$1,780,905 allotted for projects

— Arkansas will receive $1,780,905 for distance-learning and telemedicine projects, officials announced.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is getting $500,000 to expand its videoconferencing distance-learning system to 20 kindergarten through 12th-grade school sites in Arkansas and Texas.

A news release said an emphasis will be on deaf education and other special needs.

Other services include enhanced course offerings, adult learning and outreach/ counseling to parents.

Other recipients are:

$467,287 for Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith. Funds will be used to buy clinical workstation, video-conferencing and desktop equipment that willlink 10 county hospitals in Arkansas and Oklahoma to improve and expand access to care for chronic-disease patients.

$309,752 for Baptist Health facilities in Arkansas, Clay, Randolph, Johnson and Desha counties, and $295,357 for Baptist Health facilities in Chicot, Van Buren, Phillips, Bradley, Pulaski, Independence and Mississippi counties. Funds will be used for a critical-care network connecting rural medical centers in those counties to a hospital hub site in Little Rock. The network will use patient monitoring equipment linked to clinical workstations.

$121,215 for the Crossett Health Foundation (ACMC Family Home Health). Funds will be used to buy telemonitoring home units for homehealth patients and laptops for clinical staff members. The equipment will allowproviders to monitor more patients with greater efficiency, and provide better care for rural patients in a five-county area.

$87,294 for Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas. Funds will be used to upgrade interactive-video classrooms and create an online learning laboratory. The goal is to give more students access to college-level courses without having to relocate, particularly in nursing and emergency medical technician training.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Grant Program is providing the funding.

The funding announcement came from the offices of Arkansas’ U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, and U.S. Reps. Marion Berry, Vic Snyder, John Boozman and Mike Ross.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 14 on 11/16/2009

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