After the hospital in Ontonagon County closed, Baraga County Memorial Hospital saw a significant influx of patients traveling to its L’Anse facility for emergency and specialty care. Now, the hospital is bringing services directly to those communities through an innovative mobile health clinic.
Roughly 80% of emergency patients from Ontonagon County who seek care outside their community have chosen BCMH, according to Rob Stowe, CEO of Baraga County Memorial Hospital. Many of those patients also receive primary and specialty care at the hospital.
“The closure has driven us to think a little differently too,” Stowe said. “Our home area got a little bit bigger.”
In partnership with Homeward Health, BCMH plans to launch the pilot mobile health clinic at the end of 2026. The program, supported by the University of Minnesota and University of Michigan, is funded through ARPA-H, a $100 million initiative under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Fred Barrigar, Vice President of Advanced Research Program at Homeward Health, said the organization has been working with rural hospitals across the rural regions to understand their unique challenges and identify opportunities for innovation.
“We’ve been doing a door-to-door approach, meeting with different rural hospitals, understanding their needs and how they operate,” Barrigar said. “This is going to take hospitals really saying, ‘I want to do something new.’ We met with quite a few.”
Stowe emphasized the urgency of the timeline. “We knew we were in a spot where we needed a mobile unit, and they came calling looking for a partner with a very short timeline,” he said. “We’re going to hopefully get our vehicle in November, December. That’s light speed in terms of healthcare.”
Rural healthcare’s evolving landscape has forced leaders and physicians to get creative in addressing growing needs. When the mobile clinic launches in December, BCMH expects to provide women’s health and prenatal care, wound care, cardiology, and primary care services.
“We’re basically the poster children for who needs this type of unit and service,” Stowe said. “The nature of how people are dispersed across the Upper Peninsula and the distances we travel lends itself perfectly to this model.”
Barrigar stressed the importance of building the program with community input rather than for them. “It’s really important developing trust, understanding the needs and making sure we integrate that into the design,” he said. “Not just the mobile unit itself, but the program and how we show up.”
Community presentations are scheduled for this week. Homeward Health and BCMH will share program details and gather community input Wednesday in Kenton, followed by a Thursday presentation at the Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts. More details are available online.
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