HRSA -

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

September 29, 2006

Contact: HRSA Press Office
301-443-3376

HRSA Awards $1.9 Million to Improve Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease

HRSA awarded $1.9 million to four regional networks and one national center to enhance community-based systems of care for sickle cell disease.

Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Demonstration Program FY 2006 awards of $320,000 each were made to four Sickle Cell Disease Collaborative Networks. Grantees are the University of Cincinnati (Ohio) Medical Center and three HRSA-supported Federally Qualified Health Centers: Roseland Christian Health Ministries in Chicago, Stedman-Wade Health Services Inc. in Wade, N.C., and Health Services Inc. in Montgomery, Ala. Grants will support regional networks of community-based primary care providers, sickle cell disease support organizations and sickle cell experts to provide comprehensive, culturally accessible and family-centered care for individuals with the disease.

As part of the program, a contract for $600,000 was awarded to Research Triangle Institute International (RTI) of North Carolina to establish a national coordinating center. RTI will partner with Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America in Baltimore to coordinate network collaborative activities, provide sickle cell disease data and findings on best practices, and prepare a final evaluation of the demonstration program.

Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited red blood cell condition characterized primarily by chronic severe anemia, infections and periodic episodes of pain.