Sen. Ossoff’s push to help more Crisp County residents get to the doctor’s office passes Congress

Published 3:11 pm Tuesday, March 15, 2022

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Cordele, Ga. — Following his push, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff secured bipartisan support to help people in and around Crisp County get to the doctor’s office and hospital.

Sen. Ossoff secured $430,000 for Crisp Regional Health Services to add more vehicles to their patient transportation program and help improve health outcomes for rural Georgians and those living in historically underserved areas.

The funding passed the Senate and the House.

“Georgians in Crisp County and the surrounding areas will know that when they have that doctor’s appointment, need to go fill a prescription, take their parents for a checkup, or need to get some kind of exam done, that there’s affordable, accessible transportation to the hospital,” said Ossoff.

“We are grateful to Sen. Ossoff for working closely with us to secure funding for this vital project to improve access to health care. This project will increase access for people in our community that are disadvantaged due to a lack of transportation or educational awareness, about health care resources,” said Steven Gautney, President and CEO of Crisp Regional Health Services. “With our community partners, we believe we can effectively shrink the disparity gap and improve health outcomes for maternal mortality, breast cancer, diabetes, and other conditions that disproportionately impact African-Americans. We look forward to continuing to work with Sen. Ossoff to invest in rural health care access for all Georgians.”

In addition, Crisp Regional Health Services will be able to purchase more wheelchair-accessible vehicles to their transportation fleet, hire the additional personnel they need to serve more patients, and increase community outreach efforts about their patient transportation service.