Healthy Hometowns Grants Awarded to RCH
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — In early January it was reported that the Ringgold County Hospital was in line for a portion of the Healthy Home Town rural hospital development grants that were given to the state of Iowa.
On January 30, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced on January 30 the first recipients of these competitive grants. The first round of grants totaled $78.65 million to be distributed through 36 Iowa hospitals. It was understood that the hospitals were not guaranteed funding via these grants, rather the grant award process was a competitive one. Ringgold County Hospital initially applied for three separate grants, two of which centered around improving the hospital’s professional staff, the third was an equipment upgrade request. The hospital was informed that their professional staff grants were accepted but the request for the equipment was not included in the grant awards on this round.
The other hospitals that received grants were as follows: Adair, Cass, Crawford and Guthrie County Memorial Hospitals; CHI Health Mercy (Corning & Missouri Valley); George C. Grape Community Hospital; GRMC (Creston); Madison County Health Care System; Manning Regional Health Care Center; Burgess Health Center; Myrtue Medical Center; Shenandoah Medical Center and St. Anthony Regional Hospital.
The governor’s office further went on to outline the intent behind these grants. The federal government allocated $50 billion in rural hospital and healthcare development funding. The state of Iowa was awarded $209 million of the total allocation. Key details regarding the 2026 grant awards include:
• Funding Source: The grants are part of a $209 million federal initiative known as the “Iowa Healthy Hometowns Project” aimed at improving rural health care.
• Total Recipients: Over $78.6 million was initially awarded to 36 hospitals and medical centers across the state.
• Equipment Upgrades: Awarded funds are being used for advanced technology, including da Vinci 5 robotic systems, MRI, CT, and PET/CT imaging systems.
• Specific Projects: St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll was explicitly mentioned for receiving $1.5 million to construct a new on-site child care facility.
These awards are designed to increase access to specialized care in rural areas, effectively aiming to provide services similar to those found in metropolitan areas.
In addition to these grants, the Ringgold County Board of Health has been working feverishly to streamline its role in providing high quality healthcare to the rural communities as a result of them combining forces with several neighboring communities. Services such as home health aid, in-person professional diagnostics and mental health care are all distributed by the health department. Because of this consolidation of forces the health department was able to shave 24 percent of their year over year budget. Not only does this represent a $24,000 actual reduction in expenses, it was able to do so without reducing or compromising any current services provided by the department.
The hospital grants will further improve upon the services desperately needed in all the rural locations including those that require collaboration between secondary services and those of the critical care facilities.
It is unclear if grant allocation is limited to the initial awards or if additional monies may be available going forward since a significant amount of the initial grant monies remain unaccounted for.
