ROCK SPRINGS — Deer Trail Assisted Living employees who worked long and tireless hours making sure their residents were safe during the COVID-19 pandemic were rewarded for their efforts with a $220,000 grant through the Wyoming COVID-19 Health Disparity Grant to address recruitment and retention.

Jeffrey Smith, Deer Trail Regional Executive Director, said they applied for the grant back in October of 2022 and it was approved in January 2023, but the employees didn’t receive the funding until recently.

According to a press release from the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH), Deer Trail was approved for the provider recruitment and retention grant from the select high-need counties program funding. The program supports provider recruitment efforts in Albany, Laramie and Sweetwater counties by providing grants to eligible healthcare systems for recruitment and retention costs.

When Smith heard about the grant, he decided to pursue it even though he wasn’t experienced in grant writing.

“I hadn’t written a grant before COVID, but have done several since the pandemic began,” Smith said. “This one was time consuming, but much more streamlined than others I’ve worked on. We weren’t sure we would be awarded the grant, but felt like we should put in the effort to apply for our employees’ benefit.”

During the process, Smith and his employees had the opportunity to visit with those who were handling the administration of the grant, including the Align Team and the WDH. Smith isn’t sure how many applied for the grant due to the requirements.

“This particular grant was limited to applicants from counties that were determined through a study to be in high need of healthcare providers, Sweetwater County being one of three counties in the state,” Smith explained.

Smith said they divided the $220,000 by the number of employees, with full-time employees receiving just over $4,600 and part-time receiving $2,250. There was a little bit of a glitch in the process however. Smith had planned on telling all of the employees on a Monday morning that they would be receiving additional funding in their accounts due to the grant, but the money went through on the Friday prior.

“I got a number of texts telling me I’d made a mistake, they received money and it wasn’t even payday,” Smith said. “Most said they weren’t going to spend it because they thought it was a mistake. Once I let them know it was a ‘thank you’ for being with us through difficult times they were all so grateful.”

Smith said the additional money going to his employees was well deserved due to how difficult it was for them during the pandemic, but they did not let those difficulties stop them from caring for the residents and doing their jobs.

“We didn’t have a single case of COVID in our community for the first 19 months of the pandemic and that is because the staff put them first,” Smith said. “I heard of employees who didn’t go to birthday parties, family gatherings, or trips they’d scheduled because they were worried they might bring COVID to our residents.”

It didn’t stop there. While the rest of the world was moving on from COVID, healthcare facilities still had to be careful and Deer Trail continued to be cautious to protect their residents.

I am so grateful to each of them and the wonderful work they do. There is so much care and love given each day, it is amazing.

~ Deer Trail Regional Executive Director Jeff Smith

Since February 2012, Deer Trail has been a vital part of the health care services community of Rock Springs and Sweetwater County. Over these past 11 years, Deer Trail has served over 800 families from the region.

Wyoming has dedicated $8.17 million of federal funding to help eligible entities build up the health care infrastructure and address historical inequities in their communities. The funding is part of Wyoming’s $38.8 million allocation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant. The Align Team manages this portion of the COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant for the Wyoming Department of Health. To learn more about the COVID-19 Health Disparity Grant Program, click here.