National grant puts $600,000 toward Payette community’s health care needs

A partnership of health care organizations will use a national grant to better meet the needs of the rural Payette area, according to a news release from the Western Idaho Community Action Partnership.

WICAP won a national grant for more than $600,000 of funding and additional resources to address health disparities in Payette, the release said. Payette is one of 13 communities in the U.S. that were chosen for the three-year BUILD Health Challenge grant.

“As Payette is by far the smallest and most rural community to ever receive this prestigious funding and support, the community will serve as a model for addressing key health concerns around housing, behavioral health and access to health care for other communities in Idaho and across the nation,” the news release from WICAP said.

WICAP will use the assistance over the next three years to support its work with Southwest District Health, Saint Alphonsus and St. Luke’s health systems, Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health and the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative.

Intermountain Health, LEAP Housing Solutions, Payette city government and others will provide additional support, the news release said.

To address health disparities, the grant will work to increase access to, and use of, existing health care services and resources, with a focus on mental health and chronic disease. The project also will focus on social and racial equity and access to affordable housing in the area.

The grant will bring “national resources and opportunities” to Payette that will “lift the voices of the residents in co-designing the housing and services that they want and need most,” Saint Alphonsus Health System Director of Community Health & Well-Being Rebecca Lemmons said in the release.

“BUILD Payette will amplify the existing resources in the community and draw upon the expertise of residents to identify pressing health needs with innovative solutions to address them,” Southwest District Health Community Resiliency Program Manager Emily Straubhar said in the release. “Through this collaboration, BUILD Payette will create a healthier Southwest Idaho.”

The national grant program is supported by several national and regional organizations, including Trinity Health, which owns Saint Alphonsus Health System.