LUMBERTON — Southeastern Health is hoping a $357,888 grant will keep Robeson residents with diabetes out of the hospital.

The organization was awarded the grant by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust on Sept. 25 and plans to use the money to launch an in-home intervention program for patients with diabetes and mental health related problems by the end of the year.

“Usually, health care providers only respond to crisis and then we go into high gear, but here we have an opportunity to be proactive,” said Anthony Grimaldi, Director of Behavioral Health.

One hundred patients scattered around Robeson County have been selected to participate in the first year of the two-year grant. There will be no cost for participating patients to receive help monitoring their health, taking their medications and getting to their appointments. During the second year, staff will treat more than 125 people.

“It’s almost like old-fashioned doctor visits, but we’re doing that with a paramedic, a case manager and technician,” Grimaldi said.

It’s clear why the Southeastern Health program is taking aim at diabetes. The disease, which has been diagnosed in about 16 percent of Robeson adults, is also the fourth-leading cause of death in Robeson County.

Grimaldi says the organization decided to target patients who also suffer mental health issues after studying hospital readmissions.

According to Grimaldi, 40 to 50 percent of repeat visitors to the hospital suffer from a mental health issue or a drug addiction.

“They’re battling two diseases. They’re battling diabetes and they’re battling either mental health or drug addiction,” Grimaldi said. ” … We realized the behavioral health component was a key reason they ended up back in the hospital.”

The program aims to keep patients from having to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized, which is costly for both the patient and the hospital; the average emergency room visit can cost patients more than $2,500, Grimaldi said. The program targets patients without insurance.

Seeing patients at home may also make them more comfortable, according to Vickie Atkinson, director of Southeastern Home Care Services.

“When they come into the hospital, we don’t always see the whole picture, they don’t always share the whole picture … Doing home visits may help to identify underlying causes that we may not be able to identify in the hospital setting,” she said.

The program will also help solve an issue constantly challenging rural health care — transportation. According to Atkinson, many patients in Robeson County lack access to transportation and have a difficult time getting to their various appointments.

Overall, program staff aim to keep at least 60 percent of participating patients out of the hospital for participants to lower their A1C levels — a three-month blood sugar level average — to 8 percent.

“The strategy is designed to help the patient become more actively involved in their own health care,” Atkinson said.