USDA Rural Development Area Office Director Joel Howard today announced funding for a $67,572 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant (DLT) to Carey Counseling Center, Inc. (CCC) in Paris. The project funds will be used to establish a telemedicine network that connects Board Certified Psychiatrists at CCC in Paris to three rural counseling centers in Northwest Tennessee.
“These funds will allow Carey Counseling Center to take advantage of new technology and replace existing telemedicine equipment,” Howard said. “This DLT will assist the center in continuing and potentially expanding current services.”
Rural Development funds will assist in the expansion and improvement of an existing telemedicine network that currently serves six rural counseling centers in Tennessee. With this expanded network, participating rural counseling centers will have access to mental, behavioral and psychiatric care services as well as substance abuse counseling services.
Others participating in the event include, Congressman Stephen Fincher Field Representative Heather Waggoner, CCC Executive Director Robert Vaughn, CCC Fiscal Director Richard French, USDA RD Assistant to the State Director Harriet Cannon and Union City Area Office Staff Brandon Orr.
USDA Rural Development is moving investments to rural America with housing, business and infrastructure loans and grants to create jobs and strengthen rural economies with an emphasis to assist areas of persistent poverty. Since 2009, the agency has assisted more than 1.5 million Tennessee families and businesses in 230 communities in all 95 counties of Tennessee, investing more than $6.6 billion through affordable loans, loan guarantees, and grants.
For more information on USDA Rural Development programs available in Northwest Tennessee contact the Union City Area Office at 731-885-6480 x 4. Visit us online at www.rd.usda.gov/TN.