most cost-effective programs HSSA funds with a 27 to 1 return on investment.
Spokane Regional Domestic Violence Coalition was awarded $30,000 to help fund expansion of the SRDVC’s education and services to 13 school districts in the region.
“HSSA’s mission includes increasing access to care through innovative and collaborative health care delivery in Spokane, in addition to funding scientific research and infrastructure to grow the life sciences industry in the County” saidJason Thackston, HSSA Board Chair.
HSSA’s grant competition helps to meet one of its strategic goals to increase access to health services in Spokane County for at risk populations and represents a fund of about 15 percent of annual revenues designated for this purpose.
“To date we have awarded over $2.9 million in this category, providing resources to those organizations in our County who do the important work with people who might otherwise not receive health care services, and HSSA’s Access to Care grant program also helps decrease costs while improving health care services,” Thackston said.
HSSA’s other strategic initiative is to increase local health sciences research and the infrastructure that supports it and designates 75 percent of its revenues for that purpose. In the latter case, the grants are open year-round for proposals at any time, and HSSA has invested over $6 million in health science research and infrastructure grants to date. HSSA was successful in achieving reauthorization for 15 years in the last legislative session, thanks to local legislative leadership and local partners, Thackston said.
Together with its Access to Care grants, the organization estimates that it has created over 500 jobs and over $100 million in total economic activity. This includes well over $35 million in extramural federal grant funding to Spokane. More information about all HSSA grants may be found at ** www.hssaspokane.org (http://www.hssaspokane.org/) .
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About HSSA:
The Health Sciences & Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane County was established in 2007 for 15 years by the Washington legislature, authorized county-wide by Spokane County in 2008 and began operating in 2009. In 2019 it was reauthorized for an additional 15 years to 2038. Its mission is to invest in health sciences research to promote economic development, advance new therapies and procedures to combat disease, and to promote public health. HSSA invests funds to create and support a nationally competitive health sciences research cluster in Spokane County, and works to catalyze higher education research and the health sciences industry that will lead to higher wage jobs, long-term sustainability and economic diversification. For more information, visit our website at ** www.hssaspokane.org (http://www.hssaspokane.org/) or call 509.474.0798.
About Our Board
Jason Thackston, Senior Vice President of Energy Resources, Avista, and HSSA Board Chair; Michael Wilson, Consultant and Retired CEO, Providence Health Care and HSSA Grants Committee Chair; Carla Cicero, President/CEO, Numerica Credit Union; Daryll DeWald, Ph.D. and Vice President/Chancellor, WSU and WSU Spokane; Allison Glasunow, Ph.D. & Attorney and HSSA Finance Chair, Director of Patent Counsel, Sana Biotechnology Inc.; Kevin Oldenburg, Ph.D., President, 2^nd Sight Bioscience, and Incoming HSSA Grants Chair; Darryl Potyk, M.D., UW/GU Regional Director of Medical Education; David J. Vachon, Ph.D., CEO/Founder, Iasis Molecular Sciences, and Dr. Francisco Velàzquez, Director, Spokane Regional Health District.
