From tiny Grand Rapids beginnings to 1891, the hospital now offers more than 110 specialized medical and sports rehabilitation programs. These programs cater to wide-ranging needs, including brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and amputations. It covers nearly 40 sites reaching all over Michigan and into three other states. 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/new-parking-ramp-more-beds-mary-free-bed-expansion-prompted-by-unbelievable-demand-cfo-says/

New parking ramp, more beds: Mary Free Bed expansion prompted by ‘unbelievable demand,’ CFO says

Katie Rosendale    |    Sep 3, 2026

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar expansion that includes more beds at its main hospital and a new parking ramp.

It was prompted by “unbelievable demand,” according to Ryan Podvin, chief financial officer for Mary Free Bed.

“There’s a lot of people out there that need rehabilitation,” he told News 8. “And we’re serving everybody from our youngest little kiddos up to some of our oldest patients every single day.”

The expansion has several facets. The “largest” can be found at Mary Free Bed’s main hospital at 235 Wealthy St. SE, Podvin said. In multiple phases over the past few years, Mary Free Bed has added 48 beds on the hospital’s sixth floor. It’s also planning a roof replacement for the hospital.

“As we’ve grown and we’ve built new, we don’t want to forget to maintain our existing assets,” Podvin said.

Nearby, construction is well underway on a new 350-space parking ramp at 220 Wealthy St. SE.

“As we expand inpatient and outpatient capacity, as well as bring the kids’ hospital online, we knew parking would be at a premium,” Podvin explained.

On top of providing “badly needed” parking spots on Mary Free Bed’s campus, the ramp will also include “uplifting” murals, he continued.

“It’s going to be the most beautiful parking ramp you’ve ever seen,” he said.

It’s expected to open by the end of the year.

As its administrative staff grows, Mary Free Bed is also renovating the office building at 350 Lafayette Ave. SE. That work is expected to take around 18 months, according to Podvin.

Finally, Mary Free Bed earlier this year opened a new location at 4020 E. Beltline Ave. NE, where it provides a range of services like physical therapy, occupational therapy and orthotics and prosthetics.

To finance all of this work, Mary Free Bed is issuing bonds through the Kent Hospital Finance Authority.

“As we make these long-term infrastructure investments, we’re financing them with tax-exempt bonds, which are long term,” Podvin said.

The Kent County Board of Commissioners in August approved issuing up to $60 million in bonds for the work, though it’s not necessarily expected to cost that much, according to Podvin. That’s because Mary Free Bed still has to finalize details for the future projects. As it does so, the approval of up to $60 million offers some flexibility.

The bonds will not be a debt of the state or county, according to county documents, and taxpayers won’t be responsible for them. Rather, Mary Free Bed is responsible for them.

“Kent County does not take on any obligation,” County Administrator Al Vanderberg said during an Aug. 27 meeting. “It doesn’t count against our debt capacity or anything like that.”

Meanwhile, Mary Free Bed is gearing up to open the Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital at the end of the year.

https://www.9and10news.com/2026/09/03/hometown-pharmacy-closures-are-part-of-a-larger-us-trend/

Hometown Pharmacy closures are part of a larger U.S. trend

Sheldon Krause    |    09-03-2026 

TRAVERSE CITY — Hometown Pharmacy announced the closure of four Northern Michigan locations this week, part of a nationwide trend that operators say has gotten worse in recent years.

Three of the closed locations are in Traverse City and one is in Muskegon.

The independent pharmacy chain says that increasing costs and low reimbursement rates have made it difficult to maintain the business model.

According to the industry group American pharmacies, more than 30% of independent pharmacies in the U.S. closed between 2020 and 2024.

“That is a trend that is only accelerated with time, and we’re seeing closures across the state of Michigan at a very alarming rate,” said Miguel Rodriguez, executive VP and general counsel for American Pharmacies.

John Gross is the director of the Michigan Independent Pharmacy Association and owns six independent pharmacies in mid-Michigan.

He says current reimbursement rates make it difficult for smaller businesses to carry on.

