State to receive millions in COVID-19 funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced 27 community health centers in Washington state will receive a combined total of $213,959,125 million in American Rescue Plan funding to support COVID-19 vaccination and services for vulnerable and underserved populations.

In Othello, the Columbia Basin Health Association will receive $7,420,375. The Moses Lake Community Health Center will receive $5,600,250.

The Community Health Association of Spokane will receive $16,041,875; and the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project, also in Spokane, will receive $921,125.

In Pasco, Tri-Cities Community Health will receive $7,381,750.

The funding will be awarded beginning in April, by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Health Centers will be able to use the funds to support and expand COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and treatment for vulnerable and underserved populations; deliver preventative and primary health care services to those at higher risk for COVID-19; and expand health centers' operational capacity during the pandemic and beyond, including modifying and improving physical infrastructure and adding mobile units.

"Supporting community health centers is one of the ways we can address the reality that this pandemic has been more deadly for communities of color and has worsened longstanding inequities in health care," Senator Murray said.