Rep. Doris Matsui Announces $646,318 for Sacramento Health Care Services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 27, 2009
CONTACT: Alexis Marks or Mara Lee
(202) 225-7163
Rep. Doris Matsui Announces $646,318 for Sacramento Health Care Services
Recovery Funds Will Help Sacramento's Homeless by Expanding Services Offered to Public
Acting to strengthen Sacramento's health care services and respond to the city's need for increased support for Sacramento's homeless population, Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-05) announced today that $650,000 in health care grants for the Sacramento area have been made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
These grants will expand the services offered at Sacramento's community health centers by adding new providers, expanding hours of operations, and increasing the number of health services provided for homeless and medically underserved Sacramentans. Recovery Act funds have been awarded to the County of Sacramento's Department of Health and Human Services, strictly to be used to provide health care for homeless families, and to The Effort Community Public Health Center in downtown Sacramento for expanded primary health care services.
"The Recovery Act is hard at work in Sacramento. It has allowed us to respond swiftly and effectively to Sacramento's need for improved health care for the homeless; Sacramento County applied for these homeless health care funds only ten days ago. The announcement of additional funding for expanding health services, specifically for homeless families, is critical to supporting Sacramentans in these tough economic times," said Congresswoman Matsui. "I will continue to work with the Administration to support community health services that help those Sacramentans who need it most, and to put people back to work throughout the Sacramento region."
The federal grants to the County of Sacramento will save between six and eight jobs in the County's community health centers that were set to be eliminated at the end of June: two half-time Internal Medicine Physicians, three full-time Medical Assistants, and three full-time office assistants. Primary care capacity in Sacramento County has been cut dramatically as a result of the economic downturn, and the Recovery Act funds announced today by Congresswoman Matsui will help Sacramento's homeless and underserved families avoid suffering an even more serious reduction in available services and care.
Last month, Congresswoman Matsui also added report language to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that allowed The Effort to qualify for expedited funding from the Health Resources and Service Administration as a Federally Qualified Health Center. As a result, The Effort received $1.3 million on March 2, 2009, to serve Sacramento's medically underserved, in addition to the funds announced today by Congresswoman Matsui.
"I am pleased that hundreds of thousands of federal dollars are headed to Sacramento to help our growing homeless population," said Congresswoman Matsui. "As most of us who have witnessed the heartbreaking growth of Sacramento's andlsquo;Tent City' can attest, the economic crisis has hit Sacramento's families hard. The additional federal funding I am announcing today will ensure that families who have lost their homes will not also lose their health care as well."
The Sacramento Region is will receive a total of $646,318 in funding through the grants announced today, which will be distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Specific funding allocations are listed below:
andbull; County of Sacramento Department of Health and Human Services for health care services for the homeless - $546,318
andbull; The Effort Community Health Clinic for expansion of primary health care - $100,000
For a list of where recovery funds have been allocated throughout Sacramento, visit www.matsui.house.gov to see a complete list and interactive map.
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