Benefiting the West Michigan Community Through Health

Mercy Health is a non-profit health care system serving Grand Rapids, Muskegon, the Lakeshore and the surrounding communities and is part of Trinity Health, the nation’s second-largest Catholic Health System. Its health system includes: five hospital campuses, 60-plus physician offices and more than 1,300 medical staff physicians, 800 hospital beds and 7,200 colleagues.

Since being founded in 1893, the Mercy Health mission has been to serve together in the spirit of the Gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within its communities. The goal is to provide compassionate care, award-winning expertise and the latest technology, all in an inclusive, Catholic, faith-based setting that honors the sacredness and dignity of every person.

“Being a Catholic Organization, we have a huge community outreach agenda,” said Kent Miller, Director of Environmental Services and Sustainability Officer with Mercy Health.

Mercy Health is a non-profit health care system serving Grand Rapids, Muskegon, the Lakeshore and the surrounding communities.

Community Benefit Program IDs Community Health Needs

One way this is accomplished is through programs and activities that promote health and healing — also called Community Benefit. Once every three years, hospitals work with a broad spectrum of local experts to identify the health needs of the community served by the hospital. Those needs are then prioritized and serve as the basis for the hospital’s implementation plan to address community health needs. Identified needs are grouped into four general categories of health services funded by the hospital: uncompensated care, medical education, medical research and community programs.

Core values include a commitment to those who are poor, to integrity, to justice, to stewardship and to reverence. Those core values guide company practices and have a great influence on their community outreach activities. One example of their community outreach agenda is the six Community Health Centers throughout Greater Grand Rapids, health centers that Miller says fill gaps, bring health care to the underserved members of our community and deliver the same excellence that is promised at our hospitals. “Through these,” he added, “the hospital has proudly served many low-income community members who would not have otherwise been able to afford the care they needed.”

Mercy Health has a commitment to those who are poor, to integrity, to justice, to stewardship and to reverence.

Largest 340B Drug Discount Program in the State

Mercy Health fosters community healing through other outreach programs, including its Pharmaceutical Assistance Program, which provides assistance to people in the area who don’t have the resources to get the prescriptions they need. They have the largest 340B Drug Discount Program in the state of Michigan, complete with their own clinic that allows free medications for eligible community members (the 340B Drug Discount Program is a federal government program created almost 30 years ago that requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations and covered entities at significantly reduced prices). This program also extends to Mercy Health employees, who benefit from free prescriptions.

And Mercy Health employee benefits do not end with medication. Their evidence-based hiring practice is nationally recognized as an award-winning program, even receiving recognition from the White House. Created four years ago, the hospital built the program to focus on providing training and placement under the Health Career Pathways initiative (HCP) which unites and works with communities across the country to increase the number of Americans rapidly trained for sustainable, well-paying healthcare jobs. Thanks to Mercy Health West Michigan’s role and work on the HCP advisory board, Grand Rapids and Muskegon communities joined cities such as Denver, Minneapolis and Sacramento as HCP founding communities in the initiative.

John Schwartz, Regional Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Mercy Health, was grateful that six years of work developing innovative processes to identify, recruit and retain talent drew the recognition of the White House.

“Patient satisfaction is our priority,” he said, “and we believe that an engaged and diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve directly affects clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. The White House has confirmed that we are on the right path, and together with our strong community partnerships, we are fully committed to continuing and enhancing our great work here in West Michigan.”

Mercy Health West Michigan has a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and works to proactively identify and train up to 300 disadvantaged people per year for healthcare professions.

Training Disadvantaged for Healthcare Professions

Mercy Health West Michigan has committed to partnerships with Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Montcalm Community Colleges, West Michigan Works, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Goodwill Industries to proactively identify and train up to 300 disadvantaged people per year for healthcare professions. All of these efforts are part of an overall commitment at Mercy Health to diversity, equity and inclusion. Proactive hiring measures have led to a two-year jump in staff diversity and inclusion of more than 30 percent. In the environmental division alone there are eight different countries represented and staff that were homeless.

A career development center also assists employees. Through this program, colleagues suffering financially or otherwise get connected to the center, located across the street from the Mercy Health downtown Grand Rapids Campus. This center provides resources, guidance and educational opportunities for employees, including college tuition grant opportunities, ensuring that employees have a network of support to succeed.

All of these efforts are tied back to the guiding principles of the hospital’s core values, which Mercy Health nurtures through annual mandatory employee trainings to create an inclusive and equitable workplace.

“Employees, patients and visitors can tell the culture is different here,” Miller said.

As part of a nonprofit, Catholic health care ministry, Mercy Health is committed to assessing and responding to the needs of the communities in West Michigan.  This is accomplished through programs and activities that promote health and healing – also called Community Benefit.  Community Benefit refers to the health improvement services provided to the community through investments by local hospitals, based on the Community Health Needs Assessment. Some of Mercy Health’s Community Benefit programs include Advocacy (Lead the Way Campaign), The Pharmaceutical Assistance Program, Uncompensated Care, and Wheels of Mercy.  Learn more at https://www.mercyhealth.com/about-us/community-benefit/.