Equipment for Nursing and Allied Health Business Development for Missouri State University, Springfield
Emerson FY10 Request: $250,000
Account: Health Resources and Services Administration
Intended Recipient: Missouri State University, Springfield, 901 S. National, Springfield, Missouri 65897
Missouri State University, Springfield, would enhance the nursing and allied technology, specifically to create nursing clinical simulation laboratories at the West Plains campus to support their nursing and allied health programs. Clinical simulation is the use of models and experiences that provide learning in a safe, controlled environment without adverse effects on patients, equipment, or other aspects of a true clinical situation. This technology would be enormously valuable in training future health care personnel at Missouri State University.

Information Commons Development and Expansion
Emerson FY10 Request: $500,000
Account: Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
Intended Recipient: Southeast Missouri State University, One Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 63701
Southeast Missouri University (SEMO) is in need of assistance to link technical and support services for students, faculty, and staff on their main campus to their new River Campus, the four regional campuses, and the community within the University’s service region. This development and expansion will meet the growing communication and educational needs of the students and community within this rural area and allow them to utilize cutting edge technology.


Ozarks Medical Center Expanded Emergency Room Equipment
Emerson FY10 Request: $500,000
Account: Health Resources and Services Administration account for Ozarks Medical Center
Intended Recipient: Ozarks Medical Center, 1100 Kentucky, West Plains, MO 65775
This project will increase local access to Emergency Healthcare. Ozarks Medical Center is remotely located from other major hospitals by an average of 2-3 hours. Expediency is critical in Emergency Medicine; proximity to family and community support is important. Eliminating travel eases hardships on patients and their families. The new Emergency Room is a valuable recruitment tool for physicians for all types and other medical professionals. Like many other hospitals, Ozarks Medical Center is vital to my constituents in rural Missouri, providing health care, stability, quality of life, community education, as well as financial well being. In many instances, the Emergency Room is Ozarks Medical Center’s first point of contact for patients.

“Pass to Work” program at the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center, Inc
Emerson FY10 Request: $250,000
Account: Health and Human Services Social Services
Intended Recipient: Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center Inc, 207 North Washington Street, Box 249, East Prairie, Missouri 63845
The Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center in East Prairie, Mississippi County, Missouri was established in 1992. The mission of the Center is to build healthy families by providing children with a safe and nurturing environment as their parents seek skills which lead to self-supported independence and nurturing homes. The Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center’s Positive Alternative System Strategies to Work, or “Pass to Work,” program will provide families with activities designed to emphasize good academic and healthy physical performance for at-risk children. In addition, this program will offer employment training, career counseling, and health behavior advice for nearly 1,000 adults in Mississippi County, a low-income county in Missouri’s Bootheel region helping to keep at-risk youth off the streets and improving parent’s job skills.

Southeast Health on Wheels (S.H.O.W.) Mobile Dental Program
Emerson FY10 Request: $205,102
Account: Health Resources and Services Administration Account
Intended Recipient: Southeast Missouri State University, One University Plaza-MS 1900, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Residents in rural areas frequently face a variety of barriers in accessing quality health and dental care. Poor transportation, limited health services, and health care workforce shortages are just a few of the obstacles to quality care facing residents of rural areas. These barriers are most evident in my Southern Missouri District, where the incidence of chronic disease far exceeds the state average for cancer and diabetes. County data for the mobile health unit’s target area indicates that three of the six area counties have an above average rate of children living in poverty. Public and private health officials in Southern Missouri have explored various options to help improve the quality of health care in the area while attempting to address the nursing workforce shortage crisis. One inventive idea to address this situation is the Mobile Assessment and Education Health Fair. Over the past several years, the S.H.O.W. Mobile Health Unit has allowed Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), in coordination with local hospitals, home health agencies, and other providers, to serve hundreds of additional patients. Transportation is extremely limited in this area, and the mobile unit has brought quality care to the many rural residents of Southern Missouri who are otherwise unable to access critical health services. Improving access to quality health and dental care for my constituents is one of my top priorities.

Three Rivers Community College Technology Advancement Project program
Emerson FY10 Request: $215,000
Account: Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) account for Three Rivers Community College
Intended Recipient: Three Rivers Community College, 2080 Three Rivers Blvd, Poplar Bluff, Missouri 63845
This proposed project will greatly improve access for constituents throughout the 8th Congressional District as well as facilitate advanced delivery of on-line courses and certificate and degree programs globally for Three Rivers Community College. The project will assist Three Rivers Community College in deploying new technologies. In addition, research demonstrates that for every dollar invested in technology, there is a ten-fold return on that investment.