Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan grants nearly $48,000 to support Michigan’s underinsured
Adriane Davis
| 3 min read
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has partnered with Health Delivery Inc. to expand access to health care for thousands of people in the Thumb community. BCBSM presented the newly opened HDI Thumb Area Community Health Center with a grant of nearly $48,000 today to start the area’s first community health center. This grant allows HDI to expand access to quality health care for thousands of people in the Huron County community. The grants will help the Thumb Area Community Health Center set up two locations in Bad Axe that will provide primary care, dental care, mental health care, case management and enabling services to Huron County residents. For the first two years, dental treatment will be provided by a mobile van. The grants are part of BCBSM’s ongoing safety net program. “This generous support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will help us deliver much-needed health services and treatment to our community and improve the quality of life for many families,” said Brenda Coughlin, MD, MPH, FAAFP, President and CEO of Health Delivery, Inc. “Health care professionals and volunteers in our community have done so much to get care to our neighbors. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is helping us take our efforts to the nest level, and they’re showing us that they’re truly on the front lines of building healthier communities.” The Thumb Area Community Health Center is located at 1080 Van Dyke in Bad Axe. The Behavioral Health Primary Health site is at 1108 S Van Dyke Road in Bad Axe. The two locations are expected to provide care to up to 5,000 people annually. “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is proud to support the efforts of the Thumb Area Community Health Center, and directly help every single family in the community get the care and treatment they need to be healthy,” said Daniel Martin, director of provider relations for BCBSM. “This Health Center will be a health care home for the newly insured, the underinsured and the uninsured.Without facilities like this, patients will delay and even forego care at great cost to themselves, their families and the health care system. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is excited to partner with the Bad Axe community to build a healthier Michigan together.” Huron County’s 32,000-plus residents mostly live in rural communities and the county as a whole has fewer doctors, dentist and mental health care providers, compared with the state and national average, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county has more than 4,000 uninsured residents and more than 10,000 vulnerable community members, including people with disabilities who are unable to work, recent drug users and community members with major depression, according to the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings. Photo credit: A Healthier Michigan
