State of Health

State of Health is a series about how Michigan communities are rising to address health challengesPrevious coverage examined health disparities and how they affect Michigan's children and seniors and integrated care and its potential to improve Michiganders' health. This series is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

Lunchtime at Oehrli Elementary School in Montague, Mich.

Michigan’s free school meals yield high returns for student health and academic success

Michigan has become one of eight states to make free school meals available to all, creating notable benefits for students' health.

Patricia Tillman-Meakins, Tracey Williams, and Becca Fleming at Packard Health Clinic at West Willow.
Community-based health projects offer care for underserved residents in Detroit, Ypsi, and Jackson

Several Michigan organizations are innovating ways to increase health care access for the state’s most vulnerable residents in their own communities. 

Homg Miller leads a fitness class for in person participants at the Detroit office of the Association of Chinese Americans and participants on Zoom.
Metro Detroit project focuses on culturally relevant home care for older Chinese Americans

The Metro Detroit-based Association of Chinese Americans is developing a training program to address the shortage of direct care workers equipped to serve older Chinese Americans in Southeast Michigan. 

Hillery Ross, How YOU Birth Doulas Services' administrative coordinator, and Allison Keessen, treasurer for How YOU Birth Doula Services.
Initiative rapidly expands doula ranks in Muskegon County, with major implications for birth equity

Muskegon-based How YOU Birth Doula Services is working to improve outcomes for parents and babies by leveraging Michigan's recently added Medicaid coverage for doula services. 

Dr. Theresa Hastert (right) helped develop the Michigan Community Outreach to Address Financial Toxicity (MI-COST). Ali Fakih (left) is a research assistant with MI-COST, and Cornelius Wilson (center) sits on its Community Advisory Board.
Here’s how Michigan organizations are working to reduce cancer treatment’s crushing financial burden

In Michigan, several efforts are underway to help cancer patients prepare for, manage, and alleviate the financial struggles associated with treatment.

Veronica Bilicki oversees the Patient as Caregiver program.
Henry Ford Health program helps unpaid caregivers stay healthy

The Patient as Caregiver project helps unpaid caregivers carry on in their roles, reducing the amount of hired care needed and helping people age at place in their homes.

Kimberly Singh (right), Michigan Oral Health Coalition board member and chief community and governmental affairs officer for My Community Dental Centers, chats with Dental Assistant Kortney Jones.
Oral health care is inaccessible to many Michiganders. This coalition is working to change that.

The Michigan Oral Health Coalition brings together a multitude of Michigan oral and general health partners to collaborate on improving oral health for all Michiganders, especially those who have barriers to access. 

Kristin Graham, principal of Macatawa Bay Middle School, confers with a student.
Successful suicide prevention protocol expands from Corewell hospitals to Western Michigan schools

The Blue Envelope program trains all school employees how to respond to a student expressing thoughts of suicide, and assigns interventions based on the student's risk level.

Rabbi Yudi Mann.
West Bloomfield synagogue will train Jewish leaders on providing behavioral health support

A new initiative at The Shul seeks to provide more tools for Jewish community leaders to better offer behavioral health support to their community.

Head Start students at St. John's Universal Church of Christ in Jackson learn about cucumbers and dragonfruit in a lesson on mindful eating.
Pilot program in Jackson County aims to support preschoolers’ mental health through mindfulness

A new study will test whether and how mindfulness-based food-body-mind interventions can optimize young children's cognitive function and behavioral health.

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