St. Louis County has asked its most vulnerable residents how to spend $7 million of the CARES Act grant for community healthcare services, said County Executive Sam Page.
“When the County was awarded a $173.5 million grant from the federal government, I said the funds would go where they are needed the most,” Page said during his Wednesday, July 22 briefing.
County officials selected 18 zip codes to participate, based on Census and other data including median household income, unemployment rate, percentage of people uninsured, and rate of COVID-19 in that part of the county. Seventeen of the ZIP codes were in North County and one in the Southeast.
Through an online survey, 324 residents participated, selecting from a list of items and services prepared by the Department of Public Health in coordination with community members.
“Thank you to those who participated in this process,” he said. “Too often, those who need help the most have little or no voice when it comes to decision making. This process allowed residents to become their own advocates. And their voices have been heard.”
Today, Page announced how the $7 million will be spent, based on this community input.
He said $1.5 million will go to COVID-19 testing, with an emphasis on mobile testing in high traffic places such as grocery stores, churches and schools, and testing for homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Another $2 million will be used to provide primary and preventative care, dental care and optometry care including routine eye exams, screenings, fitting and prescribing optical aids such as glasses and contact lenses.
There will be $500,000 used to provide personal protective equipment and supplies including masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and home cleaning supplies.
“I’ve talked a lot about masks,” Page said. “And that’s for a good reason. If we want to slow the spread of this virus, get our kids back into school and allow our businesses to remain open, we must wear masks, social distance and abide by the crowd restrictions currently in place.”
The county’s Department of Public Health has distributed more than 2 million masks into the community.
“In this room, we have another 250,000 awaiting distribution,” he said. “And we are ordering another 1 million masks that will go out later this summer.”
There will be $2 million used to provide substance use disorder and mental health treatment assistance including but not limited to therapy for stress, depression, anxiety and or trauma in person or via telehealth. Psychiatric services may include diagnosis of mental health conditions, medication therapy and medication monitoring, in person or through telehealth.
Another $1 million will be used to provide for miscellaneous emergency healthcare needs such as health insurance coverage, coverage of co-pays, medical expenses, costs of prescriptions, or technology to facilitate telehealth participation.
The Health Department is seeking applications for agencies to provide these services. Those applications are now available on stlcorona.com.
“Also, today, I’m pleased to announce that St. Louis County is providing an additional $2.5 million in CARES Act funding to support testing for COVID-19 at Federally Qualified Health Centers and other Community Health Centers,” Page said. “This is on top of the $1.5 million in testing that residents said they wanted as part of the $7 million participatory budgeting process I just mentioned.”
Over the past two months, testing partners in St. Louis County have increased the number of county residents getting tested per day from around 500, to more than 1,500 today, he said.
“As we continue to navigate this pandemic together as a community, testing is one of the most valuable tools we must prevent the transmission of the virus and keep each other safe,” he said.
Community Health Centers, including Federally Qualified Health Centers, that have existing COVID-19 testing infrastructure will be eligible to apply for this pool of funding to cover testing costs conducted for St. Louis County residents.
This funding is in addition to free testing available by appointment for all County residents at the Department of Public Health. Appointments can be made through stlcorona.com.
“We are proud to support safety net providers who, along with the three Department of Public Health clinics, provide services for uninsured and underinsured residents,” Page said. “This additional funding will further secure access for underserved residents and contribute to our ongoing efforts to work towards health equity.”
