Concerns over public health being overshadowed by recent controversies have led a group of people to form their own nonprofit organization.
“The Friends of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan” is made up of community leaders from Emmet, Charlevoix, Otsego and Antrim counties.
The group announced its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in a press release this week.
The release said the organization was created to, “address the lack of public awareness of the agency’s many vital public health services and to correct misunderstandings that have challenged the agency’s ability to carry out its work."
“The organization has a two-part mission: to assess public awareness of the agency’s many public health functions; and to promote understanding of the agency’s services.”
The effort is a response to debates and infighting over grant-funded programs among the department’s Board of Health over the past several months.
Back in May, the board became divided over whether to apply for a school nutrition grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.
The board ultimately failed to pass its meeting agenda, so the meeting itself could not take place, and the health department missed the deadline for submitting the grant application.
While the United Way of Northwest Michigan officials announced that it secured funding for the same nutrition program months later, the incident prompted more people to attend the proceeding meetings.
Charlie MacInnis spearheads the new nonprofit. He’s a former Emmet County commissioner who served on the Board of Health. He’s worried that some on the board are trying to make the health department less effective.
“Unfortunately, the COVID situation created such a bad feeling for many people,” MacInnis said. “There's a remarkable amount of misinformation, misunderstanding and confusion that I think we could improve on.”
Health department staff declined to comment.
Newest health board member Neil Ahrens, of Emmet County, said he's confused how the action helps the situation.
"I don’t know how formalizing into a nonprofit helps do more than they already have been doing in attending meetings and commenting," Ahrens said in an email. "I do know Michigan as a state has an incredible amount of 501-C3 nonprofits registered, and that obtaining such status is not very difficult. I’m sure there are a lot of good intentions behind their actions, I guess we will all see how (or if) this changes their activities."
“I suspect we're going to discover, many people don't know much at all about the health department. If that's the case, then we can start from step one — just telling people of the existence and the value of this agency.”
Charlie MacInnis
Friends of HDNW
Macinnis said the group’s first steps are to hire a research firm to survey the Health Department of Northwest Michigan constituents.
The health department already completed a similar initiative when it selected Kari Krantz of KSK Consultancy to host and publicize “community listening sessions” which took place throughout May.
Observations from those listening sessions show respondents are worried about lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, how health department staff are being treated, and that some board members are being led astray by disinformation.
Read the full report from KSK Consultancy on the health department website.
MacInnis said while the listening sessions collected strong opinions, it didn’t do a good job of connecting people with health department programs. He said the Friends of HDNW survey will tap into new demographics.
“I suspect we're going to discover, many people don't know much at all about the health department,” MacInnis said. “If that's the case, then we can start from step one — just telling people of the existence and the value of this agency.”
MacInnis says he hopes to use the results to better promote things like immunization and dental clinics, maternal care and environmental health.
According to the Sunday press release, donations to the group are used exclusively for research and education. Its members are all volunteers.
