The Department of Health and Human Services is committed to ensuring that people at greatest risk from COVID-19 have equitable access to resources that can help prevent its spread. To that end, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have been working together to help support the needs of older adults and individuals with disabilities.
HRSA supports community health centers and rural health clinics and has been working through these networks to stand up programs distributing free N95 masks and free COVID-19 testing supplies, including both at-home self-tests and point-of-care tests for clinical settings. As the programs ramp up, there is an opportunity for ACL-supported aging and disability networks to partner with HRSA’s network of community providers on these important efforts.
HRSA and ACL are encouraging aging and disability networks to begin to develop or build on their existing relationships with community health centers in order to work together on ways the mask and testing supply programs can support the needs of older adults and individuals with disabilities in the community. Building partnerships now will help to ensure that community providers participating in the HRSA mask and testing supply programs will be able to plan for aging and disability network partnerships as the programs expand.
To learn more about HRSA's mask and testing supply programs, including new information as the programs expand, visit the COVID-19 Testing Supply Program website.