The grant abstract summary information shown below was originally provided by the applicant. However, HRSA has edited it to remove any phone numbers and email addresses that were included. The summary you see is from the most recent submission.
Project Name: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (G26)
Applicant Title: UCONNECTCARE, INC.
Abstract Text: 1. Applicant Organization Address: 430 East Main Street, Batavia, NY 14020 2. Project Director Name: Amy Kabel, Assistant Director of Grants & Projects 3. Project Director Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx 4. Project Director Email: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx 5. Website Address: https://gcasa.net/ 6. Program Funds Requested: $1,492,881 GCASA is requesting $1,492,881 over 3 years in HRSA RCORP-Neonatal Abstinence reduce the incidence and impact of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in rural communities by improving systems of care, family supports, and social determinants of health, in order to improve health care in New York State in rural Genesee and Orleans Counties and three additional rural Upstate counties to be identified during Year 1. Our project goals are to: (1) Reduce structural- and systems-level barriers (e.g., transportation challenges, limited workforce, reimbursement issues, etc.) to: (a) Increase access to behavioral health care, especially substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder (SUD/OUD), services for rural pregnant and postpartum persons and their families; and (b) Address community risk factors and social determinants of health; and (2) Strengthen the quality and sustainability of behavioral health care services for rural pregnant and postpartum persons and their families by implementing coordinated, evidence-based, trauma-informed, family-centered SUD/OUD and other services. Funding will be used employ staff for case management, parent family support, childcare services, and transportation services, while establishing processes for referral to and patient access to appropriate services; including but not limited to harm reduction services, recovery support services, training for staff; and community education to reduce stigma. NYS DOH reports 15.9 infants in Orleans County and a staggering 40.0 infants in Genesee County per 1,000 newborn discharges exhibit neonatal withdrawal symptoms compared to the NYS Prevention Agenda Goal (PAG) of 9.1 and the NYS rate of 7.9. This places the Genesee County rate 340% higher than the PAG and 406% higher than the state rate! Work under this project will involve partnership with Finger Lakes Independent Provider Associations (FLIPA), Oak Orchard Health (OOH), Oak Orchard WIC, Lake Plains Community Care Network (LPCCN), Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments (G/OCHD), Genesee County Mental Health (GCMH), and Rochester Regional Health/UMMC MOMS Program. In addition to attending consortium meetings and supporting the activities listing in the workplan (such as connecting people who are pregnant and post-partum with specialized case management, utilizing the Positive Direction Model, and increasing access to contraception and pregnancy and infectious disease testing), partners will provide and accept referrals to and from GCASA, share information on services offered under this project with the people they serve, promote the project to the community, assist with data gathering and tracking referrals made, and offer feedback for program improvement. The project will serve at least 200 people with SUD who are pregnant or post-partum as well as other who may become pregnant. It will result fewer case of NAS in the communities served and implementation of specialized systems of care for people with SUD who are pregnant, post-partum, or may become pregnant; testing access; contraception access; and measurable decreases in barriers to accessing care; improvement in social determinant of health scores; and decreased (in the form of avoided) healthcare costs.