Grant revenues are paying off for hospital district at roughly $1M this year

Melissa Memorial Hospital’s aggressive attitude toward seeking grants has really paid off.

In a report to the East Phillips County Hospital District Board of Directors Tuesday, Oct. 1, MMH CEO Trampas Hutches said year-to-date grant revenue is $985,910, “which is an impressive amount.” It is management’s intent to continue to aggressively seek grant funding in the next 12 months, Hutches added.

MMH has sought out grants for a variety of programs, such as the dental clinic, bedget and cost report software, innovation training and more.

The report said that Melissa Bosworth and her team at Vertical Strategies were instrumental in helping MMH receive approximately $760,000 of the year-to-date grant revenue.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Hutches announced to the board that an additional grant for $21,000 was recently received to purchase automatic external defibrillators for local agencies and community access. The grant from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, combined with the EMS department’s golf tournament fundraiser, will provide enough funds for 21 AEDs and cabinets.

The discussion on grants was part of a review of Policy 1.2. Also included in that policy is mill levy funding.

The CEO’s report said that the current mill levy received by the hospital district is 13.7 mills, which was passed by voter approval in November 2000.

Total mill levy revenue for 2019 is $946,694; however, it’s expected to increase to $1,025,094 in 2020. The increase is mostly due to property valuation increase in the district, said Hutches.

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