Stimulus grant fills cuts to community health

WASHINGTON state's health-care centers need every dime of the $26.5 million in federal stimulus grants coming their way.

The money is part of an $850 million grant packaged for health centers announced Monday by first lady Michelle Obama.

Cuts by the state Legislature and local governments decimated the budgets of many health-care providers, making the infusion of federal money literally an act that will save lives.

Construction, equipment and technology upgrades at 24 facilities will be covered under the grant. The clinics include Sea-Mar Community Health Clinics, Seattle Indian Health Board and Lewis County Community Health Services.

In King County, some of the funds will bolster a homeless health-care program, including paying for 10 hours per week of nurse practitioner time at a Seattle homeless hygiene center, the Urban Rest Stop.

The money will pay for primary care for homeless patients in county public-health centers and a social worker for homeless people in South King County.

In the face of dramatic increases in the uninsured and $240 million in state budget cuts to the health-center system, the federal stimulus money keeps services flowing to communities. That's no small thing considering health centers serve more than 17 million patients nationwide, about 40 percent of whom have no health insurance.

Washington's community health centers serve as the health-care home for more than 600,000 low-income residents of the state.

Credit the timely infusion of funding to Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate committees that fund and oversee health-care policy. Murray has repeatedly come through for health care, most notably last March when she and other senators earmarked $200 million in grants for trauma centers nationwide, including Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.