The Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center in Rockaway will receive $1.2 million in emergency funding, Congressman Gregory Meeks announced Thursday.
The funding is part of the federal Health and Human Services $1.3 billion coronavirus crisis funding to the Health Resources and Services Administration funded health centers.
This will allow the facility to increase health and staffing capacity and can be used to detect, prevent, diagnose and treaty COVID-19.
“The $1.2 million in funding to the Addabbo Family Health Center is a welcome relief at a time when the situation in New York is dire, particularly now as we are nearing the peak of this pandemic,” Meeks said. “Every day while I am working and coordinating with hospitals and health centers in our community, I am told that they are in desperate need of PPE, that they are nearing capacity, and are facing a budget crisis.”
The HRSA funding was secured through the CARES Act where Meeks was able to secure for New York: $15 billion for unemployment insurance benefits, $15.5 billion in direct payments to New Yorkers, $7.5 billion in the State and Local Government Coronavirus Relief Fund; $2 billion for the Education Stabilization Fund; and billions more in hospital aid, FEMA Disaster Relief Fund dollars, Small Business Administration loans, and grants and more.
“With $1.2 million in secured federal funding, the Addabbo center in Rockaway can ramp up their capacity and continue delivering their essential services to the community to ease the load on hospitals and treat coronavirus patients,” Meeks said. “The center will also be able to purchase additional PPE, and keep safe the health care workers who are out there every day keeping us safe. I am incredibly grateful for their hard work and indeed all of our community is indebted to them for their invaluable service.”
