State of Health

Synergy Health Center CEO Valarie Cunningham is the organizer of the upcoming symposium.

Kalamazoo symposium to address mental health disparities in Black community

Black Americans face many unique mental health challenges, including higher rates of emotional distress and lower access to behavioral health care.

A children's vaccination event at the Ottawa County Department of Public Health.
Michigan health providers work to reverse falling childhood vaccination rates in pandemic’s wake

Michigan health officials are sounding the alarm that childhood vaccination rates for diseases like measles, chickenpox, and polio have yet to rebound from their slump during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Todd Barlass.
Michigan schools expand mental health services in wake of Oxford school shooting

Oxford Community Schools have introduced a host of new mental health supports – even as the state of Michigan itself prepares to make an unprecedented investment in school-based mental health services.

Michigan produce at the lunch counter at George Long Elementary School in Grass Lake.
Major expansion coming for program that offers schools “10 Cents a Meal” to serve Michigan produce

The budget for the state of Michigan's 10 Cents a Meal has more than doubled each of the past two years, with $9.3 million available in the coming fiscal year to help schools purchase local fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

Help Home Personal ID* Program GPS ID bracelets.
Many happy returns: GPS ID bracelets help Michiganders living with dementia find their way home

A new collaboration in Calhoun County has helped 135 missing people with dementia return safely home – and made life easier for their caregivers, local law enforcement, and health care providers.

Carol Sodman-Morris serves as a home visit nurse for the  Achieving Birth Equity Through Systems Transformation program.
Michigan project creates framework for communities to reduce racial disparities in infant deaths

The new effort aims to build community power, map local ecosystems, and provide equity training to reduce significant disparities in infant mortality.

An operator in the call center at Network 180, Kent County's community mental health agency.
Here’s what the new national 988 Suicide Crisis and Lifeline means for Michigan

Michigan has joined the nation in implementing an ambitious, transformative vision for mental health crisis services.

Detroit Area Agency on Aging staff recently accepted two awards from USAging.
Detroit Area Agency on Aging receives national awards for work to stop Detroiters dying prematurely

In July 2020, a report from the Detroit Area Agency on Aging found that Detroit's older adults were dying earlier than others. Two years later, the agency's work to reverse that trend has won two national awards.

Stacy Stout, director of equity and engagement for the city of Grand Rapids.
Nearly 20 Michigan communities have declared racism a public health crisis. What happens next?

Here's a look at the actions three Michigan communities have taken since passing declarations that racism is a public health crisis.

Katherine Rosenblum, co-director of the University of Michigan's Zero to Thrive program.
Michigan programs aim to prevent preschool expulsions, reducing lifelong harmful effects

Some early childhood professionals use the term "preschool to prison pipeline" to describe the way preschool and daycare expulsions and suspensions rock children's lives.

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