CenterPieceCOMMUNITY NEWSLETTER September 2014

PROFILEA health-conscious

individual finds help and hope when she needs it the most in her life.

FAIR FUNRonald McDonald,

the Tooth Fairy and big prizes this year at the fair.

VOLUNTEERKirk Balcom shares

his expertise and dedication with the Center board.

Opening the door

to HEALTH CARE for all

@ Center for Family HealthCenterforFamilyHealth.org

CFH EXPANSION

Center to add Hillsdale site, dental facilityThe Center for Family Health is bracing for a busy 2015 when two major expansions of services at two new locations are planned.

Look for a satellite primary-care medical clinic in downtown Hillsdale, and a new dental office in Jackson that will add adults to its patient list.

While anticipated reimbursements will cover operational costs of the Jackson dental and the Hillsdale medical expansions, the $8 million capital costs will be borne by a combination of financing and donations.

The two-phase construction project in Jackson will create more space for the Center’s dental operation and family medicine department.

A separate, 20,000-square-foot dental facility will be built on land the Center owns on Blackman Street at Trail Street. This will enable the Center to broaden its dental patient base from primarily children to include newly insured adults under the Healthy Michigan Plan.

Moving dental services—currently on the second floor of the Center’s main facility—will open up space that will be renovated for more medical exam rooms and physician offices. The area is needed to accommodate family-medicine residents who are practicing at the Center through Allegiance Health’s Graduate Medical Education Program.

CONTINUED PG 2 uThanks to the planned expansions by the Center for Family Health, more Jackson adults will be able to receive dental care.

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The tandem projects will ensure that the Center can serve more patients, many of whom recently enrolled in Healthy Michigan, the Medicaid expansion program, or are uninsured or underinsured. In 2014, the Center expects to serve about 28,000 patients.

“Adult dental is an area in which our board has had innumerable discussions and has been a gap in our community,” said Molly Kaser, president & CEO. “We are so pleased to move ahead with this plan that will open up access for adults and will create

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Healthy Michigan reaches 100+% enrolledEnrollment in Healthy Michigan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program, continues with the Center for Family Health playing a key role in Jackson. The rules governing Medicaid eligibility changed dramatically on April 1, 2014.

Adults are eligible if they have a modified, adjusted gross income at or below 138 percent of the federal

Here are a few facts about the Center’s involvement in enrollment:

Hillsdale County residents will be able to access medical care at a Center satellite clinic.

poverty level. That means an individual with an annual income of about $16,000 now is eligible as well as a family earning about $33,000.

The Michigan Primary Care Association estimates 100.63 percent of the 6,479 eligible enrollees in Jackson County signed up as of Aug. 25. That translates to 6,520 new Medicaid recipients.

• As of Aug. 22, the Center has enrolled 2,109 people in the Healthy Michigan Plan, and has assisted 9,532 on the phone.

• Center staff completed 51 outreach events, attempting to enroll adults in Healthy Michigan at various locations, including ABC Academy, several McDonald’s locations, a health fair at Allegiance, a booth at the Jackson County Fair.

• Outreach events are planned at open houses for the new school year at Jackson Public Schools, Northwest Community Schools and a variety of other schools in Jackson County.

• Using a federal grant, the Center has run two separate media campaigns to drive enrollment

in Jackson County. The campaigns included cable TV ads, mlive impressions, radio ads, newspaper ads and billboards.

• The Center’s seven enrollment specialists also are working with Enroll America’s Get Covered America, a national movement that goes door-to-door to encourage people to enroll in health-care coverage. Enroll America estimates it makes between four and six contacts before a person signs up.

• Adults still can sign up for Healthy Michigan at the Center. Specialists are available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 505 N. Jackson St. or call 517-748-5500.

The Center for Family Health is an independent, federally qualified health center that never turns patients away because of inability to pay. It provides comprehensive, quality medical care, dental services and behavioral-health assistance to more than 27,000 patients at its main location in Jackson, four school health centers and a satellite clinic at LifeWays.

needed space for the important residency program.”

For years, Jackson’s low-income adult population has had limited options to access dental care. Oral health is inextricably linked to physical health, and scores of adults without dental care experience days off work and a diminished quality of life because of dental pain, and other oral and related medical health issues, Kaser said.

Space and low reimbursements prevented the Center from accepting a large number of adult dental patients. Healthy Michigan provides enrolled adults with dental coverage, and the new facility will create the space the Center needs to accommodate the expected influx in new patients.

Although the board approved moving ahead on the project, there is no timeline established yet. However,

Message from the CEO

Expanding services is excitingOur health center has been in the news recently with the announcements of two very exciting expansion plans, both of which are highlighted in our cover story. These projects reflect our mission and purpose of “opening the door to health care for all.”

