Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State) has received a $1.5 million grant through the PACT phase of the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).
PACT is an acronym for Promoting Access, Coordination, and Transportation. NYITCOM at A-State will utilize the funds to create the “Mobile Health Unit Maternal Health and Education Access Initiative,” which will operate through the medical school’s Delta Population Health Institute (DPHI).
The program will extend NYITCOM at A-State’s clinical services focused on rural maternal healthcare access through mobile healthcare delivery, patient-centered transportation, telehealth-enabled specialty consultation, and obstetric workforce development to improve access to quality services for women in Mississippi and Poinsett Counties.
NYITCOM at A-State will use a portion of the funds to purchase a Mobile Maternal Health Unit similar to the Delta Care-a-Van the DPHI has operated since 2019. The mobile unit will hold clinics throughout Mississippi and Poinsett Counties where new and expectant mothers will have access to care that has previously been unavailable.
Additionally, NYITCOM at A-State will purchase and staff two passenger transportation vehicles to help Northeast Arkansas residents travel to receive specialty care that is inaccessible in the state’s more rural regions. The program will also utilize telehealth visits to eliminate transportation barriers.
Since 2023, the DPHI has operated a Maternal Health Learning and Care Communities initiative, which was funded by the Arkansas Minority Health Commission. Through that program, the DPHI established footprints in Poinsett County and Mississippi County, and feedback the DPHI received through those programs helped shape the framework for the new initiative that received RHTP funding.
Pictured at the check receipt are Arkansas Rural Health Transformation Director Brad Nye; Arkansas State Crime Lab Director Dr. Ted Brown; Arkansas Secretary of Health Renee Mallory; NYITCOM at A-State representatives Casey Pearce and Dr. Amanda Deel; Gov. Sanders; NYITCOM at A-State/Delta Population Health Institute Director of Operations Tiffny Calloway; Secretary of Human Services Janet Mann; and Secretary of the Finance and Administration Jim Hudson.