The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced $240 million in awards to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services in more than 400 community health centers across the country that care for more than 10 million people. Oak Orchard Health (OOH) was awarded $600,000 to expand its program.
“We’re so proud that Oak Orchard was selected to be part of this grant. It will increase our ability to care for patients who need behavioral health services. In August, we dedicated the Wellness Center in Albion for behavioral health services to care for children and adolescents – adults are welcome too. With this HRSA grant, we will be able to expand our behavioral health services in Genesee County and continue to care for the farmworkers in our communities,” said Karen Kinter, CEO of Oak Orchard Health.
“Even though we’ve expanded our behavioral health program in the past, there is still a care gap in the community – particularly with our Spanish speaking population. We recognize the challenges this community faces in accessing health care and our goal with this funding is to help close that gap. We plan to do this by expanding services at our Alexander location and hiring bilingual staff to provide services directly in the community to truly meet people where they’re at,” said Robin Govanlu, Chief of Behavioral Health, Oak Orchard Health.
“Many in the Latino community were raised to handle their problems themselves and resist getting behavioral health care. This stigma is often so strong that they suffer with their depression and anxiety. Hiring more bilingual therapists and care managers will allow us to talk with them in their language and evaluate the support they need,” said Florentino Fernandez, Behavioral Health Care Manager, Oak Orchard Health.
OOH intends to create an outreach team in Genesee County to bring mental health services to its clients where they live and work, when needed. They anticipate this team will go to dairy farms, schools, religious organizations, and other community associations to meet with patients. The team can perform screenings and assessments to determine their behavioral health needs and provide brief therapeutic sessions.
In addition, behavioral health services will grow in the OOH Alexander Health Center. Currently, they can only provide these services via telehealth. This grant will allow OOH to create space within the Alexander location so they can have a therapist on site to meet with patients in person.
For information, visit http://www.OakOrchardHealth.org.
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