UNCG, Cone Health Receive $3.7 Million Mobile Health Grant

The grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration will help the partners promote health equity and increase access to health care.

Greensboro – The UNC Greensboro School of Nursing, in partnership with Cone Health, has been awarded a four-year grant that will help nursing students provide care to underserved populations in central North Carolina.

The partners received funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for $3.7 million over four years.

This grant will support UNCG undergraduate students working toward their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees and nurse practitioner students in the Adult Gerontology Primary Care Doctor of Nursing Practice program. With the funding, the School of Nursing and Cone Health will aim to promote health equity and reduce health disparities by increasing access to health care for underserved populations in the Piedmont.

The grant will also provide scholarships for UNCG nursing students from disadvantaged backgrounds and increase student exposure to rural and medically underserved communities.

As part of the grant, Cone Health will support the School of Nursing by providing clinical experiences for students in the areas of telehealth care, mobile health and pop-up clinics. These experiences will be available in six counties in central North Carolina:  Alamance, Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, and Rockingham.

“This is a wonderful partnership between the School of Nursing and Cone Health to increase access to health care services for individuals and families in underserved areas in the Piedmont region,” said Dr. Debra J. Barksdale, dean of the School of Nursing. “Our nursing students will have an invaluable learning opportunity as they gain firsthand experience in helping to support the health care needs of resilient communities.”

The School of Nursing’s partnership with Cone Health is innovative in that it will use data science to predict the populations in rural and underserved communities in the Piedmont in most need of health care services.

“It is an incredible honor to partner with UNCG in support of the educational journeys of our future registered nurses,” said Dr. Debbie Grant, a chief nursing officer for Cone Health. “This grant will help prepare those nurses to provide exceptional care in community settings and truly meet our patients where they are.”