If I pay $10 for a prescription for a drug to dispense to a patient, I’m going to get reimbursed less than the $10 for it,” he said. “When you’re talking about a $500 drug, we get reimbursed less than the $500. Sometimes it could be $20, $40, $50, $100 less than the cost — and that’s simply not a formula for staying in business.”

Rodriguez points to pharmacy benefit managers as a cause for the closures.

Providers like CVS Caremark say that PBM’s negotiate discounts to lower prices for patients — but Rodriguez says that they also set the reimbursement rates for other pharmacies.

“Pharmacy benefit managers they are not reimbursing pharmacies for the services that are being provided in any sort of adequate amount, and that’s led to financial crisis in these stores,” he said.

These dynamics have impacted both independent and chain pharmacies.

Also according to American Pharmacies, more than 250 chain pharmacies have closed in Michigan since 2024. That includes 70 Walgreens and all 185 Rite Aid locations.

Both Rodriguez and Gross say that the closures of pharmacies can deprive communities of important healthcare resources and lead to worse health outcomes over time.

“If you’re someone who doesn’t have transportation or you can’t get around — how are they getting their prescriptions, and who’s their healthcare professional that’s helping them with immunizations or everything that’s going on?” Gross asked.

Hometown Pharmacy will still operate about two dozen locations in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. That includes their pharmacy within the Traverse City Munson Medical Center.

https://bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-school-districts-offer-insurance-free-care-to-beat-rising-health-costs/

Michigan school districts offer insurance-free care to beat rising health costs

Robin Erb    |    August 31, 2026

• Direct primary care doctors work outside conventional health care systems, shirking insurance
• For a monthly fee, they manage chronic conditions, tend injuries and illness and provide other foundational medical care
• At least three Michigan school districts are betting the model can help reduce costs overall

CORUNNA — Three Michigan school districts are betting that a specialized clinic may be the antidote to surging health care costs.

The medical care here at the Corunna Plum Health clinic — inside a collection of converted high school classrooms on the district’s main campus — is free.

The 13 patients scheduled on a recent day handed over no copays and no deductibles for physician assistant Shelley Littleton to tend to a range of maladies — from poison ivy to pink eye and from high blood pressure and high anxiety

They also left with nearly $550 worth of medications — also free.

What’s more, each had a visit scheduled for at least a half-hour long.

“What I love about it more than anything else is the ability to be seen and have a lengthy conversation,” said John Fattal, superintendent of Corunna Public Schools, northeast of Lansing.

“This is health care the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.

Corunna and two neighboring school districts — Lansing and Van Buren, are part of a consortium that offers health care through Plum Health, a Detroit-based provider of “direct primary care.”

It’s a growing category of health services that bypass traditional insurance in favor of a direct financial transaction between the patient — or in this case the patient’s employer — and the health provider.

Just more than two years ago, Corunna began paying $90 each month for each of its 255 employees to use a two-day-a-week primary care clinic, established to serve its employees and their families.

The districts are charged for deeply discounted medications provided by the clinic — meaning patients have no out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.

It’s a gamble.

The districts expect this type of easy-access, free primary care will help employees and their families reduce trips to the emergency rooms, where costs can easily top $1,000, or urgent care visits that cost hundreds of dollars.

About 110 of the district’s staff carry insurance through the Michigan Education Special Services Association. Like most conventional benefit packages, it covers emergency and urgent care and hospitalization.

But how many ER visits could be avoided, Fattal reasons, if parents knew they could see their doctor first thing in the morning?

One family with strep throat running through it makes a middle-of-the-night ER run, costing the districts’ insurance pool hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, That cost of that single visit — the ER care, the lab draws and the medications — can trounce more in a single night than a year’s worth of direct primary care fees.

Those crises, repeated throughout the year among hundreds of employees and their families, in turn, drive up the school’s overall health care expenses year after year.

District employees who don’t have that insurance, such as part-time food service workers or paraprofessionals, may have insurance through spouses, from the individual market, or none at all, Fattal said.

But the cost to see Littleton is the same, no matter their insurance status.

