|
New this year in the Network’s offerings is the Partners for Adults In Need of Services (P.A.I.N.S.) Program. Due to the success of its sister program, the A.C.H.E.S. Program, the Network and its partners decided to increase the target population to include uninsured adults. So they launched the P.A.I.N.S. Program.
The P.A.I.N.S. Program will provide medical vouchers for acute, non-emergent medical care to uninsured adults who qualify financially. Vouchers are available now. Five vouchers have already been issued.
The program is provided in partnership with Grand County Public Health. “This is not a permanent fix, it’s more like a Band-Aid,” says Brene Belew-Ladue, Director of Public Health. “Our hope is that this will be a sustainable program until an alternative community answer to access to health care can be attained.”
A more permanent solution may be part of the new Granby Medical Campus that is set to be completed through the efforts of the Grand County
|
Rural Health Network in spring 2010. Future plansfor the Granby Medical Campus.include a countywide solution, like a community care clinic, that would offer health care to the uninsured.
That Grand County and Colorado residents are in need of this sort of help became clear in recent studies released by a quarterly journal of the Colorado Health Foundation, called Health Elevations (Winter, 2008). Colorado ranked 32nd in the nation for the percentage of working age adults not covered by private or public health insurance, the publication states. Even more alarming, it ranked 44th in the nation for the percentage of children not covered by health insurance. These numbers are mirrored in Grand County.
The P.A.I.N.S. Program, and other programs and services provided by the Network, are funded solely through grants and philanthropy. Therefore, vouchers will be available on a limited basis.
To determine if you meet the financial qualifications, call Grand County’s Public Health or Home Health at 725-3288.
|