Ambulance providers say a $12.9 million state funding increase could help bridge a gap that has pushed Michigan EMS agencies ‘to the brink’
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 inChildren & Families
Michigan officials race deadline for $622 million in fed eviction relief
Housing officials say they are on track to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to allocate most of the pandemic CERA funds intended to help struggling tenants. It’s part of more than $1 billion earmarked for Michigan, and may help limit evictions after a national eviction ban was struck down.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan COVID nurses reach their limit: ‘I know I can’t do this forever’
Roughly 18 months into a deadly pandemic, hospitals across the state face critical frontline staff shortages, notably among nurses. While traveling nurses command top dollar as fill-ins, staff nurses at major health systems confront feelings of grief, rage and burnout.
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan braces for hundreds of Afghan refugees: ‘It’s our turn to help’
Agencies say communities are welcoming refugees, but warn that it could be a struggle for many of them.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan is burning through EMTs and paramedics, leaving shortages
Ambulance agencies across the state are short of medical first responders, which can mean longer response times in an emergency. They log long hours in stressful jobs that don’t pay terribly well. State lawmakers and health officials say they’re working on solutions.
Posted inMichigan Government
Amid Michigan rise in violent crime, little appetite for defunding police
Despite calls for radical change, police budgets are up in cities, even as departments say they are having trouble recruiting new officers. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and leading Republican challenger James Craig are making crime prevention an election issue.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan has dramatically lowered the rate of inmates returning to prison
The state prison recidivism rate has fallen sharply over two decades, attributed to policy reforms, falling crime and more intensive job training. But many former inmates still struggle for jobs and housing and wind up back behind bars.
Posted inChildren & Families
Federal eviction moratorium leaves uncertainty among Michigan renters
Washington stepped in again this week to extend a ban on evictions during COVID. But the latest extension is confined to areas with “high or substantial” infection, a status that is likely to shift week to week, from one geographic area to another.
Posted inQuality of Life
Donkeys and yoga, tree houses with TVs at alternative Michigan campsites
With campsites at state and national parks hard to book in a pandemic, creative property owners with very particular passions are renting out space through sites like Hipcamp and Tentrr. One official called it the “wild, wild West.”
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan tourism sector fumes at new delay in opening border to Canadians
Canada will allow entry to vaccinated U.S. visitors as of Aug. 9, but the U.S. travel ban on non-essential Canadian visitors was extended to Aug. 21