We are submitting a federal funding proposal to expand and open a primary medical-care site in Hillsdale County. We anticipate opening this site sometime in 2015, and it will serve the entire county. We are receiving a warm welcome from Hillsdale’s health- and human-services communities, and we look forward to building partnerships that will improve the health of Hillsdale County.

A review of Hillsdale’s health indicators shows a community with a lot of chronic disease and poverty, similar to Jackson. Hillsdale is a more rural community without some of the infrastructure we enjoy in Jackson, such as a bus system. This makes accessing health care more of a challenge and ideal for a community health center!

Here in Jackson we are going to undertake a significant expansion of our dental services. For many years we have had to limit our dental care for adults. We focused our efforts (and will continue to do so) on reaching out to families with children. This is one of the reasons we initiated our mobile dental service; we take a dentist and dental hygienist to a number of local schools so children can receive a comprehensive dental exam as well as cleaning and X-rays.

Molly KaserPresident & CEO

We know that there are still many children in need of dental care in Jackson County, and we’ll continue with our outreach efforts.

However, we can also reach children through their parents. By serving more adults in our community and providing them with preventive dental services, we anticipate that they will teach their children by example that taking care of one’s mouth is important for long-term health.

Both of these expansion projects will involve hiring staff; in Jackson, we’ll also be constructing a new facility, which will put more people to work.

These projects demonstrate that we do more than health care—we are also committed to economic development. Creating jobs that pay fair wages and provide benefits is one of the best ways to improve the health of individuals, and we’re committed to both! n

Executive Staff

Molly Kaser | President & CEOSara Benedetto | Vice President & COOE. Dale Ernst, Jr. | Vice President & CFOSangeeta Sinha, MD, FACOG | Chief Medical OfficerSharon Rouse, DO | Primary Care Medical DirectorKim Hinkle | QI Director

Board of Directors

Ted Hilleary | Board ChairBetty Toll | Board SecretaryJeanne Wickens | Board TreasurerJerry Grannan | Immediate Past Board Chair Suzi FinchLee HamptonLori HeilerSteven Hogwood

Providers

Chiquita Berg, MDJerry Booth, DDS, MSMohammad Ghali, MD, MPHElliot Hardy, DDSMonica Hill, MDRose Johnson, MDSamira Haque, DDSSarah Malinda, DDSEdward Mathein, DDSMiraflor Reyes-Ganzon, MDNavira Rizwan, MDSharon Rouse, DOPromita Roychoudbury, MDSangeeta Sinha, MD

R. Dale MoretzWilliam PattersonBrenda PilgrimJennifer White

Gloria Smith, DDSGregory Trompeter, DDSDana Virgo, MDJames Williams, MDAmy Anglin, FNPAshley Brady, PA-CRoberta Brandt, PA-CSusan Hope Dundas, PA-CLiz Findley, NPShawn Heiler, PA-CShawn Northrup, PA-CDenise Provencher, PA-CBridget Thomas, FNPMargaret Wolfram, PNP

CONTINUED FROM PG 1 u services could begin as early as next fall.

The Hillsdale clinic will help meet health-care needs for the area’s mostly rural population.

Hillsdale County residents will have access to family medical care for children and adults, as well as gynecological services. The facility will start with nine examination rooms and grow as needed.

“Our board has been discussing expansion into Hillsdale for several years,” Kaser said. “We’re so pleased that we’re now ready to take action.

“We’ve received a warm welcome from the human-services providers in that community and look forward to working closely with numerous agencies to improve access to care.”

Center for Family Health primary-care doctors expect to begin treating patients in Hillsdale in the summer

of 2015 at a temporary location off Carleton Road. Fund-raising will begin shortly to build a permanent facility. The permanent site is not yet chosen, but the Center for Family Health intends to open it within two years.

Duke Anderson, president and CEO of Hillsdale Community Health Center, said the Center clinic is a welcome addition, particularly at a time when about 3,000 county residents are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Healthy Michigan program.

“We’re just medically underserved here on the southern tier, and have been for decades,” Anderson said. “The Center for Family Health satellite is a great idea.”

The Hillsdale satellite is the Center’s first expansion outside Jackson County, but it has provided care to patients who came from Hillsdale for years. n

@ Center for Family HealthCenterforFamilyHealth.org2

Job loss a big blow but Center a saviorRosemary Pfeifer knows life’s circumstances can change quickly and drastically.

Just a few years ago, Pfeifer lived in a high-rise apartment overlooking Lincoln Park in her native city of Chicago. She had a good job for one of the big downtown law firms.

She thought she was economically secure. Then came the so-called Great Recession in 2008 and Pfeifer soon found herself in the same position as millions of other Americans. She was out of work.

“I was a product of the economy,” said Pfeifer, 61. “I was, unfortunately, in a financial condition I never thought I would be in.”

