Grant allows East Guernsey to help students, residents with medical, counseling services

OLD WASHINGTON — The East Guernsey Local School District was recently awarded an $891,208 grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help combat substance misuse by providing education and telehealth services.

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant will educate the public on the effects of substance abuse, mental health counseling services, and access to various programs.

"This grant will enable us to provide services for students and families impacted by the opioid epidemic in southeastern Ohio," said East Guernsey Superintendent Chase Rosser.

"The opioid epidemic is a real problem in our area and through the partnerships we have established with this grant, we will be able to provide counseling and medical services."

The project is expected to benefit more than 2,000 residents in the region.

The district is exploring options for funding a required 15% match for the grant. The local match of $139,600 will bring the total project funding to $1,030,808.

"We are looking at the grant requirements to see how that funding must be obtained and if we cannot use federal funding, we will cover the match from our General Fund," said Rosser.

The grant award was announced by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Tuesday.

“Ohio schools need access to the technology necessary to provide proper health education services,” said Brown. “This funding will give the East Guernsey Local School District the tools needed to adapt and ensure the community has the resources it needs to educate students on substance misuse and the treatment services available to them.”

East Guernsey will receive 45 Poly Communication video conferencing systems, 75 laptop computers to include software and licensures and three telemedicine carts through the grant.

"The telemedicine carts will help our district with attendance by keeping kids in school instead of them leaving for medical or counseling appointments," said Rosser. "It will also provide kids who might not otherwise have access to those services with access to medical and counseling services through our partner agencies."

Rosser said the medical services will be coordinated through the school's nurse and counseling services will be accessed through the district's on-site social worker.

The grant will also provide education for students in the area of STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

"One of the nice things about this grant is we had to be very specific during the application process regarding where the funds will be utilized for distance learning," said Rosser. "This will enable us to connect our students to more learning opportunities outside the district."

The district is exploring options for funding a required 15% match for the grant. The local match of $139,600 will bring the total project funding to $1,030,808.

"We are looking at the grant requirements to see how that funding must be obtained and if we cannot use federal funding, we will cover the match from our General Fund," said Rosser.

The district's partners include the Southeast Ohio Counseling Center, Muskingum Valley Health Centers, Guernsey County Sheriff's Office and  the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center.

The USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program was created to help rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world.

The grant program helps rural residents including school districts to tap into modern telecommunications and the Internet for education and health care while overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density.