WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today praised the award of $1,803,058 for two healthcare training and workforce development projects in the Mississippi Delta. The Delta Health Care Services Program grants will be awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development.

“The University of Mississippi’s ALERT Program and Mississippi State University’s Delta BroadReach Healthcare project will help to expand high quality health care training and workforce development across the entire Mississippi Delta,” Wicker said. “I appreciate USDA Rural Development and the Trump administration for continuing to invest in programs that will improve quality of care and patient safety for Mississippians.” 

“These grants will apply the expertise of UMMC and Mississippi State to address healthcare disparities in the Delta and improve services overall.  I’m excited that USDA Rural Development is investing in projects to implement training and best practices to affect healthcare in our state,” Hyde-Smith said.

The USDA Rural Development grants for Mississippi will support the following projects:

• University of Mississippi Medical Center - $1,000,000 to help create the Advancing Local Emergency Responder Training (ALERT) program, which will provide a wide range of low to no-cost medical education classes and emergency response training programs throughout the entire Mississippi Delta Region.
• Mississippi State University - $803,058 to help establish the Delta BroadReach Healthcare project, which will train healthcare professionals, telehealth providers, and entry-level EMTs.