Funds give boosts to Southwest
Va. growth
Bluefield Daily
Telegraph, West Virginia
By CHARLES
OWENS
From left, Travis
Jackson, Area Director for the Rural Development Agency, Ellen Davis, the newly appointed Director for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency, and,
Va., Congressman Rick Boucher presents Vice Chairman of the
Board of Directors for the Bland County Medical Clinic
Martha Brackeen with a federal funding check in the amount
of $1,279,790.00 for a major expansion project for the
clinic Monday afternoon. Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CNHI News Service
— BLAND, Va. — Two
unrelated federal funding announcements Monday for Southwest
Virginia will provide for improved water infrastructure in Giles
County and the expansion of a medical center in Bland County.
U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher,
D-Va., was in Bland County Monday afternoon to announce the award of
a $1,279,790 low-interest loan through the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency to the Bland County Medical
Clinic. Boucher said the federal funds will improve patient care by
doubling the number of examination rooms and expanding the clinic’s
waiting rooms.
“The Bland County Medical
Clinic first opened its doors in 1979 to serve Bland and Wythe
county residents, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay,”
Boucher said. “Since that time, the clinic has seen a dramatic
increase in patient visits each year, and the clinic now provides
care to patients from not only Bland and Wythe counties, but also
Giles and Tazewell counties in Virginia and Mercer County in West
Virginia.”
Boucher said the federal
funds will allow the clinic to expand its current size of 5,780
square feet to 13,633 square feet. It will also increase the number
of patient examination rooms to 12, expand the waiting area, and add
two quick care rooms for walk-in patients.
Boucher also was in Giles
County Monday where, along with U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., the
award of federal funds for the Route 100 Water Project were jointly
announced.
Allen, who announced the award through a press release, said the
Rural Development office has awarded a $521,700 grant and a $596,000
loan to Giles County.
“These important funds will
allow the folks in Giles County to update, improve and extend water
services for the individuals in their community,” Allen said in the
press release. “I am pleased that the USDA is once again able to
provide support to improve the lives of Virginians.”
Boucher, who made the
announcement Monday in Pearisburg, said the combined $1.1 million
grant and loan funding, along with a $1 million federal Community
Development Block Grant provided by the Virginia Department of
Housing and Community Development, will provide water to more than
100 homes beginning near the intersection of Route 100 and Hill
Street, extending through the Oney and Mutter subdivisions, ending
in Wilburn Valley.
Boucher said the project
will include the installation of more than 30,000 feet of water
lines.
– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com
Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi,
inc.
|
