Healthcare

A Livability Lab meeting.

Livability Labs bring Muskegon County leaders together to solve community challenges

An annual collaboration among a slew of cross-sector organizations and community members has created 15 teams working to develop solutions to community challenges in Muskegon County.  

Latest in Healthcare
College student and former migrant worker Dilayla Martinez with Migrant Legal Aid attorney Molly Spaak.
Michigan’s migrant farm workers face many health challenges, but help is available

Many of Michigan’s migrant farm workers risk injuries, illness, and chronic disease, which often go untreated. State and nonprofit programs are available to help.

Children at Baxter Community Center in Grand Rapids.
Consultants empower child care providers to meet mental health needs of the youngest Michiganders

The Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation program sends trained early childhood consultants to daycare settings and preschools to help caregivers better meet children's needs.

Community Action House's Food Club and Opportunity Hub.
Michigan’s nonprofit food clubs offer healthy foods at low costs to combat food insecurity

Food clubs are small nonprofit grocery stores that make healthy food available to low-income families at a truly affordable price.

A group of community health workers were trained as part of the Macomb County Regional Health Equity Advisory Council's work.
Michigan’s regional health equity councils pursue long-term efforts to eliminate health disparities

Last year the state formed 11 regional councils to spend about a year addressing health disparities in underserved communities – and they're already set to continue their work beyond that period.

WMed program to bring telehealth to unhoused youth, offering treatment otherwise beyond their reach

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine is launching a pilot program to provide telehealth care to children in the City of Kalamazoo who may have no access to clinics or needed specialists. A pilot will soon get underway to reach families in need of care that only specialists can provide.  

Actors Carol Sizer and Bill Klein rehearse "Memory of a Dance," a play about dementia commissioned by the Southwest Michigan-based Region IV Area Agency on Aging to spread community awareness of the experiences of people living with dementia.
PODCAST: Building more dementia-friendly communities

Many people living with dementia don't feel valued or respected in their communities. But some activists in Michigan are working to change that by creating dementia-friendly communities, where the general public better understands dementia and people living with dementia have more opportunities to engage in public life.

Citizen action team members in the Citizenship for Health program discuss their mission and vision for community issues they want to take action on.
Detroit program engages community members to democratically develop solutions to health disparities

An innovative initiative is chipping away at health disparities in Detroit’s Hope Village neighborhood by looking to community members as leaders and learners in their own lives.

Dr. Hank Paulson is a neurologist at University of Michigan Health and director of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
PODCAST: Inside the rapidly expanding field of dementia research

One of the most frustrating and scary things about dementia is that we still know breathtakingly little about it. But the medical community in Michigan, as in the rest of the U.S., is currently working at unprecedented speed to change that.

Sensory rooms in doctor’s offices can improve the experience for ASD families.
Corner Health sensory room makes accessing healthcare easier for people living with autism

For people on the autism spectrum, simple healthcare tasks such as routine vaccinations or annual check-ups can be a challenge. Sensory rooms are one way to overcome that challenge.

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