No insurance? No problem.

In its most basic form, direct primary care works outside of insurance.

It’s an alluring possibility as insurance grows increasingly out of reach. Nearly 131,000 Michiganders dropped insurance on the federal marketplace this year, and more than 80,000 beneficiaries have disappeared from the state’s safety net since January as Medicaid continues to shrink, according to the latest state data.

The pressure is on, too, for Michigan business and for workers with job-related health coverage.

Health care costs for the nation’s employers are expected to approach double-digit increases next year, according to projections this month by Chicago-based insurance broker Aon. On average, employer costs will rise 9.5% — to more than $19,000 per employee, next year — driven in large part by high-priced ‌drugs and increased use of the medical system, Aon estimates.

On average, workers’ health care costs will jump nearly 8% on average, to $5,297, the broker projected.

Direct primary care doctors say they sidestep those budget-bulging surges, as well as the paperwork complications associated with insurance.

In doing so, they can deliver more personal, more complete care, said Dr. Philip Eskew, a direct primary care physician based in South Carolina.

“You get to spend time with the patient rather than screaming into your medical record to make it happy so that you can bill whatever code you need to bill,” he said.

Eskew’s website, dpcfrontier.com, maps direct primary care providers.

There’s no way to know precisely how many direct primary care doctors there are, since most of them work outside of insurance — a metric for much of the nation’s health care research.

But the numbers are certainly increasing, Eskew said.

Without extra administrative personnel to handle insurance billing, clinics can keep their costs down, too, said Eskew.

At the Detroit and Royal Oak Plum Health sites, patients pay $95 a month to have round-the-clock access to family medicine care.

The monthly fee gives patients access to the clinics — often the same day they call. In contrast, doctors in their insurer’s network might not have an appointment opening for more than a week, said Dr. Paul Thomas, founder of Plum Health.

That’s because the nation’s primary care doctors often are said to have about 2,500 patients on average — a number that some have argued is unrealistically high. In comparison, direct primary care doctors serve just more than 400 patients, according to a 2024 survey of direct primary care doctors by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

At Corunna recently, each of the day’s appointments was scheduled for at least a half hour. Two new patients were scheduled for 60 minutes.

One patient had called at 8 a.m. that day, scheduled the appointment for an hour later. By 9:27, he was on his way out of the clinic and onto work, medication in hand.

In a state short of educators, the districts now can offer easier-access, no-cost medical care to their employees. In the case of Corunna, the clinic is located on the school district’s main campus.

“We see this as a recruitment and retention tool,” Fattal said.

Erika Eiseler had stopped by with her daughter, Leigha, 8, for a school physical. The office manager at Corunna’s Elsa Meyer Elementary School and her family are insured by Eiseler’s husband, a manager of an HVAC company.

Here, their access is convenient, not rushed, and free from the $40 copay for a doctor’s visit through the family’s insurance policy, Eiseler said, as Leigha read the letters from an eye chart on the wall.

Eiseler figures the family had at least eight doctors’ appointments last year for the normal seasonal illness that so many families face.

“And then there were medications about half the time, so … what? Eight times last year? So you have eight times $40, plus the medicine?” Eiseler said.

Plum buys medications in bulk, charging the schools a 15% markup that’s charged to the school, Thomas said.

Even then, “we’re talking pennies a pill,” Thomas said, from his Detroit office.

The care in these cement block rooms, where a decades-old classroom pencil sharpener still hangs on the walk, costs the family nothing, Eisler said.

“We’re literally putting money back into their pockets,” Fattal said of the district’s employees.

The math doesn’t work

Littleton, the physician assistant who sees patients at the Corunna clinic, doesn’t have regular health coverage herself, although she carries a rider policy to cover “catastrophic” health care costs if necessary.

She did the math, she said. It didn’t add up.

A mammogram each year? Free at certain clinics.

Her OB-GYN appointment each year? $300.

Colonoscopy every third year? $2,000 or so.

At 56 years old, she’d pay $650 a month for insurance, she said. Worse, the $10,000 out-of-pocket max meant she’d probably never see any real benefit from it.

