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In 2000 and 2001, Michigan Radio joined with the Center for Advancing
Community Health on a civic journalism project called Sound Partners. Sound
Partners is funded by the Benton Foundation, and the grant program is
designed to more closely engage media outlets with community institutions to
create better journalism.
The major part of the Sound Partners project involved producing a series of
more than a dozen reports detailing the efforts of community-based
organizations in enrolling families in the MIChild and Healthy Kids
programs. The goal was to reach public radio’s traditional audience and
have an impact on health policy in the state.
Also, realizing that public radio’s traditional audience often does not
include people who need low-income, government-sponsored health insurance
programs, Michigan Radio worked with the Center to help train community
outreach workers in working with the news media.
Also, for the Center, the Sound Partners project provided new opportunities
for it to tell its story to key, influential people, furthering its mission
of informing the health policy debate.
In all, Sound Partners created better journalism, better community outreach,
and a better informed discussion of health care policy in the state.
Please listen to a few of stories produced by Michigan Radio, including our
special series of Audio Diaries, that took a first-person look at the impact
of government-sponsored health insurance programs.
5/1/01
MIChild Part 1
Joan Siefert Rose
The annual Kids Count survey released today finds that Michigan's children are facing rough times despite a strong economy. The report finds that one fifth of Michigan youngsters live below the poverty level. This affects their daily life and their health. Michigan Radio today begins a year long series of reports on the way in which the state has been implementing programs to provide health insurance to all children in Michigan. Michigan Radio's Joan Siefert Rose takes a look at what has been accomplished so far in reaching uninsured children.
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
5/9/01
Health Care For Hispanic Children
Matt Shafer Powell
According to the U-S Census, nearly thirty percent of American's Hispanic
children have no health insurance. That's twice the rate of some other
ethnic groups. There are programs in Michigan that could provide health
coverage for a large number of the state's Hispanic children. But those
people charged with getting that information to parents are finding that the
Hispanic population can be a hard group to pin down. Michigan Radio's Matt
Shafer Powell has this story...
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
5/25/01
Health Care in Rural Areas
Michelle Bolek, Bill Poorman
Health care is often very different in rural areas than cities or suburbs. Some health care problems may be more pronounced. Others are unique to rural areas. Michigan Radio's Bill Poorman reports on access to health care in one rural community in the Upper Peninsula...
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
6/14/01
Access to Health Audio Diaries
Matt Shafer Powell
This week, Michigan Radio will take an in-depth look at publicly-funded health insurance in the state of Michigan. The Access
to Health Audio Diaries will examine the strengths and weaknesses of programs like Medicaid, Medicare and MI Child. And
we'll hear about these programs in the words of those who know them best, including a doctor at an urban health clinic and a
government caseworker.
Today, we go to the Family Independence Agency office in Muskegon. Formerly known as the Department of Social Services,
the FIA is responsible for administering a variety of services, from Food Stamps to Cash Assistance to Medicaid. Over the
years, caseworkers have often been characterized as insensitive and the agency's procedures have given it a bureaucratic
reputation. But F-I-A leaders-and caseworkers like Mary Thompson--insist that is changing…
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
6/13/01
Access to Health Audio Diaries
Matt Shafer Powell
Today, the Access to Health series features Dr. Maxine Peterson. Dr. Peterson runs a general health clinic in an urban
Muskegon neighborhood. Among her patients who have health coverage, she estimates about forty percent use Medicaid or
some other government-funded health plan...
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
6/12/01
Access to Health Audio Diaries
Matt Shafer Powell
Today, we hear from three people who need and use government-funded health coverage.
Shemira is the uninsured 17 year-old mother of a baby boy. Ann is a 40 year old cashier who is just now getting Medicaid
insurance for her and her teenage daughter. And Helen is a 74 year-old grandmother, living alone on a fixed income…
Hear Audio Story (requires Real Player)
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