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GSU school of public health wins $500,000 grant
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Georgia Southern University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health was recently awarded a two-year $500,000 grant from the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany to develop a comprehensive assessment of community needs in the hospital’s Southwest Georgia service area.
Using community and provider data, JPHCOPH faculty and students in the masters and doctorate of public health programs completing hands-on practicums in community health organizations will create targeted initiatives to improve the health status of the community and remove health disparities among its residents.
“As an organization, Phoebe’s community health strategy has always focused on the initiatives that anticipate and respond to the needs of Southwest Georgians. We have long practiced upstream investments in the health of the community and our residents,” Phoebe president and chief executive officer Joel Wernick said. “This partnership with Georgia Southern is a natural evolution for improving health status and access to care.”
The new Southwest Georgia Community-Based Health Initiative project will operate from the JPHCOPH Center for Rural Health and Research with center director Stuart Tedders coordinating the on-campus faculty and student involvement in the program and working with the project’s director, Sandra Handwerk.
Tedders said Handwerk will be instrumental in cooperating with the community and health care providers to identify resources and needs, developing and maintaining a community council and coordinating development of other grants and funding opportunities that will allow the project to sustain its long-term activities.
According to JPHCOPH Dean Charles Hardy, the project’s focus on community involvement and partnerships is a shining example of the school’s mission and he cannot wait to get it off the ground.
“The Southwest Georgia Community-Based Health Initiative is directly congruent with the mission of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health,” Hardy said. “We are excited to be partners with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, and we look forward to serving the people of southwest Georgia.”
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