WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye is pleased to announce that the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $200,000 grant to the Rural Health Outreach Network (RHON) to implement a program to provide primary medical and health care services to the underserved rural populations on the Island of Hawaii.

"I am pleased the Department of Health and Human Services has appropriated funds for this much needed project. The Rural Health Outreach Network's project will not only expand medical and health care in rural areas on the Big Island, but will also introduce medical technology that is not often available in such isolated areas," said Senator Inouye.

The Rural Health Outreach Network will place a mid-level practitioner on the Mobile Van in three rural sites and purchase the necessary telecommunications equipment that will allow for physician assessment, consultation, image transfer, and education between the Mobile Van, the two community health centers, and St. Francis Hospital systems on the Big Island and Oahu.

The Rural Health Outreach Network was formed in 1997, joining together four non-profit health care agencies and one for-profit telecommunications company. RHON's primary goal is to address the issues of access to medical care for the poor and disadvantaged in very rural areas on the Island of Hawaii and to plan for effective, appropriate health projects that will bring direct service and enhanced care to rural people in the most cost-efficient manner.