While there was no public discussion on the matter today, Halifax County Commissioners in their consent agenda approved the receipt of $172,171 from the Rural Hope Initiative Program.

Those funds, from the North Carolina Rural Center, will be used for the new Halifax Regional Medical Center Wound Care Center.

County commissioners in January approved the request from HRMC’s President and CEO Will Mahone.

Mahone explained in a December 16 letter to board Chair James Pierce if the grant funds are awarded from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, they would be combined with $108,000 from Golden Leaf and $64,000 from the hospital.

Mahone said in the letter the center will provide, “A critically needed service to Halifax County and our neighbors. With a diabetes incidence of 85 percent  above the U.S. average and a predominantly poor population experiencing many barriers to healthcare, particularly transportation, there is a preponderance of chronic wound infections.”

Estimates show about 1,600 people in a 20-mile radius of the hospital have these infections, which can lead to amputations and death.

“The Wound Care Center will provide a critically needed service in our community and fill a tremendous unmet healthcare need for this vulnerable population,” the letter said.

Mahone also predicts the center will create new jobs, with as many as nine needed initially and as patient numbers increase, an additional 12 to 15 new positions would be needed. He told commissioners the average salary for the jobs would be around $63,000 a year.

The letter asks the county to fund 3 percent in cash or in kind administrative duties.

If the Rural Hope funds are awarded, Mahone noted in the letter, they will be awarded to the county as a deferred, forgivable loan with the loan forgiven when the 24 jobs are created and sustained for six months.