In 2009, Pfeifer moved temporarily to live with her sister and brother-in-law in Napoleon Township, and there she heard about the Center for Family Health.

A firm believer in annual medical check-ups, Pfeifer learned she could see a doctor at the Center for Family Health even though she lost her health insurance coverage.

She did not know what to expect from what was described to her as government-subsidized health care, but Pfeifer was pleasantly surprised by what she found at the Center.

“Every time I go into that Center, everybody is wonderful – from the receptionists to the doctors to the labs,” said Pfeifer.

“Every year, like clockwork, I get my physical,” she said. “Nothing is ever left undone. Everything is covered. When I had my labs, they called and told me the numbers, and explained what the numbers mean.

“Not only do they listen and answer questions, they ask if there is anything they can do for you.”

The Center for Family Health helped Pfeifer sign up this spring under Michigan’s new expanded Medicaid program, so now she has insurance coverage again.

“My philosophy is that if you live long enough, something wonderful will happen,” Pfeifer said. “I feel like the Center for Family Health happened at the right time for me." n

PATIENT PROFILE

“Every time I go into that Center, everybody is wonderful – from the receptionists to the doctors to the labs.”Rosemary PfeiferCurrent CFH Patient

FAIR booth provides

fun, help & education

CenteringParenting model launching with moms, babies in 2015Group program strives to combine education, support, medical checkupsStarting in early 2015, the Center for Family Health will be among the first in Michigan to institute a model of group care for newborns and their mothers.

Designed by the nonprofit Centering Healthcare Institute of Boston, CenteringParenting incorporates three major components – health assessment, education and support – into a group setting, combining baby and mother’s postpartum care.

CenteringParenting is intended to follow CenteringPregnancy, a system of group prenatal care that the Center for Family Health started offering pregnant women last summer. CenteringPregnancy groups moms together who are due to deliver the same month.

The goal of both programs is to promote health, healthy lifestyles and people participating in the health-care system together.

The parenting groups will meet eight or nine times for two hours each session through the babies’ first year, starting with the children’s first appointment after birth. Groups are made up of six or seven babies, and their moms. Dads are welcome.

The sessions replace the normal times of well-baby check-ups. During the group meetings, the babies see a provider for their scheduled check-up, while the parents weigh and measure their babies, learn baby-care skills, form a circle for a discussion facilitated by a provider, and develop a support network with the other parents.

The goal is to offer CenteringParenting to the CenteringPregnancy group that is scheduled to deliver in December. CenteringParenting would begin in January, said Sara Benedetto, vice president and chief operating officer at the Center for Family Health, 505 N. Jackson St.

”Some of these women will be together for two years,” she said. “They will learn from the other

“I think this is really important because it will further our original plan to empower families to be active participants in the health and wellbeing of their children.” Sara BenedettoVice President & COO

Ronald McDonald worked his magic with children during his appearance at the Center for Family Health’s booth at the Jackson County Fair. The McDonald’s icon visited with children and performed a half-hour magic show Monday during Fair Week. The tooth fairy also delighted youngsters, and each child received a new toothbrush. Center staff members at the booth distributed information about the Center, provided children with dental checkups and made appointments to give adults help with Medicaid enrollment. Two lucky fair-goers a day won gas cards, and at the end of the week, one person walked away with the Grand Prize, an iPod mini.

parents. It will improve parenting skills and knowledge of what to look for and how to promote their babies’ development.”

Since the Center had its first group of Centering moms deliver in December 2013, there is no significant data available on its program’s success.

Nationally, CenteringPregnancy strives to improve the well-being of pregnant women, enhancing their self image, increasing their self-care skills, and decreasing infant mortality and maternal morbidity.

It also promotes the healthy growth and development of the fetus, reduces family violence, promotes family development and reduces unintended pregnancies.

CenteringParenting hopes to continue those positive outcomes through the babies’ first year, focusing on developmental milestones.

The Michigan Primary Care Association is working with the Department of Community Health to expand CenteringPregnancy and CenteringParenting into more federally qualified health centers in the state.

Since the Center for Family Health already had graduated moms through CenteringPregnancy, the association approached the Center about adding CenteringParenting, said Lynda Meade, MPCA director of clinical services.

The Center will receive a $20,000 grant to pay for the CenteringParenting implementation plan plus another $10,000-$20,000 grant to cover start-up costs – from supplies to administrative costs, she said. Both grants are tied to contracts with the state Department of Community Health.

“We are pretty excited,” Meade said.

The new CenteringPregnancy sites will be announced in the fall, and the association plans to use the Center as a model and its providers as mentors on the group prenatal care model, she said.

