Doctors in the Upper Peninsula and other rural regions report long waits for psychiatric care; child specialists are even harder to find. Can student loan forgiveness for medical residents and telemedicine reduce the gap?
Ted Roelofs
Ted Roelofs of Kentwood, has written extensively on healthcare as well as prison and juvenile justice reform. Roelofs spent nearly three decades at the Grand Rapids Press where he covered politics, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rural poverty and mental illness among the homeless. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Reach Ted at ted.roelofs@gmail.com
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
More than a dozen hospitals in rural Michigan at ‘high risk’ of closing
A devastating trend shows few signs of slowing, which means longer waits for an ambulance, distant maternity care and a brutal cycle that may lead more residents (and medical workers) to abandon rural communities.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
In Alabama, one rural town reached for its wallet to keep its hospital open
Residents who depended on the hospital in tiny Haleyville agreed to pay hikes in sales and property taxes. Their sacrifice in tax-averse Alabama may portend what it will take to keep other rural medical facilities in business.
Posted inTalent & Education
Anguish in Benton Harbor as years of mistakes lead to a school’s likely demise
Teachers blame administrators. Administrators blame the board. The board blames the state. Caught in the middle are students saddled with devastatingly low rates of achievement.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan Rep. Larry Inman: I’m not guilty of bribery, extortion and lying
Inman denies that he offered to vote no on a labor bill in exchange for campaign contributions from a union. His lawyer says Inman has “no plan to resign right now.”
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan emergency rooms are jammed. Identifying mental illness can help.
Chronic users of hospital ERs often have mental health or substance abuse issues. Programs in five regions of the state help patients find treatment for underlying problems while easing the burden on emergency rooms.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Panic attacks and anxiety landed her in Ann Arbor ERs. Today, she serves others.
Panic attacks led Lynne Ponder into alcoholism and homelessness. But a pilot program targeted at chronic ER visitors helped her find therapy, a place to live and a sense of purpose.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Mentally ill suspects get help in Miami, jail in Michigan. Guess which works
Miami’s innovative program has slashed the number of mentally ill jail inmates in Miami, saving Dade County millions of dollars while providing hope to that region’s most vulnerable residents. Michigan officials are taking stock.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
In Miami, judges weigh treatment, not prison, for the mentally ill
A day in Miami-Dade Circuit Court shows the promise of a program that has reduced the region’s jail population and may serve as a model for Michigan.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
After surviving mental illness, he works to keep others like him out of jail
In Miami, peer specialist Justin Volpe taps into his own dark past to reach out to criminal suspects with serious mental illness. Michigan court and government officials are studying whether to adopt such a model.