MICHIGAN

The State of Michigan has begun a long-term health plan for its citizens, which focuses on preventing disease and other chronic conditions. The goal is to ensure a healthy population and work force in order to attract business and have healthy and successful workers. Leaders believe the state has experienced unnecessary increases in infectious and chronic diseases, unaffordable increases in health care costs, and loss of work productivity, often due to unhealthy lifestyles. Through the Prescription for a Healthier Michigan, they hope to encourage businesses, schools, and health providers to support prevention policies and services and that the state’s colleges and universities will produce health care professionals ready to address the urgent health needs of the residents.

“Opening the door to health care for all”

The Center for Family Health , a Federally-qualified health center since 2000, primarily serves those who do not have or cannot afford health insurance or are otherwise unable to afford primary health care. More than half of the patients are eligible for Medicaid and more than 30 percent have no health insurance. The center’s 20,000 patients receive pediatric care, obstetrical and gynecological care, family and internal medicine, emergency dental care for adults, and dental care for children. The center also sponsors a medication assistance program, case management, and transportation assistance. It has four additional sites, the Northeast Health Center, a dental clinic, a teen health clinic, and a clinic located next door to the local homeless shelter.

Oral health services are provided at two sites-the Center for Family Health Dental Clinic and the Northeast Health Center. The Center for Family Health Dental Clinic provides a full range of basic general dentistry: preventive, restorative, prosthodontic, and endodontic services in modern facilities. The majority of the patients are children and adolescents; the prevalence of dental decay is five times greater than asthma among Jackson County children. Adult dental care focuses on obstetrical, disabled, and diabetic patient populations. The dental team consists of two full-time general dentists, a part-time general dentist who provides oral surgery, three dental hygienists, six dental assistants, and four clerical staff. Members of the staff are bilingual in Spanish. AEGD residents from the University of Michigan rotate through the sites. A full-time dentist and full-time dental hygienist and assistant manage preventive services at the Northeast Health Center. The latter is a school-based clinic, which offers early intervention and prevention to any Jackson County child aged 18 or younger.

“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”

When Etienne Brul� arrived at Sault Ste. Marie in 1618, Michigan was almost completely forested, beaver and other fur-bearing animals were plentiful, and about 15,000 Native Americans lived on the land-the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and the Huron. Fifty years passed before Father Jacque Marquette founded the first permanent settlement there. For the most part, the French and the Indians got along well; the French tread lightly on the land. Their settlements were relatively few and several of their fortifications were strategically important during the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Indian relations with the British were more strained; the British brought more settlements and less trade. When Americans arrived, they stayed. By 1842, the Indians had relinquished all of their land to the Federal government. With the disappearance of the beaver, mining and the timber industry flourished until the turn of the 20th century and the depletion of the pine forests. The dawn of the automobile industry saved Michigan’s declining economy complemented by farming on deforested land. Today, the surrounding Great Lakes draw many to the natural beauty of the lakeshores.

In 1829, Horace Blackman laid claim to what is now Jackson. The city, named in honor of Andrew Jackson, and its namesake county, the “Crossroads of Michigan,” have a rich history and played important roles in the Underground Railroad and the Civil War. In July, 1854 anti-slavery men held a political convention in Jackson and founded the Republican Party. The first Republican candidate for president was John C. Fremont, the intrepid explorer, who ran in 1856 with the slogan “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont.” The community values families and offers numerous festivals and celebrations throughout the year. Residents and visitors take advantage of many outdoor activities in the hundreds of lakes and scores of city, county, and state parks. Golf is one of Jackson’s recreational assets. It has one of highest concentrations of golf courses in the nation.