ARPA allocation allowing Comanche County Health Department to proceed with expansion plans

A $1 million federal funding allocation will allow the Comanche County Health Department to proceed with expansion plans.

Comanche County commissioners voted last week to approve a notice of award of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the health department. The agreement between Comanche County and the Comanche County Health Department specifies the funding will be used for a new building that will include a testing and treatment drive-through facility.

The funding allocation comes on the heels of action that commissioners, acting in their capacity as the county facilities authority, took in mid-November to approve a 50-year lease agreement with Lawton Public Schools. That lease allows the county to place a new facility on the south side of the health department, on land from the Marvin Bicket and Wes Silk School Farm.

Brandie Combs, regional administrative director for the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Region 5, said the new facility will serve multiple purposes, starting with a covered area for drive-through vaccination clinics, activities now held at other locations. The building also will be designed with space for meetings and public activities, and have covered parking space for mobile health units, a medical trailer and other department vehicles, protecting them from the weather (such as the June 15 hail storm that caused extensive damage).

Combs said the $1 million allocation will get the county close to its funding goal.

“We are not building an elaborate facility. We are building a functional facility,” she said, adding while the facility will look nice as the public passes by outside, inside there will be “few bells and whistles.”

“Our needs are pretty simple,” she said. “We need a large open space with concrete floors. We are adding a couple of offices and a meeting space that we intend to allow schools and community groups to use, if the need arises.”

Combs said any cost above the $1 million ARPA allocation will be funded via carryover (millage) funds, which the health department receives from the county annually. She said the health department staff also has been successful in receiving grant funds that have offset some operational costs, allowing savings in the area of personnel, supplies, travel and training.

Combs said she submitted an application for the ARPA funds when commissioners first announced Comanche County had been allocated the dollars. The county’s contract attorney firm has ensured the project meets federal guidelines for ARPA expenditures.

“A drive-through facility has been identified as a need for quite a while,” Combs said, adding that with more mobile units, the department needs to provide protection for those vehicles. “They are worth too much, monetarily and for the function they serve.”

While the health department doesn’t yet have a timeline for construction start date, Combs said they are working to identify an architect to craft design plans and meeting with officials to ensure rules for county purchasing and ARPA funding are being followed.

In November, Combs said the ultimate size of the new building will be driven by cost. What officials envision is a facility with an enclosed area around hard surface floors large enough for two lanes of vehicles for drive-through events, and an open air awning on the north side of the structure for parking. The drive-through facility is probably the project’s major point.

While the health department has long used drive-through lanes, the need exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic when the department was doing vaccination and testing clinics. The staff typically does those large-scale clinics at sites such as the nearby Comanche County Fairgrounds and the Lawton Farmers Market, those sites aren’t always completely suitable (for example, they may not be available for multi-day clinics, Combs said).