Littleton says she represents “middle-of-the-road” Michiganders — not poor enough to qualify for free health care, but also not wealthy enough to afford it.

“I really understand the insurance runaround because I am the poster child,” she said.

Helping or hurting the larger picture?

The American Academy of Family Physicians and American Medical Association and other medical groups support the ability of physicians to work in direct primary care. Some have argued that expanding direct primary care could expand access in underserved areas.

Earlier this year, the Michigan State Medical Society, which represents doctors of a range of medical specialties, called on the state to build up its primary care network — a “cornerstone” of the larger health care delivery system, it said.

Nearly 1 in 3 Michigan residents lack primary care access, while the state directs about 5% of total health care dollars to primary care, even though experts say 12–15% is necessary for a robust primary care system, according to the report.

Still, there are arguably downsides to increased use of direct primary care: Those physicians take on much smaller patient loads, arguably stretching the number of primary care providers in the state even thinner. In other words, with each doctor that moves to direct primary care, he or she sheds hundreds of patients who then are left to find another doctor.

Plum Health founder Thomas — whose time offering street medicine grounded his belief in more affordable health care — looks at it this way: With few patients and a better work-life balance, today’s primary care doctors won’t burn out early and tomorrow’s doctors will choose primary care as their specialty.

It’s a shift that would take years, but also would transform medicine in a way that saves both costs and lives, Thomas said.

And more immediately?

“It’s working out for insured people because they don’t get dinged with (cost-sharing for) those ER and the urgent care visits,” Thomas said.

And for the uninsured, he said, “they have something where they had nothing before.”

The Bridge Michigan story was picked up by the AP, and now reaches a broader audience.

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-school-districts-health-clinics-78f360030d199ff88485c23fc06f2931

First, a Daily Signal op-ed gives the national the national perspective. 

What does your college student say?

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/04/hidden-health-college-dorms/

The Hidden Health Risk in College Dorms

August 4, 2026

Every student knows the smell.

The musty odor from an air vent. The dark stain spreading across a dorm ceiling. The damp corner of a communal bathroom.

Most students barely notice it. Others joke about it.

What many do not realize is that mold is more than an ugly stain or an unpleasant odor. Federal health agencies have linked mold exposure to a plethora of health issues. Yet mold in college housing remains one of the least-discussed student health issues on American campuses.

One of the authors of the present piece knows several college students who have experienced headaches and persistent coughs that were seemingly caused by moldy living conditions.

College dormitories are highly susceptible to mold growth. Aging buildings, shared bathrooms, poor ventilation, plumbing leaks, high humidity, and delayed maintenance all create ideal conditions for moisture to accumulate. Educational buildings frequently experience moisture-related issues.

When water intrusion from leaks or flooding is not addressed quickly and thoroughly, mold can begin growing within 24 to 48 hours. Yet students are forced to trust and rely on universities to identify, remediate, and communicate potential hazards.

In the last five years, dorm mold has been reported at colleges and universities in 42 out of the 50 states, with media reports of mold issues at 75% of Ivy League institutions. Even at schools known for offering some of the nation’s most prestigious educations, many students have often been denied something far more fundamental: a safe and healthy place to live. Academic excellence means little if students are forced to learn in housing conditions that may compromise their health.

Too often, mold in college housing is dismissed as little more than a maintenance issue rather than the public health concern it can become. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links exposure to damp, moldy environments with respiratory symptoms, chronic coughing, asthma attacks, and allergic reactions, while noting that persistent moisture and flooding create ideal conditions for mold growth.

Public health experts estimate that roughly half of U.S. homes have conditions associated with dampness or mold, and one widely cited analysis found that approximately 21% of asthma cases in the United States are attributable to dampness and mold exposure. Emerging research also suggests that mold may affect more than just the respiratory system, with a 2020 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity finding that mold inhalation triggered neuroinflammation and cognitive changes in animal models.

