Maryland Wellness is proud to join the Housing Authority of the City of Frostburg, Frostburg State University Social Work Program, and Live Together, Inc. as a partner for Connected Care Western Maryland, a collaborative project selected to receive an award offer of nearly $1 million through Maryland’s Rural Health Transformation Program, pending execution of a final agreement with the Maryland Department of Health.

Serving Allegany and Garrett counties, Connected Care Western Maryland will bring together behavioral health services, community outreach, transportation solutions and workforce development to improve access and strengthen connections to care and resources across Western Maryland.

Connecting Communities With Care and Resources

Access to care can be influenced by more than the availability of services. Transportation, geographic distance, awareness of available resources and workforce shortages can all affect whether individuals and families are able to connect with the support they need.

Connected Care Western Maryland brings organizations with different areas of expertise together to address these barriers in coordinated, community-centered ways.

During the initial funding period from August 2026 through June 2027, the collaborative will support the development of a Community Wellness Hub at Meshach Frost Village, expanded behavioral health services and community outreach, a new microtransit initiative to improve transportation access, and development of a rural health workforce pipeline in partnership with Frostburg State University.

Maryland Wellness’ Role

As part of the collaborative, Maryland Wellness will lead behavioral health implementation, including outpatient therapy, psychiatric medication management, psychiatric rehabilitation, substance use disorder treatment, peer support and telehealth access.

Maryland Wellness will also support community outreach and behavioral health awareness efforts designed to help residents learn about available resources and connect with appropriate support.

“Access to behavioral health care is about more than having a provider available,” said Dr. Jon D’Souza, MD, CEO of Maryland Wellness. “Transportation, trust, awareness and the ability to navigate services all influence whether someone is able to get and stay connected to care. This collaboration gives us an opportunity to address those barriers together.”

Working Together in Western Maryland

Each Connected Care Western Maryland partner brings a different area of expertise to the project, creating opportunities to connect behavioral health, transportation, community resources and workforce development.

Maryland Wellness looks forward to working alongside our collaborative partners and Western Maryland communities to improve access and strengthen connections to care and resources.

Pending execution of the final agreement, the collaborative will begin implementation during the current funding period and plans to pursue additional Rural Health Transformation funding as future opportunities become available.

Learn more about rural health initiatives and the Rural Health Transformation Program through the Maryland Department of Health.

The Maryland Rural Health Transformation Program is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the Maryland Department of Health totaling $168,180,837.61 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.