Steal Sheet – April 2014
The following items are presented so that you can “steal” them for use in your own publications. (All items in this month’s Steal Sheet did not appear in the April 2014 issue of the Branch but are original to the Steal Sheet.) Feel free to use them in your or your partners’ newsletters, or distribute them in emails, on web sites, Facebook pages, etc.
New Resources
Rural Mental Health and Substance Abuse Toolkit
The Rural Mental Health and Substance Abuse Toolkit is now available on the RAC website. The Toolkit is designed to help rural communities and organizations develop and implement programs that meet the targeted mental health needs of their communities based on proven approaches and strategies. It was developed in conjunction with the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis and the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center. It is available from:
NOSORH hosted a webinar on the toolkit on February 26th, which looked at evidence-based and promising models that improve access to mental health and substance abuse resources in rural communities, discussed mental health care models, and described lessons learned from effective mental health and substance abuse program planning, implementation, and evaluation.
AHRQ “Improving Your Office Testing Process Toolkit” Is Now Available
AnAHRQ toolkitto help doctors, nurses and medical office staff focus on preventing problems associated with managing lab tests and results is now available. This free resource helps improve processes for tracking, reporting, following up with patients after medical laboratory tests and avoiding diagnostic errors. The toolkit offers step-by-step instructions on how to evaluate an office testing process, identify areas where improvement is needed and address those areas. Practical tools are included that can be used to assess office readiness, plan activities, engage patients, audit efforts and incorporate electronic health records. The toolkit also includes a template for practices to ensure that laboratory test results are communicated effectively to patients in English or Spanish.
Serving Our Veterans Behavioral Health Certificate
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and HRSA are offering HRSA-funded safety-net organizations a series of training opportunities for clinicians serving veterans and their families. The Serving Our Veterans Behavioral Health Certificate features an evidence-informed curriculum offering 14 online courses for 20+ hours of continuing education credits.Courses include Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD in Veterans and Military Personnel; Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence; Fundamentals of Traumatic Brain Injury; Improving Substance Abuse Treatment Compliance; and PTSD: Then and Now, There and Here. To learn more about the certificate program, including the specific CEs available, visitvets.cequick.com.
Funding Roundup
A brief compilation of current funding
Rural Access to Emergency Devices Grant Program
• Funder: HRSA
• Description: The purpose of the program is to purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs), provide defibrillator and basic life support training in automated external defibrillator usage, and place the AEDs in rural communities with local organizations.
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $450,000 ($150,000 award ceiling)
• Eligibility: Community partnerships composed of local emergency response entities such as community training facilities, local emergency responders, fire and rescue departments, police, community hospitals, and local non-profit entities and for-profit entities concerned about cardiac arrest survival rates are eligible to apply.
• Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No
• Expected number of awards: 3
• Closing Date for Applications: April 30, 2014
• More info: or contact Michele Gibson or 301-443-7320.
Public Access to Defibrillation Demonstration Project
• Funder: HRSA
• Description: The purpose of this grant program is to: (1) purchase AEDs that have been approved, or cleared for marketing by the Food and Drug Administration; (2) provide basic life training in automated external defibrillator usage through nationally recognized courses; (3) provide information to community members about the public access defibrillation demonstration project to be funded with the grant; (4) provide information to the local emergency medical services (EMS) system regarding the placement of AEDs in the unique settings; and (5) further develop strategies to improve access to AEDs in public places.
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $300,000
• Eligibility: An applicant must be a political subdivision of a State, a federally recognized Native American Tribe, or a Tribal organization. Applicants proposing to use a regional approach and distance learning to address common needs of one region are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to form collaborative partnerships
• Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No
• Expected number of awards: 2
• Closing Date for Applications: April 30, 2014
• More info:
State Loan Repayment Program
• Funder: HRSA
• Description: The purpose of this program is to make grants to States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories to assist them in operating their own state educational loan repayment programs for primary care providers working in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) within their State.
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $10,000,000
• Eligibility: States must demonstrate that the program operated with the grant funds will be administered directly by a State agency. States must also agree that the grant funds will be used to pay all or part of the principal, interest, and related expenses of qualifying educational loans of health professionals, in return for their provision of primary health care services in Federally designated HPSAs.
• Expected number of awards: 45
• Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: Yes
• Closing Date for Applications: April 29, 2014
• More info:
National Health Service Corp Scholarship (NHSC) Program
• Funder: HRSA
• Description: Provides scholarships to students pursuing primary care health professions training in return for a commitment to provide primary health services in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs).
• Eligibility: Open to all students who are U.S. citizens or nationals and are enrolled in a fully accredited training program for Physicians (MD or DO), Dentists, Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse-Midwives or Physician Assistants at a U.S. accredited school.
• Number of grantees: Approximately 185 awards. (The NHSC SP will pay tuition and required fees directly to the educational institution.)
• Closing Date for Applications: May 15, 2014
• More info: or call 800-221-9393, or email .