U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Oklahoma State Director, Kenneth Corn, attended the ribbon cutting today for the Cleveland Area Hospital’s expanded regional health clinic. Oklahoma Rural Development provided a grant of $574,200 to assist Cleveland Area Hospital administrators expand services and complete necessary upgrades to provide modern and state-of-the-art health care for the rural Keystone Lake Region.
The funds provided for this facility were made possible under the American Rescue Plan Act, where Emergency Rural Health Care Grants advanced ideas and solutions to solve regional rural health care problems to support the long-term sustainability of rural healthcare in Oklahoma.
“When President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law, he intended the program to not just stabilize the economy from the devastating impacts of COVID-19, but to give America a fresh start to rebuild our Nation from the bottom up and middle out,” Corn said. “Now just two short years later we are seeing some of the fruits of this economic impact from the Emergency Rural Health Care Grants provided under ARPA.”
Emergency Rural Health Care Grant funds have been utilized in Oklahoma to improve infrastructure with modern day electronics and network capabilities, stabilize and expand access to rural health care, and provide emergency responders with new life-saving equipment and vehicles.
“The positive impacts of Emergency Rural Health Care Grant funds will be felt by Rural Oklahomans for decades to come,” Corn said. “These critical investments in rural health care, which were made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration, will ensure my neighbors across Oklahoma are no longer left behind when it comes to the basic human right of access to health care.”
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit https://www.rd.usda.gov/ok.
