November 2016 Issue

Newest Crystal Lake Health Center to Open Early Next Year

By Ross Boissoneau

The date has been pushed back a month or so, but Dr. Rick Nielsen said the new Crystal Lake Health Center on Long Lake Road will open in February or March of 2017. When it opens, Nielsen said the facility located near West Senior High will offer services from a number of providers, from general practitioners to therapists.

“Integrated service, that’s the buzzword. It’s one-stop services,” said the physician, who established the practice in 1981. In addition to Crystal Lake’s physicians and nurses, he said Munson Healthcare will offer lab services and physical therapy, while Catholic Human Services will also …

More Powerful MRI Machine Reduces Patient Trips Downstate

By Ross Boissoneau

Munson Medical Center's 3T MRI is saving patients time and money. The machine, installed a year ago, is four times more powerful than Munson's 1.5 MRI machines and provides clarity that previously was unavailable locally, meaning patients had to go downstate. It can be adjusted to diagnose a variety of disorders, from strokes and tumors to aneurysms, multiple sclerosis and eye or inner ear problems.

It’s especially effective at detecting areas of concern in the …

Traverse Health Clinic’s New Space a Boon for Patients, Staff

By Ross Boissoneau

Thanks to a million-dollar grant from the federal government and nearly half that again in support from the area, the new Traverse Health Clinic is a reality. The clinic’s move from its location on Logan Valley Road to the new facility on Garfield resulted in nearly doubling the clinic’s space as well as updating its facilities.

The new health center will help facilitate the “health care home” concept whereby teams of providers and staff give …

Making It In Northern Michigan: Coding Products

By Clark Miller

With a positive, 25-year record of production and jobs, folks at Coding Products in Kalkaska might be excused if they got a little complacent. But instead, they always seek to improve. And that goes for the front office just as much as the shop floor.

Such terms as Continuous Improvement, “80/20” and “5S” are part of the culture for all of Coding Products’ 75 employees.

One of the many divisions of ITW (Illinois Tool Works), …

Arts, Culture Organizations Point to Economic Impact

Stormcloud Brewing serves up craft beers while the Benzie Symphony plays inside the pub. Traverse City Chamber of Commerce members confer during Leadership @ the Movies at the Bijou. Downtown art walks add vitality to the streets, showcasing artists while driving retail sales.

These are just a few examples of …

By Mary Bevans Gillett

She Moves, He Moves: Traverse City companies address needs of ‘trailing spouses’

Diane Arnold had never been to Traverse City when Munson Healthcare recruited her husband, Matthew, earlier this year to work there as a neonatologist.

As a “trailing spouse,” Arnold was faced with having to make new friends, find a neighborhood attractive to her young family and establish professional connections in …

By Rick Haglund

Solar Express: Businesses, utilities lead the solar charge

The ever-increasing demand for renewable sources of energy, combined with growing interest in local power generation, has made for some key developments in northern Michigan’s solar industry this year. Whether its consumers investing in residential systems, businesses installing large solar arrays or utilities figuring out how renewable energy sources will …

By Lynn Geiger

Cheap Oil and Gas Comes at a High Price

Good news at the gas pump is mostly bad news for the Northern Michigan oil and gas industry.

Fill up at a Grand Traverse area station today, and you’ll pay from $2.11 to $2.20 per gallon. Adjusted for inflation, that is roughly on a par with 1972 levels.

Then there’s …

By Clark Miller

Local Philanthropies Seek Greater Community Impacts

Gordon Brown and his wife, Susan, were passionate boaters and active for years with the Inland Seas Education Association in Suttons Bay.

When Brown died in 2012, he left a gift of more than $40,000 to the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation to invest with the goal of supporting the …

By Rick Haglund

Women and Philanthropy: Giving groups equal big impact

Sondra Shaw Hardy remembers when women’s philanthropy was a foreign concept. Today, she celebrates the “power of the purse.”

“Reaching out to and recognizing women as having money and being philanthropists is a given now,” Hardy said. “(But) 30 years ago almost no one thought that women had money or, …

By Mary Bevans Gillett

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