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Trinity Health Foundation of East Tennessee

Align9

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Align9

Align9

Access to Care

The 9th Judicial District is comprised of 4 counties, Roane, Loudon, Morgan, and Meigs. These counties experience a lack of transportation services across the board. In this rural area, our target audience will be uninsured and low-income citizens in these counties who have a great need for transportation to access indigent care programs related to necessary healthcare, recovery, and treatment services. Align9 seeks to develop a transportation infrastructure that would allow access to qualified healthcare.

Align9 has researched some innovative ideas from other regions related to preventive care and transportation services. We would use this planning grant as a means to design and implement access to care pilot program modeled after the evidence-based programs for volunteer and voucher programs. The Rural Transportation Toolkit, published by USDA and found online at www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/transportation illustrates how these two programs work. Align9 would coordinate driver recruitment, perform background checks and training, and coordinate scheduling. The program may reimburse drivers for mileage and gas or offer a voucher for transportation services. The voucher model will be explored and implemented along with the volunteer driver program. The proposed impact would be measured by collecting data on the number of individuals served.

Our key potential partners would be healthcare and treatment providers, recovery support services, Align9 volunteers, and individuals seeking access to care. This effort could be sustained through foundation grants, faith-based contributions, and individual support as well as service recipient contributions.