Additionally, it can be difficult for students to recognize when their living environments may be contributing to their health problems. Fatigue, frequent headaches, respiratory issues, or recurring illnesses are often dismissed as a normal part of adjusting to college life, which may include late nights, increased stress, poor sleep, or less-than-ideal dining hall food. As a result, a dorm’s indoor air quality or mold exposure as a culprit for health hazards is often overlooked, delaying both recognition of the problem and action.

This issue rarely receives the attention it deserves, and many colleges require students to live on campus for at least the first year—often at significant monetary cost. With that requirement and expenditure comes a responsibility to provide housing that is safe, healthy, and properly maintained. Students should not have to choose between pursuing their education and protecting their health.

A clean, well-maintained dormitory is not a luxury; it is the foundation of student success. Universities invest enormous resources in student wellness, but wellness begins with the place students sleep, study, and live.

Institutions cannot claim to prioritize student health while treating mold as an insignificant facilities problem. If colleges are truly committed to investing in the next generation, providing safe, healthy housing should not be optional—it should be the standard.


Romey Crumbaugh is a member of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program.

Jennifer Galardi is a senior policy analyst, Restoring American Wellness at The Heritage Foundation.

When local health facilities, clinicians, and ancillary resources talk, good things happen. Respect is essential. Being owned by the same mother ship is not.

Big Health defines continuity of care as "a patient receiving consistent and coordinated medical attention throughout their healthcare journey, ensuring that all healthcare providers work together to support the patient's needs. This approach helps improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction by providing a seamless experience across different stages of care."

https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/care-coordination/henry-ford-behavioral-health-pilot-sees-up-to-85-drop-in-work-queues-after-1-year/

Henry Ford behavioral health pilot sees up to 85% drop in work queues after 1 year

Ella Ruder    |    August 11, 2026

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health’s Same-Day Solutions Ambulatory Pilot Program increased the number of patients who completed a behavioral health appointment after being referred for care by 50% at pilot sites.

The program, launched in July 2025, connects patients who express mental health concerns during a primary care visit with a licensed behavioral health provider for an assessment and guidance to the appropriate level of care, according to an Aug. 10 news release from the system.

One year after its launch, the program is deployed in 14 Henry Ford Health primary care clinics across Metro Detroit. Behavioral health referrals increased by 22% over the last year, while the number of patients waiting to be scheduled declined across Henry Ford Health’s behavioral health services by up to 85%. Referrals to specialty services that were not the right fit declined by 76%.

“Instead of asking patients to fit themselves into a particular service, Same-Day Solutions allows us to understand what they need first and build the path from there. That is what a more responsive behavioral health system should look like,” Michael Burton, director of Behavioral Health Integration at Henry Ford Health, said in the release.

Communication, communication, communication.

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/2026/08/14/oakland-county-commissioners-ok-1-5-million-for-planned-parenthood-amid-heated-public-debate/

Oakland County commissioners OK $1.5 million for Planned Parenthood amid heated public debate
By Peg McNichol | August 14, 2026

Oakland County commissioners voted 11-6 to allocate $1.5 million to Planned Parenthood of Michigan for healthcare services at the Ferndale Health Center, following hours of passionate public testimony on both sides of the issue.

The fee-for-service contract, which runs through August 2028, will reimburse $206.53 per eligible visit for Oakland County residents, capped at $1.5 million over two years. The funding comes after three Planned Parenthood clinics in Warren, Livonia and Lansing closed in July due to federal funding cuts, leaving Ferndale as the only facility in Oakland County.

Paula Thornton Greer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, told commissioners that Oakland County residents accounted for more than 6,000 health center visits last year. More than 4,100 of those visits were to the Ferndale location, she said.

“The reality facing safety net healthcare in 2026 is sobering,” Thornton Greer said. “Federal funding cuts and rising operational costs are squeezing local providers nationwide.”

Supporters of the resolution emphasized the facility provides cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, birth control, wellness exams and other healthcare services beyond reproductive care.

Chris McKenna, a Birmingham resident and single father, said his college-age child relies on Planned Parenthood for essential healthcare they cannot afford. He said he is looking for work and can’t afford to help her financially.

