The Challenge...

• Two out of every ten mid-Michigan families have children with serious, chronic or life threatening illnesses, such as asthma, diabetes, and childhood cancer.
  
  
• Mid-Michigan, home to the state capital and to Michigan State University, a major research university with two medical schools, is also home to 500,000 people.
  
  
• Yet, we often face a big challenge delivering comprehensive health care to our children!
  
  
• The national shortage of pediatric specialists is reflected right here at home. Our regional pediatric specialists are excellent and caring, but serious specialty gaps still exist.
  
  
• Families with chronically or seriously ill children must often commute to Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids or beyond to see a specialist. It's difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. It disrupts school, jobs, family life, and support systems. It often results in fragmented and uncoordinated care.
  
  
• The lack of comprehensive and coordinated outpatient child health care impacts mid-Michigan's economic viability. To become a truly sustainable community, we need these resources in place to attract new residents and their families to our area, to create health care employment opportunities, and to improve our standard of living.
  
  

Our Vision...
An Integrated Outpatient Child Health Center

Innovative

Creating a state-of-the-art medical home for mid-Michigan's seriously and chronically ill children.

Filling the Gap

Providing ambulatory care outpatient clinical services) to complement our region's excellent pediatric hospital care, because research shows that 80% of pediatric care does not require hospitalization.

Integrated

Bringing together a comprehensive core of pediatric specialists from across MSU and the community to one outpatient care location and linking others virtually through technology.

Comprehensive

Including pediatric and adolescent care in behavior and development, cardiology, endocrinology, genetics, hematology/oncology, infectious disease, neonatology/neonatal intensive care, primary care, pulmonology/cystic fibrosis, rheumatology, and more.

Child-centered

Coordinating physical and virtual care with all pediatric specialists, educators, researchers and agencies.

Interdisciplinary

Offering research, education and training opportunities across disciplines.

Local

Providing the best possible care close to home keeping family life and support systems strong.

Supportive

Providing child advocacy services and a parent information center.