By KRISTY HUTCHINGS | khutchings@scng.com |
PUBLISHED: May 4, 2022 at 5:36 p.m. | UPDATED: May 5, 2022 at 11:34 a.m.
The Cal State Dominguez Hills nursing and occupational therapy training facilities will receive some serious upgrades thanks to a chunk of federal funding Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragán helped secure.
The Democratic congresswoman, whose district includes Dominguez Hills, visited the university’s campus, near Carson, on Wednesday, May 4, to present the $700,000 in federal money that will help improve the training laboratory at the College of Health, Human Services, and Nursing.
Diaz-Barragán requested the funds through the recently passed congressional spending package, according to a CSUDH press release.
“This is about you,” Diaz-Barragán said to students during her campus visit. “With upgraded clinical laboratory equipment, students will have access to the modern tools and equipment needed to obtain the skills and training needed to successfully enter the health care workforce.”
The College of Health, Human Services and Nursing will soon be home to the first and only publicly funded Clinical Doctorate in Occupational Therapy Program in Southern California, officials said.
Dominguez Hills will use the funding to buy new equipment, supplies and teaching tools, including hospital beds, examination tables, a classroom camera, assessment materials and more.
Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragán met with Dean of the College of Health, Human Services, and Nursing Mi-Sook Kim and CSUDH President Thomas Parham met on May 4 to present $700,000 in federal funding. (Image Courtesy of CSUDH, 2022.)
“This investment will contribute to enhanced educational experience, more local hires at hospitals and community centers,” Diaz-Barragán said, “and better public health outcomes in medically underserved communities here in California’s 44th District and throughout the Greater Los Angeles metro area.”
Under guidelines from the House Appropriations Committee — which selects projects to receive funding via the spending bill — each congressional representative can request funding for up to 10 projects in their districts per fiscal year. The process is generally highly competitive as allocations are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams.
State and local governments, as well as specific nonprofits, are the only groups eligible to receive funding through this program, the press release said.
Originally, CSUDH’s program had been allocated $691,680 — but in a relatively unprecedented move, the House Appropriations Committee rounded that number up to $700,000.
It’s “something that rarely happens,” Diaz-Barragán said.
“These laboratory upgrades will enhance the instructional and research capability of our faculty, the educational experience and success of students, and contribute to improving the delivery of health care and therapeutic services throughout the region,” Parham said in the release, “thus reducing health disparities and fostering long-term health outcomes for generations to come.”