[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 78 (Monday, April 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20108-20109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-10019]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Availability of Funds for the Provision of Technical and
Nonfinancial Assistance to Federally Funded Migrant Health Centers and
Related Organizations
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, PHS.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.
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SUMMARY: The Health Resources and Services Administration announces the
availability of approximately $1.4 million in fiscal year (FY) 1995, to
support a total of four grants under Section 329(g)(1) of the Public
Health Service (PHS) Act for the provision of technical and
nonfinancial assistance to migrant health centers (MHCs).
The above technical assistance includes the following activities:
(1) Assist MHCs by the development of cost effective vision
screening and treatment tools (e.g. health education and training
materials, focometer), as well as, optometric technical assistance to
MHCs (e.g. assistance request form, needs assessment, planning,
training of providers and identification of community and regional
resources).
(2) Recruit, train and place, seasonal bilingual and culturally
sensitive health (e.g., MDs, ODs, mid-levels) and allied health
professionals (e.g., nutritionist, social worker, health educator and
community service worker) at East Coast MHCs to perform outreach
duties.
(3) Provide technical assistance to MHCs nationwide to develop
farmworker peer counseling and outreach programs; including the
recruitment, training and placement of peer counselors, and program
planning and identification of resources.
(4) Recruit, train and place bilingual outreach teams (e.g., nurse
practitioner/nurse, health educator/community outreach worker) in
Florida that specifically target farmworker infants, children and youth
up to 21 years of age not currently receiving health care services. The
teams are to work with MHCs and other organizations serving
farmworkers. Other activities of this grant are to assist in State and
local strategic planning to increase farmworker access to MHCs and
health services.
The four grants will be awarded with a budget period of one year
and a project period of up to three years.
The objective of these activities is to improve access to
preventive and primary care services for underserved populations,
especially minority and other disadvantaged populations. This is in
keeping with the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of
Healthy People 2000, and also the objectives defined specifically for
the farmworker population in the PHS publication Migrant and Seasonal
Farmworker (MSFW) Health Objectives for the Year 2000. Potential
applicants may obtain a copy of Healthy People 2000 (Full Report: Stock
No.017-001-00474-0 or Healthy People 2000 (Summary Report: Stock No.
017-00473-01) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325 (Telephone 202-783-3228).
Potential applicants may obtain a copy of MSFW Objectives for the Year
2000 through the National Migrant Resource Program, Inc., 1515 Capital
of Texas Highway South, Suite 220, Austin, Texas 78746 (Telephone 1-
800-531-5120).
Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits smoking
in certain facilities in which education, library, day care, regular
and routine health care and early childhood development services are
provided to children. Smoking must also be prohibited in indoor
facilities that are constructed, operated or maintained with Federal
funds.
DATES: Applications are due June 8, 1995. Applications shall be
considered as meeting the deadline date if they are either: (1)
received on or before the deadline date; or (2) postmarked on or before
the deadline date and received in time for orderly processing. A
legibly dated receipt from a commercial carrier or the U.S. Postal
Service will be accepted in lieu of a postmark. Private metered
postmarks will not be acceptable proof of timely mailing. Applications
which do not meet the deadline will be considered late and will be
returned to the applicant.
[[Page 20109]] ADDRESSES: Application materials (PHS Form 5161-1 with
revised face sheet DHHS Form 424, as approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under control number 0937-0189) may be
obtained from the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Office of
Grants Management, Nancy Benson, (301) 594-4260, 4350 East-West
Highway, 11th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814. Ms. Benson is available for
further information regarding application submission procedures and to
provide assistance on business management issues. Completed
applications should be mailed to: Grants Management Officer, BPHC, c/o
Houston Associates, Inc., 1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 240, Silver Spring,
MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general program information,
contact Mr. Antonio Duran, Director, or Helen Kavanagh, Migrant Health
Branch, Division of Community and Migrant Health, BPHC, Health
Resources and Services Administration, (301) 594-4303, 4350 East-West
Highway, 7th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
There are 106 MHCs which provide comprehensive primary health care
to migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families in their home
base or as they work along one of the three migrant streams. The
technical and nonfinancial assistance will be arranged for or provided
within available resources by four separate grantees in response to MHC
requests for: (1) vision screening and treatment services, (2)
bilingual seasonal outreach staff, (3) peer counselor training and
outreach, and (4) outreach staff specializing in identifying children
and youth who fall through the ``cracks'' of health care services.
Legislation governing these activities can be found at section 329
of the PHS Act. Paragraph (1)(B) of section 329(a) requires that a
migrant health center provide ``as may be appropriate for particular
centers, supplemental health services necessary for the adequate
support of primary health services,'' and paragraph (1)(G) requires
that a migrant health center provide ``information on the availability
and proper use of health services and services which promote and
facilitate optimal use of health services, including if a substantial
number of the individuals in the population served by a center are of
limited English-speaking ability, the services of appropriate personnel
fluent in the language spoken by a predominant number of such
individuals''.
Number and Amount of Awards
Each individual and/or organization is limited to submitting a
maximum of one grant proposal for any one of the four activities
mentioned. A maximum of 4 separate grants will be awarded for:
optometric technical assistance for MHCs nationwide (approximately
$45,000); the recruitment, training and placement of outreach allied
health and health professionals with MHCs on the East Coast
(approximately $800,000); the development, implementation and promotion
of farmworker peer counselor programs at MHCs nationwide (approximately
$225,000); and the enhancement of farmworker outreach health care
services targeting infants, children and youth at MHCs in Florida, in
addition, to State and local strategic planning (approximately
$320,000).
Eligible Applicants
Eligible applicants are public and private nonprofit entities with
culturally competent and diverse staff which have demonstrated
experience, as appropriate to the requested grant, in optometric
technical assistance for MHCs; farmworker outreach; the recruitment,
training and placement of health and allied health professionals at
MHCs; or in farmworker peer counselor recruitment, training and
placement.
Criteria for Evaluation
Regulations governing these awards provide that the Secretary will
award funds to applicants which, in her judgment, will best promote the
purposes of the statute, taking into consideration (a) the cost
effectiveness of the application, and (b) the number of centers and
entities to be served by the applicant. 42 CFR 56.704. In addition to
these two criteria, the Secretary, in considering what will best
promote the purposes of the statue, will consider:
(1) The extent to which the applicant's program activity
demonstrates and addresses the particular needs of the migrant and
seasonal farmworkers and migrant health centers;
(2) The degree to which the applicant addresses the overall goals
and objectives of one of the aforementioned activities;
(3) The appropriateness and adequacy of the methodology which
describes how the activity will be evaluated, along with relevant
timeliness;
(4) The information contained in annual progress reports (for
existing grantees only);
(5) The extent to which the project plan describes activities in
measurable terms;
(6) The extent of the organization's prior related and applicable
experience (to be documented by a short synopsis of work completed for
each Federal and non-Federal grant received, contact person(s) and
phone number(s)); and
(7) The degree to which the fiscal and administrative management
systems, and the budget are well organized, detailed, justified and
consistent with the project plan.
All applications for the technical and nonfinancial assistance to
MHCs will be reviewed competitively by a PHS Objective Review
Committee.
Other Award Information
The grants awarded under this notice are not subject to the
provisions of Executive Order 12372 or the Public Health System
Reporting Requirements.
In the OMB Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, the Migrant
Health Center program is Number 93.129.
Dated: April 14, 1995.
Ciro V. Sumaya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 95-10019 Filed 4-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-15-P