“I’m asking you, parent to parent, please approve this proposal and help ensure that my child can continue to have access to the services that they need,” McKenna said.

Opponents argued taxpayers should not fund an organization they view as politically partisan. Multiple speakers cited Planned Parenthood’s announcement to spend $47 million on the 2026 election cycle and recent donations to Michigan political candidates.

“Planned Parenthood is a private partisan political organization,” said Tamara Mitchell, president of the Frederick Douglass Freedom Alliance of Michigan. “Oakland County taxpayer dollars should not be used for Planned Parenthood’s political purposes.”

State Rep. Josh Schriver, an Oxford Republican, urged commissioners to vote no, arguing county health providers already offer the same services.

“Our county health providers, they do cancer screenings, they do STI tests,” Schriver said. “I voted for a budget that funded public health. The money is there for the cancer screenings and the STI tests.”

Several speakers listed nearly two dozen federally qualified health centers in Oakland County that provide similar services, questioning why Planned Parenthood needed taxpayer funding.

Board Chair Dave Woodward defended the proposal, saying the county health department lacks capacity to absorb thousands of additional patients if Ferndale closes.

“Our health department doesn’t have the capacity to do this,” Woodward said, noting that expanding the county’s services would cost millions but it a policy question worth exploring long term.

Other non-profits mentioned during public comment don’t have the capacity to take on 6,000 more patients visits, Woodward said, noting that Honor Health is at capacity with 500 patient visits.

The bottom line about $1.5 million for Planned Parenthood services, he said, is about “making certain that all people have access to healthcare.”

Commissioner Chris Long requested assurances that none of the funds would be used for political campaigns and asked for a full accounting of how the money is spent. Woodward said it’s against the law for Planned Parenthood to use any of the county’s money for political purposed and promised documentation showing how the dollars are used.

Commissioner Kristen Nelson, a Waterford Township Democrat, said she supports reproductive freedom and access to reproductive healthcare but she didn’t support spending $1.5 million on a contract that hadn’t yet been written.

“Every expenditure of public dollars should be carefully evaluated,” she said, asking a series of questions about the contract terms and how eligibility and reimbursement for services will be determined.

“Given the federal ban that blocked patients from using Medicaid at Planned Parenthood of Michigan centers has ended, is Medicaid required to be billed before reimbursement is requested from the county?” she said.Update

Nelson also noted that she could not “responsibly authorize $1.5 million before I have had an opportunity to review the final contract.” She added that the Planned Parenthood allocation would be finalized in a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, she said, individual commissioners and some county residents have spent five months asking for a $100,000 allocation to support immigrant families affected by federal policies without any action by the board. The proposed spending would provide housing, food, medical and legal assistance to families.

“If urgency matters today (for Planned Parenthood) it should have mattered for the last five months (for the family assistance proposal),” she said.

Commissioner Mike Spisz, an Oxford Republican and chair of the minority caucus, asked to postpone the decision until commissioners could get contract details. That motion failed on an 11-6 vote.

The Oakland County Health Department will finalize the $1.5 million contract with Planned Parenthood.

Oakland County Republican Party Chairman Vance Patrick condemned the commissioner’s vote.

“Taxpayer funds should never be used to subsidize an abortion clinic,” said Patrick. “The Oakland County Board of Commissioners had countless opportunities to invest this money in public safety, roads, veterans, seniors, struggling families, or direct services for women and children. Instead, they chose to hand $1.5 million to Planned Parenthood.”

This is the second time Oakland County has funded Planned Parenthood in the past 10 years. The board in 2019 approved $500,000 to keep Title X family planning and health services funded after federal rules kept the organization from receiving money.

The Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team (HEART) is operated by the Durham Community Safety Department (DCSD) which works to enhance public safety through community-centered approaches to prevention and intervention as alternatives to policing and the criminal legal system.

HEART's 4 crisis response units are: Crisis Call Diversion (CCD): CCD embeds mental health clinicians in Durham's 9-1-1 call center.

