Central Michigan University says it’s investing new resources into improving health outcomes for people in rural communities.
The Rural Health Equity Institute has been designed to address a number of health care issues in rural Michigan, from transportation access, to a shortage of specialty health care providers, to hunger.
Alison Arnold is the director of Interdisciplinary Center for Community Health and Wellness at CMU. She said community partnerships will be at the core of the institute and the cross-campus collaboration will create more opportunities for grant-funded research projects into health-related issues.
"This institute will be broadly able to engage, CMU’s expertise to get together and work kind of as an ally in local communities to tackle some of these priorities that communities set for themselves," Arnold told WCMU.
Arnold says the institute has already launched a study to better understand broadband performance and telehealth access in six northern Michigan counties, including Gladwin, Manistee, Missaukee, Montmorency, Osceola and Oscoda.
The establishment of the institute is one of several investments the university has pledged in expanding the university's health professions profile.
In December 2022, CMU's board of trustees called on the university to offer new degrees and expand existing programs at the College of Medicine.
The board suggested increasing cohort sizes in the physician assistant and physical therapy programs and creating a new four-year, on-campus nursing program.
“Critical healthcare workforce shortages are prevalent throughout Michigan’s 57 rural counties,” said Dr. George Kikano, vice president for health affairs and dean of the CMU College of Medicine in a statement.
“Local access to mental health services is a glaring disparity in many rural communities. Nearly two-thirds of Michigan’s psychiatrists reside in metropolitan and suburban areas in Southern Michigan. The CMU Rural Health Equity Institute will help coalesce a wide range of programs, people and resources at CMU."
