Local News Update

Garden City Community Clinic receives $125,00 grant from Ada County Commissioners

Grant to expand provide for half-time Nurse Practitioner to join staff

August 30 2011

Over the past year, Ada County, Idaho State University, Central District Health, and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare have entered into a joint venture to hold free preventative health screenings. The short-term goal is to increase referrals to safety-net clinics with a long-term aim of reducing tax-payer funded emergency room visits by the uninsured. This spring, Garden City Community Clinic met with County Commissioner Sharon Ullman and representatives from ISU, DHW and CDH. 

As a result of those and subsequent conversations, the Commissioners have set aside funds in their 2011-2012 budget to help the Garden City Community Clinic grow its services to the community. This funding will provide for the addition of a half-time Nurse Practitioner, a half-time social services coordinator, and other support for clinic expansion. It will also help Garden City with its portion of new staff being added to the Volunteer Physicians Network to streamline specialty referrals.

Additional grant funds will place isu professor
At clinic part time to oversee p.a. students

“This expansion of staff and service is huge for us,” says Denise Ewing, the medical clinic manager and a registered nurse. “We do a lot of care with minimal resources down here. With a paid provider being added on staff for the first time, it will smooth out a lot of the bumps we have because we rely so heavily on volunteers.” The NP will not only treat patients directly, but work on improving chronic disease management, clinic process flow, and quality assurance measures. Ewing estimates that with this grant, the clinic will be able to serve up to three times as many patients a year as they currently do.

Genesis is actively seeking matching funds to
sustain and expand on the new positions created

In connection with the Community Health Screening project and the Garden City grant, ISU is engaged in assessing program effectiveness by measuring participant outcomes. Rick Tivis is a bio-statistician, and adjunct professor at ISU and also the Chairman of the Canyon County Community Clinic: “Not only will we get to help Garden City Community Clinic with demonstrating how this funding will save taxpayers money, but the data is also going to help us improve the health screenings at ISU and services at my own clinic in Canyon County.”

 Commissioner Ullman points out that county property taxpayers spent $9.1 million last year for indigent care, a constitutional responsibility shared with the State of Idaho. “If we put more dollars into helping people take care of themselves and preventing them from getting sick or suffering complications from conditions like diabetes, we’re going to save county residents money in the long run,” said Ullman.

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