The MHA announced the winners of its 2025 Ludwig Community Benefit Award during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 26. The honorees include programs supported by Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals St. Joseph Hospital; Lake Huron Medical Center, Port Huron; and MyMichigan Health, Midland. The award is named in memory of Patric E. Ludwig, a former MHA president who championed investing in the community’s overall health. The award is presented to member organizations integrally involved in collaborative programs to improve the health and well-being of Michigan residents. Each winner will receive $5,000 from the MHA Health Foundation to reinvest in their programs.
Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan, in collaboration with the Michigan Public Health Institute’s Achieving Birth Equity Through Systems Transformation Taskforce, created the Corewell Health Center for Wellness (CHCW) in Benton Harbor to be a trusted resource to provide education in prenatal, childbirth and postnatal care in Southwest Michigan. The CHCW offers free childbirth education, breastfeeding support, safe sleep education, navigation to essential community resources and culturally informed guidance tailored to the unique needs of their community. The programs served 370 community members in 2024 with a 100% retention rate in classes. The number of families who maintained breastfeeding at two weeks post-partum through the program exceeded the national breastfeeding rate by 20 percentage points.
These results show how the CHCW enhances clinical outcomes and builds a resilient, empowered community where mothers and families can thrive. The childbirth educasstion classes are currently supported by a dedicated team that includes a certified childbirth educator, a community-based doula, a lactation consultant, a community health educator, a community health worker and a senior project specialist.
For more information on the taskforce, contact Kyna King, senior project specialist, Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan.
Lake Huron Medical Center, Port Huron, partners with the People’s Clinic for Better Health, which has been providing life-saving healthcare at no cost to the uninsured and under-insured in St. Clair County for more than 35 years. Located in the St. Clair County Community Mental Health, the clinic is open five days a week as both a free clinic and a Medicaid clinic, accepting patients who are 18 years or older, who are without insurance, or receive Medicaid coverage. The clinic offers routine health screenings, women’s health, non-emergency maintenance care of chronic illness, wellness checkups, specialist referrals, lab and radiology testing, diabetes education and benefits counseling.
The clinic works closely with community and social service partners to best serve its patients and improve health outcomes. The People’s Clinic for Better Health recently added a mobile unit, which goes to locations like the area soup kitchen to help the clinic reach further into the community. Overall, 63% of patients reported an improvement in their health in 2024-25 and 97% of patients needing specialty referrals were referred to accepting service providers.
For more information on the People’s Clinic for Better Health, contact Mallory Moore, foundation director, Lake Huron Foundation.
MyMichigan Health, Midland, established Continuing Care Clinics to reach the residents throughout MyMichigan Health’s 26-county service region who do not have timely access to a primary care physician. These clinics provide timely care during critical transitions in health, such as after discharge from a hospital, emergency department, long-term care facility or while patients are waiting to establish care with a new primary care provider. New patient appointments and transition-of-care visits are provided within seven days of discharge.
MyMichigan has been successful at reducing poor health outcomes, as patients receiving care through this model have a lower risk of readmission compared to those at other similar clinics in the community. The multidisciplinary team of clinicians creates personalized care plans that help patients successfully transition home and reduce the risk of readmission. Patients also receive referrals for preventative screenings, which further supports community wellness. The Continuing Care Clinics also work closely with community partners to improve patients’ ability to access essential resources, including food, transportation and medication delivery, which helps patients manage their health and improve their recovery.
Visit the MyMichigan Health website for more information about MyMichigan Health’s Continuing Care Clinics.
To learn more about the MHA’s annual Ludwig Community Benefit Award, contact Erin Steward at the MHA.