Central Michigan University Launching Rural Health Equity Institute

Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich., has launched a Rural Health Equity Institute (RHEI).

CMU said the Institute will ally closely with communities and pursue opportunities that improve access to services, expand telehealth capacity, advance data solutions and tools and deliver education and training that respond to local needs.

The overall aim for the RHEI is to team up with community actions and forge solutions that improve the health and wellbeing of rural residents. It will provide an innovation and collaboration hub serving rural, Mid-Central and Northern Michigan.

Rural residents often cannot access care in their local community with health service provider shortages and hospital closures. Healthcare systems and public health services struggle to leverage scarce resources, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution for addressing some of these structural rural health challenges, according to RHEI.

“Critical healthcare workforce shortages are prevalent throughout Michigan’s 57 rural counties,” said George Kikano, M.D., 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 now responding to the growing need for mental and physical healthcare. The Institute reinforces the CMU College of Medicine’s commitment to training physicians to provide comprehensive health care and services to underserved populations in Michigan and beyond.”

The Rural Health Equity Institute will be housed at the College of Medicine in Mount Pleasant with the plan to position services to optimize engagement with rural geographies.

“In many ways, the pandemic revealed disparities in the way it impacted different communities,” said Alison Arnold, director of the CMU Interdisciplinary Center for Community Health and Wellness, in a statement. “Structural barriers have led to inequitable healthcare opportunities for rural residents. These barriers have persisted, and local communities have been resilient and resourceful in tackling some issues. But the pandemic really brought into light the severity of some issues – including mental health concerns, social isolation, and delayed access to much needed healthcare. Rural health equity means all people living in rural areas can live the healthiest life possible. This includes living a life free from discrimination and unfair treatment, as well as having access to healthcare and social services, safe neighborhoods, and places to live, reliable transportation, healthy foods, working wages that support basic needs, and community policies that are fair to all people.”