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USDA: grants to boost telemedicine in rural Florida areas
Florida received more than $1 million in rural development grants to help fund three projects, including two targeted at telemedicine, the federal government announced Wednesday.
PanCare of Florida received a $431,283 grant to purchase equipment to expand access to primary care and behavioral health services for children in five Florida counties. Attempts to contact PanCare of Florida about the counties that would benefit were not immediately successful.
Doctors' Memorial Hospita received a $239,824 grant to fund a telehealth network that will provide access for primary-care physicians in rural areas to consult with specialists. The network will provide specialty-care access to Steinhatchee, Mayo, Perry, Apalachicola and Carrabelle, according to the Wednesday announcement.
Also, the Putnam County school district received a $340,465 grant to launch the Better Educational Access for Middle Schools distance-learning project. The money will be used, in part, to create distance-learning hubs for science, technology, engineering and math at eight middle school classrooms.
The grants were announced by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Philip Leary, state director for USDA rural development in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
