Manning Regional Healthcare Center (MRHC) has been awarded more than $1.9 million in funding through the Iowa Healthy Hometowns Project to support workforce expansion, new medical equipment, and improved behavioral health services. The funding includes four separate grants that will allow MRHC to hire two new health care professionals, purchase a permanent MRI machine for its facility, and expand services at its Recovery Center. The investment builds on a previous $500,000 award from the state through opioid settlement funding. MRHC Chief Nursing Officer Michelle Andersen says, “These grants are a significant investment in rural healthcare and in the patients who rely on us every day. Healthy Hometowns funding helps MRHC strengthen services, support our workforce, and continue to provide high-quality care close to home.” Through the Best and Brightest Workforce grants, MRHC will recruit a full-time mental health registered nurse to support behavioral health and substance use disorder services, as well as an advanced registered nurse practitioner for the emergency department. The hospital also received a Best and Brightest Medical Equipment grant to install an in-house MRI system, replacing a mobile unit that is available only once per week for local patients. Additionally, the Recovery Center was among 10 facilities statewide named Centers of Excellence for behavioral health and substance use disorders. The designation will support expanded access to evidence-based treatment and increased staffing. The Healthy Hometowns funding is part of a program announced by Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year that aims to modernize rural health care by leveraging up to $1 billion in federal funding over the next five years for the state.
