County commissioners approved the request from HRMC’s President and CEO Will Mahone during their meeting today.
Mahone explained in a December 16 letter to board Chair James Pierce if the grant funds are awarded from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, they would be combined with $108,000 from Golden Leaf and $64,000 from the hospital.
Mahone said in the letter the center will provide, “A critically needed service to Halifax County and our neighbors. With a diabetes incidence of 85 percent above the U.S. average and a predominantly poor population experiencing many barriers to healthcare, particularly transportation, there is a preponderance of chronic wound infections.”
Estimates show about 1,600 people in a 20-mile radius of the hospital have these infections, which can lead to amputations and death.
“The Wound Care Center will provide a critically needed service in our community and fill a tremendous unmet healthcare need for this vulnerable population,” the letter said.
Mahone also predicts the center will create new jobs, with as many as nine needed initially and as patient numbers increase, an additional 12 to 15 new positions would be needed. He told commissioners the average salary for the jobs would be around $63,000 a year.
The letter asks the county to fund 3 percent in cash or in kind administrative duties.
If the Rural Hope funds are awarded, Mahone noted in the letter, they will be awarded to the county as a deferred, forgivable loan with the loan forgiven when the 24 jobs are created and sustained for six months.
The deadline for submitting the application is January 14. The center would be located in the old mammography building.
In other matters today commissioners:
Recognized the retirement of Vivian Scott as an income maintenance caseworker II with the department of Social Services. She spent more than 30 years in local government.
Approved an equipment lease with Empire Foods for equipment. The county would buy the some $600,000 worth of equipment the food processor would need and would lease it to the company for 60 months, with the company paying quarterly lease payments in an amount equal to what the county spent. At the end of the lease the company would buy the equipment for $1.
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