Special to Atmore News
MONTGOMERY – Governor Kay Ivey on Friday, August 7, awarded $100 million of the Coronavirus Relief Fund to support two grant programs of up to $50 million each for nursing homes and hospitals for the purpose of responding to and mitigating the COVID-19 public health emergency.
“While there are many aspects of COVID-19 that we still don’t know, one thing that isn’t in dispute is our seniors and those with preexisting health conditions fair the worst when contracting the virus,” Governor Ivey said. “Protecting our most vulnerable citizens remains a priority for my administration, and it is incumbent to ensure that our nursing homes and hospitals have every tool possible to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as well as keep their staff and health care professionals safe as they offer exceptional care to those who are ill.”
This allocation of up to $50 million will be for operational costs that are COVID-19 related, such as PPE, cleaning, personnel costs and other costs incurred related to the pandemic. The Alabama Nursing Home Association Education Foundation, a non-profit (c)(3), previously received $18.27 million to provide baseline testing for coronavirus and proactive surveillance of the virus for health care personnel and residents of nursing home facilities across Alabama.
In partnership with the state of Alabama, the Alabama Nursing Home Association Education Foundation will administer the funds fairly and impartially on behalf of the people of Alabama, for all of Alabama’s nursing home facilities.
Using criteria established by the state of Alabama, the Alabama Hospital Association will administer the funds of up to $50 million through a grant program to assist every hospital as they continue to provide care to Alabamians affected by COVID-19 as well as continuing to maintain a safe environment to provide quality care for all of our citizen’s health care needs.
Alabama received approximately $1.9 billion of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding to respond to and mitigate COVID-19. Alabama Act 2020-199 designated up to $250 million of the Coronavirus Relief Fund to be used to support the delivery of health care and related services to citizens of Alabama related to the coronavirus pandemic.