Community Response Teams (CRT): CRT dispatches unarmed 3-person teams as first responders to non-violent behavioral health and quality of life calls for service.

Care Navigation (CN): Care Navigators follow up with people after meeting with one of our first responders to help connect to the community-based care they need and want.

Co-Response (CoR): CoR pairs clinicians with Durham police officers trained in Crisis Intervention to respond to certain calls for service that pose a greater potential safety risk.

https://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/news/study-for-unarmed-responder-program-cost-ann-arbor-100k

Study for unarmed responder program cost Ann Arbor $100k

City Council approved pilot program in July aimed at diverting mental health calls from police

Scott McClallen | August 13, 2026

Ann Arbor officials paid more than $100,000 for a 49-page study considering the city’s new program for unarmed responders.

The Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved a plan on July 20 for an unarmed response team, but Tree City officials have been considering such a program for five years.

In 2021, the council adopted a resolution to develop an unarmed public safety response program, saying it would ease the burden on police and firefighters.

The city has spent $104,918 in federal stimulus funds on the program, according to a document that Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request. That money paid for a report prepared by Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants.

Ann Arbor Unarmed Response Team Final Report2023 by mcclallen

The city’s Supportive Resources and Outreach Teams program will send four unarmed clinicians to respond to non-emergency calls. The Public Sector Consultants report suggested the program could be funded through existing city funds.

The goal of the pilot program is to “offer an alternative to police response and provide care that is empathetic, compassionate, trauma-informed, and responsive to the community’s needs,” the report concluded.

“We would expect to see individuals being connected to appropriate behavioral health, substance use, housing, and social service resources, rather than unnecessarily entering the criminal justice or emergency medical systems,” Jonathan Laye, director of Ann Arbor’s Supportive Connections Program, told the City Council via Zoom on July 20.

The program structure follows that of a similar effort in Durham, North Carolina, Laye said.

“The goal is not to preserve a particular model at all costs, but to build the most effective, accountable, and evidence-informed crisis response system possible for the city of Ann Arbor’s community,” said Laye.

The program will respond to people having breakdowns and other problems that aren’t crime, Ward 1 Councilmember Cynthia Harrison said.

“It is not armed,” Harrison said of the team. “It is not (the Ann Arbor Police Department). It is a fully civilian, unarmed response staffed by licensed social workers trained in crisis intervention and trauma-informed care. Their job is connection, stabilization, and case management, not law enforcement.”

Ann Arbor has one of the highest costs of living in Michigan and a growing homeless population.

Police are asked to do too much, and not every 911 call requires an armed response, Ann Arbor Mayor Chris Taylor said in front of the city council during that meeting.

“We also have to meet people where they are, and there are many times when people want help, need help, but they don’t want to have an officer show up,” Taylor said. “Our police have all too often been the point of last government contact, the government engagement of last resort.”

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/inside-mdhhs/newsroom/2026/08/14/mdhhs-confirms-detection-of-influenza-a-h1n2-variant-in-michigan-resident

• Do not eat or drink in livestock barns or show rings.
• Do not take toys, pacifiers, cups, baby bottles, strollers or similar items into pig areas.
• Anyone who is at high risk of serious flu complications should avoid contact with pigs and swine barns when attending a fair.
• Get an annual influenza vaccination.

• Wash hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick, stay home from work or school until your illness is over.
• Avoid contact with pigs if you have flu-like symptoms. Wait seven days after your illness started or until you have been without fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, whichever is longer.

• Fever.
• Cough.
• Runny nose.
• Body aches.
• Nausea.
• Vomiting.
• Diarrhea.

• Children younger than five years of age.
• People 65 years of age and older.
• Pregnant people.
• People with certain long-term health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, weakened immune systems and neurological or neurodevelopmental conditions.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2026/08/14/henry-ford-providence-southfield-hospital-trauma-designation/91303350007/

Regaining trauma certification 'big challenge' for Metro Detroit hospital
By Carol Thompson - August 14, 2026

Henry Ford Providence Southfield Hospital cannot accept trauma patients by ambulance as administrators work to restore the hospital's trauma designation, a Henry Ford Health executive said.

