A collaboration representing nearly 26 agencies and community organizations has been meeting since January 31 at Memorial Hospital to work on a grant application to Georgia Health Care Foundation.

The 8th meeting of the group was held on Tuesday and facilitator Newton Cranford indicated he expected the grant application to be finalized and submitted on Wednesday, March 29. The due date is March 31.

If granted, the hospital group will receive $70,000 to continue the planning process to find ways to implement a community health improvement plan. The plan will be based on the Health Care Needs Assessment conducted in 2016.

It is the goal of the collaboration to develop a plan aimed at the most vulnerable persons in the community, by developing better access to healthcare, providing better health education and promoting more healthy lifestyles.

The collaboration has been a very diverse group and as Cranford opened meeting number eight, he asked all participants around the table to give their impressions of the meetings.

The prevailing answers were that it had been a very productive committee. Participants praised the cooperation that came from such a diverse group and expressed their expectations of good things to come because of people willingly working together. It was the consensus that even if the grant is not received, they still wish to continue to meet and go forward with addressing the needs they have identified.

Cranford spoke on the amount of work that had gone into the writing of the grant application. Each member of the collaboration was asked to write their views and participation.

Amanda Jacobs of the Community Health Service of Georgia and Henry Intili, nurse practitioner and instructor with Bainbridge State College Department of Nursing, were charged with editing the final wording of the application.

Cranford expressed his optimism at receiving the grant that will be awarded in June, saying “We’re feeling good about this,” adding to the feeling that they will go forward with or without the grant.