The Kentucky Office of Rural Health (KORH) is accepting applications for its Elder Wellness Enrichment Initiative Grant, which will provide funding of up to $5,000 to nonprofit rural health care organizations and community-based organizations to create or enhance services for older adults — to help them age in place in rural Kentucky.

The University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, located in Hazard, serves as the federally-designated Kentucky Office of Rural Health. KORH works directly with clinicians, clinic and hospital administrators, policymakers and other stakeholders to improve the accessibility of health care services for the Commonwealth’s rural and underserved residents.

Projects submitted for consideration may be entirely new or build upon existing services; however, they must be innovative and serve as a best practice to be shared in Kentucky and other states. Applications requesting funding to maintain existing services will not be considered.

All projects must be completed in collaboration with at least one of the following rural stakeholders located in an applicant’s community or region: a critical access hospital, a small rural hospital, a rural health clinic, a federally qualified health center, a local health department or an EMS service.

Past projects have included: conducting home assessments and completing home repair projects for older community members; preparing and delivering meals to seniors; offering healthy food vouchers to food-insecure seniors; developing and offering educational programming; and, recruiting and training volunteers to reach out by phone to older residents who may be socially isolated.

Funding preference will be given to projects that place an emphasis on nutrition. In addition, projects that actively include older adults in planning and/or carrying out the project will be given priority.

The deadline to apply is Friday, July 15, 2022.

Additional information about the grant — including the application form — can be found online at: https://medicine.uky.edu/centers/ruralhealth/elder-wellness-enrichment-i...

If you have any questions, please contact Rural Project Manager Lisa Garza at lisa.garza@uky.edu or 606-439-3557.