Health innovation grants given to several U.P. agencies

Two health care innovation projects in the Upper Peninsula are getting grant funding from the Michigan Department of Community Health this year.

A total of 44 recipients were announced for Michigan's Health Innovation Grant, all one-time projects that could get up to $35,000 in funding each; more than $1.3 million was granted across the state. The goal of the grant program is to help bridge the gap between creative, collaborative health care ideas and their implementation, in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery in Michigan.

In the U.P., Great Lakes Recovery Centers received $35,000 for services in Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, Iron, Marquette, Dickinson, Menominee, Alger, Delta, Schoolcraft, Luce, Mackinac and Chippewa counties.

The funding will go to advanced, secure video and teleconferencing equipment to help expand the quality of GLRC's rural behavioral health services and provide mental health and substance abuse treatment services all over the U.P.

Also in Baraga County, the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan received $34,755 to fight prescription drug abuse. They'll use the money to conduct training with staff, develop a tribal-specific prescription drug abuse screening and referral system, create educational materials for the community, conduct a take-back event for prescriptions, and increase the tribe's drug abuse policy to cover twelve tribes instead of one.

Two other projects got grant funding that will affect the U.P.; the Michigan Rural EMS Network got $35,000 to create a toolkit for rural counties across Michigan that will connect EMS agency leaders to national, state and regional resources and roll out the toolkit at meetings and conferences.

Also, the Michigan Primary Care Association, along with the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance, got $35,000 to create and implement a statewide business plan to address certification, financing and long-term planning for community health workers.

Writer: Kim Eggleston
Source: Michigan Department of Community Health