Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith is one of six Arkansas hospitals and educational facilities that will divide $1.78 million in federal grant funding for distance learning and telemedicine projects, the state’s congressional delegation announced today.
Sparks Regional Medical Center is to receive $467,287 for the purchase of clinical workstations, video conferencing and desktop equipment that will link 10 county hospitals across Arkansas and Oklahoma to improve and expand access to care for medically underserved chronic disease patients.
The grant is provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Grant Program.
Others receiving grant funds:
—Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas, $87,294 to upgrade existing interactive video classrooms and create an online learning laboratory.
—Baptist Health facilities in Chicot, Van Buren, Phillips, Bradley, Pulaski, Independence, and Mississippi Counties, $295,357 to fund a critical care medical networks connecting six rural medical centers and a major hospital hub site at Little Rock.
—Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, $500,000 for expansion of an existing videoconferencing distance learning system to 20 K-12 school sites in Arkansas and Texas, with an emphasis on deaf education and other special needs.
—Baptist Health facilities in Arkansas, Clay, Randolph, Johnson, and Desha Counties, $309,752 for a critical care medical network connecting six rural medical centers and a major hospital hub site at Little Rock.
—Crossett Health Foundation (ACMC Family Home Health), $121,215 for purchase of telemonitoring home units for home health patients and accompanying laptops for clinical staff.