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Other supports are planned for both CenteringPregnancy and Parenting models, including a “learning community” for face-to-face sharing among providers and coordinators, and supplemental materials that will cover such pre- and post-birth issues as immunizations and safe sleep for the moms.

Meanwhile, details—such as which doctors will be trained as the CenteringParenting facilitators, how the group sessions will be organized and how baby and mom care will occur—have not been worked out yet, Benedetto said.

“I think this is really important because it will further our original plan to empower families to be active participants in the health and wellbeing of their children,” she said. n

Jackson, Michigan CenterforFamilyHealth.org

Center for Family Health 505 N. Jackson St.517-748-5500

Jackson High Health Center 544 Wildwood Ave.517-780-0838

Northeast Health Center 1024 Fleming St.517-787-4361

Parkside Health Center2400 Fourth St.517-788-6812

Northwest Community Health Center6700 Rives Junction Road517-569-3200

Center for Family Health at LifeWays1200 N. West Ave.517-796-4550

Locations

Center website redesigned, focuses on ease of useSite stresses information about services, photos of patients

News in Brief

Kirk Balcom loves volunteering his financial skills to the Center for Family Health through its Finance & Facilities Committee.

Why? The answers are numerous, said Balcom, a Principal in Enterprise Risk Management with Rehmann in Jackson.

“Every person in the community should give back in some way,” he said. He chooses to serve the Center because of its mission of “opening the door to health care for all.” “It’s a tremendous service to those 28,000 who come 125,000 times” a year.

Molly Kaser, Center president & CEO, tapped Balcom to join her team of volunteers eight years ago because of his financial background, Balcom said. He knew Molly, and he was thrilled to jump in.

“Molly is an incredibly visionary person with a tremendous passion to get things done,” he said.

Balcom also is impressed with the skill sets of the Center’s leadership team and its “passion and compassion for the people they serve.”

“They are always looking to serve more people in the community,” he said. “Because we do things so well at the Center, we strive to expand to provide that quality of service to more people.”

The board and its committees are rich in diversity, spanning ethnicities and including company owners, patients and financial experts, he said.

Kirk Balcom shares financial expertiseVolunteering with Center a way to give back, he says

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New physician assistant seeing patientsShawn Northrup, a physician assistant, has joined the Family Medicine Department at the Center for Family Health.

Northrup earned a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from the Kettering College of Medical Arts. She worked at the Henry Ford Health System for three years, prior to starting at the Center.

She is accredited by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. n

In July, the Center for Family Health unveiled its new website that focuses on ease of use, information and simplicity.

Centerforfamilyhealth.org was created by Rizzi Designs of Lansing with extensive input from Center staff. Following the Center’s mission of “opening the door to health care for all,” the website is smart phone- and tablet-friendly to provide access from multiple digital platforms.

In addition to providing extensive information about Center services, the website enables users to pay patient bills online, apply for Center jobs and garner information on how to lead healthy lives. It is packed with photos of Center staff and providers.

“We are excited to debut our newly redesigned website,” said Molly Kaser, president & CEO. “We believe the new site and our social media presence will allow us to share more information with the community, and for community members and patients to connect to us in a way that makes sense—given the way technology and information is used and shared today.”

In concert with the newly designed website, the Center’s Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in pages also have been refreshed. n

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Balcom serves on the Finance & Facilities Committee, which meets six times a year. At every meeting, the group looks at two months of financials. In addition, there is a special topic to review, such as financial policies and procedures, the next year’s budget or year-end financial statements,

he said.

The Finance & Facilities Committee oversaw the construction of the Center’s downtown facility that opened in 2011.

“It was a beautiful process, well-managed by the leadership team,” he said. “It made the committee’s job pretty easy.”

And the end result is something to be proud of – a beautiful building that serves the needs of its patients. The location is perfect, providing easy access, Balcom said.

“It’s very welcoming when you come into the door,” he said.

He has been with Rehmann since 2003. He spends about 80 percent of his work time on internal control consulting. The rest of his time is devoted to Rehmann’s corporate investigative services, researching potential fraud situations. Prior to

joining Rehman, he worked 27 years for Consumers Energy.

Balcom and his wife, Karen, live in Summit Township. Their five adult children are Jackson High School and Michigan State University graduates; their careers have relocated them to various places—Tampa, Miami, Cincinnati and Berkeley, Michigan. n

“Every person in the community should give back in some way.”Kirk BalcomCFH Volunteer

CFH is supported by ongoing donors, including:

Langston named 2014 Advocate of the YearTerry Langston, development officer at the Center for Family Health, was honored this August as the 2014 Advocate of the Year by the Michigan Primary Care Association, the non-profit association that represents Michigan’s community health centers.

The annual award is designed “to recognize individuals who tirelessly promote and raise the visibility of Michigan health centers and the patients they serve,” according to the MPCA. n