Tom Léger (313) 418-5315

John Van Camp (313) 686-1534

Nonprofits collaborate to win federal health care grant

DETROIT – Collaboration between Covenant Community Care (CCC) and Southwest Solutions (SWS) is going to pay off for the working poor, indigent and homeless population of southwest Detroit. Based on its partnership with Southwest Solutions, CCC has won a nearly $2.3 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The grant, which comes with an enhanced Medicaid billing rate and status as a Federally Qualified Health Center, will fund operations for three years and will help strengthen the local health care “safety net” for thousands of uninsured and under-insured residents in southeast Michigan.

A major feature of the collaborative will be its focus on the integration of primary health care and mental health care (known as behavioral health) for persons with mental illness. Covenant Community Care is a 501c3 primary medical health care provider and Southwest Solutions is a human services, housing and economic development provider. The collaborative plans to operate its integrated primary, dental, and behavioral health care clinics and pharmacies at the West Grand Boulevard site of CCC and the Waterman Street site of Southwest Solutions. This will increase access to comprehensive, integrated health care for the uninsured and under-insured, while also increasing the quality of care through the integration model for those with significant mental health care needs.

“Language barriers, poverty, lack of available health care and chronic physical and mental health conditions are real disparities creating an urgent need for this kind of collaborative,” said Tom Léger, board president of Covenant Community Care, Inc.

“The collaboration between Covenant Community Care and Southwest Solutions represents an innovative, forward-thinking approach to health care for the most disenfranchised members of the southwest Detroit community,” said John Van Camp, president and CEO of Southwest Solutions.

“This collaborative will offer one of the first models of integrated primary and behavioral health care in this region.

“It will ensure that primary and behavioral health care services are integrated and that services will be rendered regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.”

The racial/ethnic composition of the surrounding community is Hispanic (the largest group), along with significant African American and Caucasian populations. Fifty-seven percent have incomes below $6,000 a year, 27 percent have incomes of $6,001 to $11,999 a year and 16 percent have incomes of more than $12,000 annually. Eighty-three percent are not in the workforce, with nine percent unemployed and only eight percent employed.

The collaborative estimates that by the end of the second year of the funding cycle, full capacity services will be available to the community 64 hours per week. Services will be rendered by five FTE primary care medical providers, two FTE dental providers, and two FTE behavioral care providers. Service providers will be fluent in both English and Spanish.

Senators Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the State of Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan Primary Care Association, Detroit Wayne County Health Authority, Detroit Community Health Connections, Wayne State University School of Medicine/DMC, Oakwood Healthcare and Beaumont Hospitals submitted letters of support to help the collaborative secure FQHC designation and funding.