As TSET celebrates 25 years, agency Board of Directors awards historic Legacy Grants to transform health in Oklahoma
Twenty-five years to the month since Oklahoma voters approved the state question creating the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), the agency’s Board of Directors approved the first-ever TSET Legacy Grants that will transform the health landscape across the Sooner State by increasing access to health care and improving the quality of health care across the state, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The 14 awarded projects will also foster research, develop the health care workforce and improve access to nutritious food.
“Oklahoma ranks near the bottom in most health indicators and the TSET Legacy Grants are an opportunity to make transformational moves to improve health for generations to come,” said TSET Board of Directors chair Ken Rowe. “We received many outstanding proposals in response to this funding opportunity and I’m proud of the work the TSET Board of Directors did to select these 14 awardees. I’m excited to see these projects get started and I know Oklahomans will benefit from this investment for years to come.”
TSET posted a request for applications in April and received 167 applications with requests totaling $1.5 billion. For this first-time opportunity, the TSET Board of Directors prioritized projects that demonstrated potential to significantly transform health outcomes, could maintain sustainability beyond TSET funding and would have a broad, measurable impact. Awarded TSET Legacy Grants totaled $149,989,000.
“TSET’s ability to offer these Legacy Grants to improve health is a testament to the wisdom of the public officials who framed the agency and the Oklahoma voters who approved the state question 25 years ago this month,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee. “TSET is truly unique in the nation and it’s only through the smart stewardship of our tobacco settlement dollars that TSET is able to make such a substantial investment in improving health.”
The awarded grants focus on several areas including research, health care access, health care workforce development, food access or a combination of those areas.
Research and Health Care Access
The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Access to Clinical Trials, will help build a Stephenson Cancer Center facility in Tulsa, increasing access to clinical trials in Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma ($25,000,000).
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s TSET Institute for a Healthier Oklahoma will address three root causes underlying chronic disease: inflammation, impaired immunity and accelerated aging. The project includes expansion of research facilities, expanded telehealth, distributed trials and clinical research ($9,878,000).
Health Care Access and Health Care Workforce Development
The Community Health Connection’s Maternal and Child Health Center will increase access to low-cost pediatric, obstetrics and gynecology services in Tulsa County through construction of a specialized maternal and child clinic and partial support to three direct care teams during the clinic’s first year of operations ($4,400,000).
Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, LLC’s Oklahoma Integrated Care Resource Center will work to integrate behavioral health care into primary care, which is also known as the Collaborate Care Model ($5,570,000).
The Oklahoma Hospital Association’s Healthy Oklahoma Communities Initiative will address tobacco prevention and cessation, obesity, health-related social needs, community wellbeing and stroke by piloting a model integrating a community health worker for support of health-related social needs. Support will include screening, case management, patient navigation and community engagement. The Oklahoma Hospital Association will contract with several hospitals across the state to employ community health workers ($3,220,000).
The Oklahoma Hospital Association’s HOPE Initiative: Helping Oklahomans with Prevention and Early Detection Lung Cancer Screening & Tobacco Cessation Saves Lives will increase access to preventative lung cancer screening and tobacco cessation services, including public awareness campaigns, patient navigation and coordination with other health systems ($18,690,000).
The Chickasaw Foundation’s Once-in-a-Century Opportunity to Transform the Health Outcomes of First Americans in Oklahoma through Graduate Medical Education will establish two new residency programs (pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology) and three new fellowship programs (pediatric endocrinology, endocrinology and rheumatology) during the construction of the Chickasaw Nation Department of Health’s $3 billion health services complex in Newcastle ($6,778,000).
Durant Family Medicine Clinic’s Durant Health Access & Innovation Initiative will improve access to care, prevent chronic disease and strengthen the rural health care workforce through a strategy spanning telehealth expansion, prevention-focused primary care, health care provider education and regional outreach ($3,000,000).
East Central University’s Dan Hays STEM Center/School of Nursing will train additional nurses and health professionals with the completion of the Dan Hays STEM Center/School of Nursing building ($13,147,000).
Oklahoma State University Medical Center’s Advancing Healthcare Education and Workforce Development Across Oklahoma will develop a state-of-the-art educational facility focused on graduate medical education and allied health workforce training. The expansion will allow for 100 additional physician residency positions in the OSU Academic Medical District and across eastern/northeastern Oklahoma ($30,000,000).
Rogers State University Foundation’s Bachelor of Science Degree in Nutritional Sciences will create a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Science degree program at Rogers State University. The program will help meet a regional workforce demand, especially in rural eastern Oklahoma, for dietitians and nutrition professionals to lower high rates of obesity, diabetes and other health issues that are caused by poor nutrition ($3,017,000).
The Youth Medical Mentorship’s Home Grown Health Professional Pipeline will address provider shortages by identifying and mentoring Oklahoma youth with interest in and aptitude for medical careers ($500,000).
Nutrition
The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Feeding Futures Initiative – Nutritious Prepared Meals for Food-Insecure Students will provide nutritious, convenient, pre-made meals to food-insecure, low-income students to take home when school meals are unavailable after school, during weekends and on school breaks. The program aims to serve students in 200 school districts in all 77 Oklahoma counties ($9,429,000).
Community Collaboration
The City of Tulsa’s North Tulsa Wellness Initiative: A Community Collaboration to Address Prevention, Wellness and Quality of Life will improve the health and quality of life for people in the underserved Hawthorne and Whitman neighborhoods in north Tulsa. The 5,500 Tulsans living in those neighborhoods have a life expectancy six years less than Tulsa County as a whole. The program will address tobacco prevention and cessation and health improvement, with specialized programs designed to meet the needs of children and older adults. This project brings together local non-profits, city government and community organizations to address barriers and build solutions to health issues. Specific activities will address healthcare access, early prevention of chronic disease and enhanced quality of life through a variety of programming among nine partners ($17,360,000).
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The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) is building a healthier future for all Oklahomans. As a state grantmaking entity, TSET supports community programs, public health initiatives and research to prevent the leading causes of chronic disease. TSET grants and partnerships help to reduce tobacco use, improve nutrition, advance medicine and increase access to active, healthy living. Created by voters and funded by the Master Settlement Agreement, TSET is creating lasting change in schools, workplaces and communities across the state. Learn more at Oklahoma.gov/TSET .
TSET – Better Lives Through Better Health