The University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CERH), Kentucky Homeplace, USA Drone Port and a network of community partners are joining forces to intensify efforts at the local level to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in a 32-county region of Appalachia Kentucky and neighboring counties in West Virginia, with $3.3 million in grant funding from the U.S. Health Resources Services Administration.

“This grant will enable us to go to where people need us most,” said Fran Feltner, DNP, director of the UK CERH and principal investigator of Kentucky Homeplace. “Leveraging the expertise of community health workers and our many valued community partners, our intent is to meet people where they are to work through barriers, alleviate fears, dispel myths, educate and assess any needs people may have that could be holding them back from being vaccinated.”

The goal is to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates in Appalachian communities by:

• increasing community outreach in remote communities.

• removing barriers to vaccine access.

• assessing needs of individuals.

• providing education.

• increasing positive messaging.

A series of more than 90 Community Health Days will be held across the region beginning in August and continuing through November. Planning for these activities will focus on removing as many barriers as possible and reaching as many of the population as possible in a short period of time.

There will be various opportunities for local organizations to be involved including a creative competition for cash awards for best video campaigns that help increase community knowledge and positive messaging.

The Community Health Days calendar of events can be found at www.kyruralhealth.org.  

The mission of the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CERH) is to improve the health and well-being of rural Kentuckians with a vision of a healthier Kentucky.