Children's Health - Equity and Access

CHEA addresses disparities in healthcare access for children in the Lansing community. CHEA organizes with Sparrow and the MSU Colleges of Human Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine to hire more local pediatric sub-specialty physicians to provide local care for chronically ill children in the Lansing area. CHEA also is advocating for a local site to house all of MSU and Sparrow’s sub-specialty children’s clinics in one place.

CHEA works with the Davies Project for Mid-Michigan Children to support their efforts to provide round trip rides to medical appointments for children facing serious health challenges.

The Purpose of CHEA is to improve LOCAL access for quality subspecialty health care for chronically ill children in the Lansing area by working with Sparrow and the MSU Colleges of Human Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine to hire local physicians and to co-locate all children’s subspecialty clinics.

Over 25% of all children at a given time need specialty health care, and this rate is often higher in under-served children who have increased rates of asthma, diabetes and other health problems. Accessing proper health care is one of the biggest challenges for under-served children, rather than merely getting insurance. Many local specialists, in fact, are not available to Mid-Michigan children on Medicaid at all. For families with Medicaid to get an appointment with a specialist, the average wait is 6 months to 1 year.

Action continues to work with Michigan State University, Sparrow Hospital, the Ingham County Health Department, and others to find a solution to this persistent problem. We believe that a system of coordinated care, available to all families in need, regardless of their ability to pay, is feasible for Lansing and that such a system, wherever it may be housed, will be good for Lansing and mid-Michigan.

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Success!

The Children’s Health Equity and Access task force continues to work with Sparrow Hospital and MSU’s Colleges of Human and Osteopathic Medicine to bring about improvements in the delivery of care for chronically ill children in the greater Lansing area. In process: Hiring of pediatric subspecialty doctors who will live locally and provide needed care, and identifying the final location for the Sparrow and MSU subspecialty pediatric clinics. CHEA’s mission continues to be to work as an advocate for keeping the care for our chronically ill children local and accessible.