The hospital lost its trauma designation in mid-July and is appealing the decision. The change is temporary and unrelated to quality of care, said Dr. Adnan Munkarah, Henry Ford Health president of clinical enterprise and chief physician executive.

"Hospital leaders are currently working with the (American College of Surgeons), the state of Michigan and others to restore our ability to receive trauma patients via ambulance as soon as possible," he said in a statement emailed through a spokesperson.

Restoring the designation could be a "big challenge," said Kelsey Ostergren, senior director of health policy for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

Without its designation as a trauma facility, the hospital can accept and treat trauma patients who arrive on their own with injuries from things like gunshot wounds or car crashes, but not patients who arrive via ambulance.

That's because ambulance services rely on a state-approved list of trauma facilities to determine where to send patients.

Emergency medical workers assess patients in the field and then take them to the nearest hospital that's equipped to handle their needs, Ostergren said. Although a hospital with a Level III trauma designation may be closer, an ambulance team may decide to drive a longer distance to go to a Level II hospital if the patient's needs are more severe.

Because Henry Ford Providence Southfield Hospital isn't on the list, ambulances won't take patients there, Ostergren said.

Retrieving trauma designation will be 'big challenge' for Henry Ford

The loss presents a problem for the Southfield hospital as Henry Ford tries to restore its designation as a trauma facility.

The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma verifies Michigan's Level I, II and III trauma facilities, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. MDHHS then approves those verifications.

Verification involves an external review of each facility's capability and performance in providing trauma care. Hospitals have to do things like submit examples of trauma cases they have treated, Ostergren said. That's harder to do when trauma patients aren't arriving by ambulance.

"Losing a (trauma designation) status and trying to regain it is tough when you have to prove you're taking care of trauma patients, yet you can't accept trauma patients via ambulance," Ostergren said. "It will take them longer to accrue that volume of trauma patients they need to go back to ACS and get that trauma designation."

Munkarah said Henry Ford officials are concerned that losing the Southfield hospital's designation as a trauma facility "could impact how quickly our community receives care in critical moments."

"We are actively pursuing an appeal and we are confident the matter will be resolved shortly," Munkarah said.

Ostergren said the ACS reviews hospitals' trauma designation status every three years. The redesignation process is high-stakes and requires a lot of work from the hospital.

"It's incredibly administratively heavy for hospitals, which is where I think the Henry Ford team ran into some challenges," she said. "While they still are operating at that Level II trauma level, it's unfortunate that administrative piece has cost them at least temporarily the designation. I know our team has been working really closely with them to figure out how we can support getting them back up and running and getting their trauma designation."

The hospital's emergency department treated more than 64,000 cases in 2025, Munkarah said. No jobs were affected by the loss in designation.

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/comprehensive-therapy-center-in-grand-rapids-shuts-down/

https://therapycenter.org/

Comprehensive Therapy Center in Grand Rapids shuts down
By Susan Samples - August 6, 2026

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A program that’s served children who have developmental disabilities for forty years has closed its doors.

The Comprehensive Therapy Center on Ardmore St. SE in Grand Rapids confirmed to News 8 that it has ceased operations due to “financial circumstances.”

According to its website, CTC served 184 people with special needs in 2025; the bulk of those clients — 113 — were children ages 6 to 11.

“For the past four decades, it has been our honor to provide specialized therapeutic and educational services for children, helping them walk, talk, learn and play,” wrote Mary Ann Sabo, spokesperson for CTC, in a statement to News 8. “We have been supported in this work by incredible teams of employees, volunteers and donors who have embraced our mission to serve.”

The statement went on to explain that CTC’s Board decided at the end of July to “suspend services” and “close our operations.”

“This was a difficult decision, but one that is necessitated by financial circumstances,” the statement said. “We have worked closely with the families we serve to share resources and to suggest alternative providers. We are deeply saddened to have reached this place.”

CTC declined to elaborate on what prompted the financial deficit.

“We have nothing to add beyond our statement,” the spokesperson responded.