Joined CHF’s National Network: September 1999
Home Institution: Lee County Cooperative Clinic, Marianna, AR
Affiliation: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR
Medical Director: Denise Purnell, FNP
Program Administrator: Cleola R. Bursey
Sampling of Services:
CHF's Special Initiatives:
Areas Served: Rural communities in the Mississippi Delta region of eastern Arkansas.
The Arkansas Children's Health Project (ARCHP) provides services to children at school and community sites in a three county region of rural eastern Arkansas. For many of the communities served by the program, the Arkansas Children's Health Project provides the sole access to comprehensive pediatric health care.
Health challenges of the children served by the project include high rates of asthma; iron deficiency anemia; ADHD; and obesity, which leads to an increasing number of children with Type 2 diabetes. Treatment for these conditions can be difficult to come by: 70% of the catchment area is completely uninsured and only 5% have private insurance.
Bringing consistent, high quality medical services to isolated communities and providing care without regard to ability to pay - the ARCHP helps to overcome persistent barriers to health care in the region: geographic isolation, lack of transportation, lack of insurance and lack of financial resources.
