As published in
Good morning,
On Wednesday evening, I was driving on M-119 with my windows down after covering the opening of three new hospice suites in Harbor Springs. Yeah, you probably expected a reporter to be at a ribbon-cutting – but this event was special.
I’d written stories about how end-of-life care is changing for the last year – ever since McLaren Northern Michigan made the difficult decision to close hospice facilities in Cheboygan and Petoskey.
These facilities typically run on some community funding, so the group that supported the Petoskey facility had to get creative with new business models. That’s what led to a partnership with Bay Bluffs – a skilled nursing facility.
These rooms marked a year’s worth of organizing to keep residential hospice an option for the region.
There’s no greater feeling as a reporter than covering an issue from the very beginning, diving deep, building sources and finally writing about the solutions the community comes up with.
I was so thrilled about this, that when I heard the loud ‘thump’ of my rear tire popping… it didn’t phase me as much as it probably should have.
Calmly, I pulled over to a roadside park, opened my laptop, and produced my story from a picnic table while waiting for help. All in a day’s work at IPR!
– Michael Livingston, IPR Reporter
Future for hospice: A skilled nursing facility in Harbor Springs has set aside three rooms specifically for hospice care with more on the way. It comes as the end-of-life care industry is changing and large health systems drop their in-patient care.