Nearly $5 million awarded to TidalHealth to improve community access to healthcare

SALISBURY, Md. – Tuesday, TidalHealth announced it will be nearly $5 million in grant funding from the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission.

“Tidal Health, along with a number of partners in Wicomico and Worcester County, are working to together to improve health equity,” said Katherine Rodgers, Director of Community Health Initiatives at TidalHealth. Ridgers said that the goal is to build a Health Equity Resource Community on the Lower Eastern Shore. “It’s making sure that everybody has access to the supports and resources they need for their well-being and their quality of life.”

The $4.8 million in funding over the next 5 years will go toward expanding TidalHealth’s Rural Equity and Access Community project (REACH) which worked with community partners to identify people who have certain risk factors that might go undiagnosed: “Working with those partners to screen people and then connect them with those resources, especially people who have diabetes and high blood pressure.”

REACH was a pilot program launched in 2022. Rodgers said that for the past two years they were focused on building relationships with those local partners, but with this new grant they’re aiming to play a more active role. “Now going forward, we’re really trying to do more. Not just screening for those social risk factors, but actually using grant funding to connect people and provide healthy food that’s tailored for somebody who has diabetes or high blood pressure.”

Rodgers says that collaboration between over a dozen organizations is what’s necessary to get healthcare to those who need it most.”In a small and rural area there are limited resources so we’ve got to think creatively, and health care partners need to work with other sectors to really bring about change.”