Madeleine Coles

News Editor

ISU’s HealthCare for Children and Families AmeriCorps program was recently awarded a $345,915 grant in order to provide health screenings and health education.

The screenings will be conducted by 62 AmeriCorps members located all throughout Idaho, including in the panhandle, Wood River Valley and southwest and southeast Idaho.

Members of the program are in one of two categories. Stipend members serve for an entire year and receive a stipend every two weeks; at the end of their service, they also receive an education award. Those only recieving the education award are generally students going into the health professions who provide services through their degree program. Education awards can be used toward paying tuition or paying back student loans. Stipend members must also complete at least three national service projects a year, while education award members must complete at least one.

“An easy way to understand AmeriCorps is to think of it as a domestic Peace Corps,” said Dr. Barbara Cunningham, ISU’s AmeriCorps program director and senior grant project coordinator. “The Peace Corps sends people out all over the world, while AmeriCorps provides more local services.”

The goal for the grant, which began September 1 and will run through next August, is to provide 7,000 health screenings and reach out to 7,500 community members to provide health education.

Grant funds will pay for stipends and administration as well as providing a cash match for placement sites who will host AmeriCorps members. Members are also provided training through the grant.

“One of the biggest benefits that one of my sites provide is sight and hearing health screenings,” Cunningham said. “From those screenings, about 15 percent are referred to specialists. They have learned that doing the health screenings on children is highly beneficial because they catch the problem early.”

Members also complete glucose and cholesterol monitoring as well as height and weight check-ups. Previous placement sites have conducted health education on diabetes, tracking how much weight participants lost.

“The motto of the program is ‘getting things done,’” Cunningham said. “Which I think is a motto that’s as good or better than Nike’s. And AmeriCorps members get things done.”

In addition to the benefits of providing health education, with special attention paid toward underserved and low income communities, Cunningham says the AmeriCorps program directly helps the community, by allowing members the opportunity to make a living from their service.

“Multiplier effect,” Cunningham said. “Students are able to pay down their student loans or pay their tuition for their future educational goals. And for stipend members, they spend [their stipend] right in the community. That benefits each community.”

Although all the AmeriCorps program member spots are filled this year, Cunningham encourages interested students to apply.

“God willing, AmeriCorps will still exist, and spots will be available next year,” she said.