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James Haveman Delivers Keynote Address
for National Osteopathic Week

by Krister Friday

November 27, 2000

Michigan Department of Community Health Director James K. Haveman talks to the MSUCOM audience about significant trends in Michigan public health.


A long-time friend of the college, James K. Haveman, executive director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, delivered the keynote address at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine during National Osteopathic Medicine Week.

Introduced by Dean Allen W. Jacobs, DO, PhD, Mr. Haveman discussed some trends in Michigan's public health and stressed the importance of preventative medicine and intelligent health policy. According to Mr. Haveman, preventative medicine often suffers in Michigan because of the absence of a standardized, "best practices" approach to many diseases and a lack of coordination between public and private health providers and insurers. "We tend to be disjointed in our approach to health care," Mr. Haveman told the MSUCOM audience, "and we often treat the disease instead of looking holistically at the big picture."

Mr. Haveman identified several statistics in public health that should be addressed with long-term, preventative approaches to public health:

  • There are currently one million uninsured in the state of Michigan.
  • The Department of Community Health spends millions in neo-natal care for high-risk infants. Educating the parents during pregnancy is one way to obviate some of these costs.
  • Although Medicaid was originally created to help women and children, over two thirds of the state budget for Medicaid goes to the elderly and the disabled, thereby reducing Medicaid's preventative impact.
  • Residents in Michigan are the fourth most sedentary population in the nation.
  • Michigan once ranked dead last in the rate of immunizations but has now risen to fourteenth. 70% of hospitalizations for diabetes are preventable.


To combat some of these trends, Mr. Haveman said his department is launching several education campaigns, including a program targeting obesity. The Michigan Department of Community Health will also offer $300,000 in grants to public and private entities to develop innovative programs in long-term care.

Mr. Haveman also singled out the osteopathic profession as particularly adept at the type of long-term, preventative care he is calling for. Not only does osteopathic medicine examine larger environmental and social factors for health, it also has demonstrated success in innovative treatments. "MSUCOM has been more open to and more accepting of broader forms of treatment and alternative medicines," Mr. Haveman explained.

 

 
Michigan State University
College of Osteopathic Medicine
A306 East Fee Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1316
Updated July 14, 2008
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