Rural Communities

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UAMS Earns $750,000 Federal Grant to Relaunch Family Medicine Residency Program in El Dorado

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By Philip Allison

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has earned a $750,000 federal grant to help reestablish a family medicine residency program in El Dorado.

The grant was awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. UAMS is one of just 15 organizations nationwide to receive funding from an $11 million effort to launch medical residency programs in rural communities.

UAMS will use the grant for curriculum development, recruiting and training faculty and staff and other costs associated with achieving accreditation and sustainability.

UAMS Earns $750,000 Federal Grant to Relaunch Family Medicine Residency Program in El Dorado

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UAMS Receives $5.5 Million Supplemental Award for Programs in Rural, Underserved Communities

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By Chris Carmody

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a $5.5 million supplemental award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund training and outreach programs in rural and underserved areas of the state.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded the money under its Value-Based Medical Student Education Grant. The supplemental funding brings UAMS’ fiscal-year award to $6.6 million and raises the overall grant award to nearly $19.6 million over four years.

UAMS will use the funding for projects intended to increase the number of primary care physicians practicing in rural and medically underserved communities in Arkansas.

Those projects include:

  • Renovation of training facilities for a primary care accelerated medical school track and four-year traditional medical school track at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville

  • The expansion of point-of-care ultrasound training for medical students with new equipment and fellowship programs for faculty members in six of the eight Regional Campuses and the Family Medical Clinic in Little Rock

  • The Medical Scholars in Public Health Postbaccalaureate Program for Arkansans from socially, economically or geographically disadvantaged backgrounds

  • Medical-student rotations in rural and underserved communities

  • Partnership programs from the UAMS Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Arkansas’ historically Black colleges and universities

  • Expansion of medical-school courses in primary care, behavioral health and lifestyle medicine in rural and underserved areas

  • Workforce mapping for rural primary care physicians — a new program that aims to improve training and care in rural communities

  • Upgrades to facilities and simulation equipment for the UAMS Simulation Center and the Northwest Regional Campus Simulation Center.

    https://news.uams.edu/2023/05/10/uams-receives-5-5-million-supplemental-award-for-programs-in-rural-underserved-communities/

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Arkansas to receive more than $137 million in loans to modernize electrical grids

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by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday (Jan. 30) the department is investing $2.7 billion to help 64 electric cooperatives and utilities expand and modernize the nation’s rural electric grid and increase grid security.

Three of those projects will be in Arkansas. USDA will allocate $137.235 million for those projects. A timetable for completing the projects was not released.

“These critical investments will benefit rural people and businesses in many ways for decades to come,” Vilsack said. “This funding will help rural cooperatives and utilities invest in changes that make our energy more efficient, more reliable, and more affordable. Investing in infrastructure – roads, bridges, broadband and energy – supports good-paying jobs and keeps the United States poised to lead the global economy.”

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/01/arkansas-to-receive-more-than-137-million-in-loans-to-modernize-electrical-grids/