Vidant Beaufort Hospital in Washington was awarded more than $753,000 this month from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to target patients who struggle with both mental health issues and chronic illnesses as part of the trust’s Healthy Places NC initiative.

The trust was set up in memory of Kate Gertrude Bitting Reynolds, who passed away in 1946, to help improve the health care of those in need in North Carolina, which was a mission close to Reynolds’ heart.

Healthy Places NC focuses on providing better health care to rural areas, and as part of this initiative, the Charitable Trust plans to invest $100 million in 10-12 of the state’s rural counties over a period of 10 years. Beaufort County joined the initiative in 2012.

Each year the trust goes through two application cycles in February and August to award money to rural communities to complement the initiatives they already have to improve residents’ health and wellbeing, as well as provide support over the next decade or more, according to Jason Baisden, program officer at Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

“It’s place-based philanthropy,” he said. “It is our commitment working with the community and looking at what those health care needs are.”

“The main, key piece of it is working alongside the folks in the community and to help them address what they see are the challenges in the county.”

Access East was also awarded $558,227 to go toward implementing an “interdisciplinary clinical pharmacy and primary care support program” targeting more than 500 people from the Washington-based Metropolitan Community Health Services, as well as $353,780 for screening referred or re-enrolling patients in the HealthAssist program for health care plans, according to a press release.

Baisden said Vidant Beaufort Hospital expressed a need for more comprehensive mental health care for patients with other chronic disease problems, as he was told the emergency room has been in situations where about half of the beds are occupied by these patients, and this could lead to patients with other medical needs being pushed back.

Expanding off of this idea, he said he then discussed with hospital officials how an approach to dual diagnoses of mental health and chronic illnesses could be used to benefit health care as a whole in the county.

“How does this issue that you’re dealing with, and what you propose to do about it, fit into the kind of larger strategy of improving the health and wellbeing of the entire county?” he said.

Vidant Beaufort Hospital President Harvey Case said in a press release that he has seen how chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are an area in which there is great need among these dually diagnosed patients.

“Behavioral health and chronic disease, especially diabetes, are major issues plaguing our community. We tend to treat these conditions separately but patients dealing with both certainly don’t experience their effects separately,” he said in the release. “We need to do a better job of coordinating care so that patients receive the appropriate care at the appropriate time.”

Baisden said he takes a more hands-on approach with helping rural communities’ health care systems and usually travels to Beaufort County six to eight times per month.

“We’re definitely more engaged than you would see in normal foundations and things of that nature,” he said, adding that he will also help the hospital determine other avenues for funding and support besides the trust, as well as walk them through the application process. “Sometimes (funds are) awarded and sometimes we come back and say, ‘Hey, there’s something here… It’s not quite done. It needs to bake a little longer.’”

The ultimate goal is for the Charitable Trust to assist Beaufort County by committing to it for the next 10-15 years to help improve its health care, Baisden said.

“We’re certainly interested in hearing from others in the community that want to be a part of the discussion. They may not all think that they have a role, but they may,” he said. “The problems and the challenges at the local level are complex.”

Baisden said he wants Beaufort County residents to know that everyone has a role in health care, even if they don’t interact with this field on a daily basis.

“Our concept is actually we all do (have a role),” he said. “Not everyone is a doctor, but we do (have a role).”

“We are honored that Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has recognized Beaufort County as a community prepared to deliver the best in health care, specifically total mental and physical care coordination,” Michael Bilbro, program director for behavioral health services at Vidant Beaufort Hospital, stated in an email.

“The grant will fund care management of a targeted population…ensuring all aspects of their health care — treatment, prevention and education — are met.”