Eastern Iowa Health Center receives federal help to reach vulnerable Iowans

The state's community health centers, including a clinic based in Cedar Rapids, have received $48 million in federal funding to support efforts to reach vulnerable populations in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

In addition, the Eastern Iowa Health Center in Cedar Rapids is one of six community health centers in Iowa that will receive a direct allocation of COVID-19 doses as part of a federal vaccine program in the coming weeks.

'Community health centers play a vital role in ensuring vulnerable populations who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 have access to vaccines,” Dr. Ursula Livermore, Eastern Iowa Health Center chief medical officer, said in a statement.

A community health center is a federally funded, designated facility that directs primary health care to medically underserved communities and other vulnerable populations. It's estimated more than 90 percent of the patients served by these facilities are living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

This past week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was giving $48 million in American Rescue Plan funding to 14 community health centers in Iowa.

Eastern Iowa Health Center is receiving more than $2.6 million from the total award. A list of other recipients can be found on the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration website, bphc.hrsa.gov.

The funding, which would awarded in April, is meant to help these facilities expand COVID-19 vaccination to vulnerable populations, deliver health care services to those at higher risk for being infected with the virus and to expand the centers' capacity during the pandemic and beyond, according to a news release.

The Eastern Iowa Health Center also said this past week it is one of six community health centers in Iowa that will receive vaccine allocations 'in the coming weeks” as part of the Community Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, a federal effort to reach populations disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Officials with the health center didn't have any further details, but noted the direct allocation 'will greatly expand access in the area.”

'EIHC will continue to coordinate with Linn County Public Health and Iowa Department of Public Health to ensure that vulnerable and underserved populations are able to have equitable access to vaccinations,” officials stated in the release.

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