Health care can be a major concern for residents of rural areas who may have to travel many miles to see a doctor for even the most basic of medical care, and the Upper Peninsula is no exception.
Luckily for rural residents in northern Menominee County, for the past 25 years they've had the benefit of a local health center right in Spalding, providing primary and preventive medical care, as well as dental, OB/GYN and psychiatric care.
The place that makes all this possible is the
Northern Menominee Health Center, which opened in 1985. It celebrated its 25th anniversary this month.
The center's beginnings were in 1984, when a need for health services in the area, especially for low-income residents, were identified.
At the grand opening celebration, UPARHS executive director Eugenie Lewis said much of the credit also was due to the support of northern Menominee County communities.
"They supported the idea of a community health center and held meetings, and wrote letters, for two years to convince doctors, legislators, and local government officials that their neighborhoods were in need of health services," she said.
Now, the health center is still going strong and has even added more services, says current manager Cathy Mercier.
"In recent years we've been able to add nutrition services, which has been a great addition. We recently purchased the former Northern Menominee Pharmacy that had been housed in our building for 21 years," Mercier says, and she hopes to return to the center's tradition of providing mental health care, which had been dropped in recent years, but is a great need in the area.
UPARHS also owns and operates health care facilities in Crystal Falls, Engadine, Ewen, Gwinn, Marquette, and Menominee.
Writer: Sam EgglestonSource: Joseph Zyble, Upper Peninsula Association of Rural Health Services
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