HSSA Awards $471,400 in Access to Care Grants for 2023

Monday, December 19, 2022

SPOKANE, WA –  The Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane County has announced its 2023 recipients if its annual Access to Care grants who will receive a total funding of $471,400. These awardees participate in a competitive process whose applicants submitted proposals totaling over $1.3 million.

The Community-Minded Enterprises will receive $75,000 for a Behavioral Health Clinic at its downtown location and will address substance abuse recovery, and will create self-sufficiency through third-party awards.

Joya Child & Family Development will receive $68,400 for its Family Resource Center to hire a Family Resource Coordinator to increase early intervention for infants and toddlers.

The Hispanic Business Professional Association (HBPA) will receive $50,000 for its Esperanza (HOPE) that will support 100-150 Hispanics and Latinos to connect to health, mental health, food and other services who have not been receiving these services due to language barriers and housing instability.

Maddie’s Place Pediatric Transitional Care Facility will receive $95,000 to increase the space for the number of infants who suffer from neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Hospitals have had to reduce the time addicted new mothers and babies stay and there were no places for the babies who need specialized care provided at Maddie’s Place. This new facility is only the fourth in the nation to provide these important services.

Partners with Families and Children Children’s Advocacy Center will receive $85,500 in 2023 to help it continue to meet the growing needs of our community’s most vulnerable population, children who are victims of physical and/or sexual abuse.

HSSA will grant Passages Family Support $67,500 to be used toward the purchase of a used RV to deliver behavioral services into the community with Certified Peer Counselors.

Spokane Prescription Assistance Network (SPAN) will receive $30,000. It is one of the most cost-effective programs HSSA funds with a 27 to 1 return on investment. SPAN provides free and lost-cost prescriptions to patients who otherwise cannot afford them.

“HSSA’s mission includes increasing access to care through innovative and collaborative health care delivery in the County, in addition to funding scientific research and infrastructure to grow the life sciences industry in Spokane,” said Jason Thackston, HSSA Board Chair.

HSSA’s grant competition helps to meet one of its strategic goals to increase access to health delivery 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 HSSA has awarded approximately $4.5 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 infrastructurethat 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 $8 million in health science research and infrastructure grants to date. HSSA was successful in achieving reauthorization for 15 years by the  legislature, thanks to state and 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 over $ 70 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/) .