{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"This Rural Mission: Transportation ","description":"This week we travel to Clare, Michigan to learn about the trials and successes of public transportation in Rural Michigan. **Please excuse the audio quality, it was the first episode ever produced for this podcast!** We get a chance to speak with Leadership in the Clare community to learn what really matters in Clare County isn't how we get to where we're going, but who we ride with.    Announcer: This Rural Mission is brought to you by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Leadership in Rural Medicine Programs. The podcast is funded in part by a generous grant provided by the Herbert H and Grace A Dow Foundation. To learn more about the Leadership in Rural Medicine Programs please visit  www.msururalhealth.chm.msu. I\u2019m your host, Julia Terhune and please stay tuned to hear more from This Rural Mission.   Music   Producer, Julia: So the rationale behind making this podcast was pretty simple for me. I started biking, back and forth from work when I have to be in the office all day. I don\u2019t do it every day, and I definitely don\u2019t do it when I have to be in a lot of the different communities that I serve, and I started to look around at the transportation system in my county and I started to really think about, how this system works. Not just the Dial-a-Ride and the County Connect, that\u2019s available in my county, but also things like the bike paths. And even if I didn\u2019t have those bike routes, I have sidewalks, I have clean, well-maintained sidewalks. And I live in this community that is urban. I think with that urban distinction a lot of those things are easier to get simply because you have more tax revenue in these urban areas.   When we talk about poverty, most of us tend to think: urban centers. (Busy City Noises) I deal with rural communities. Rural communities are some of the most underserved rural communities in the nation when we\u2019re talking about the economy, when we\u2019re talking about resources, when we\u2019re talking about medical professional. Medical professionals areas are rural areas. Pretty much across the board. There are urban areas that have shortages as well, but it\u2019s predominantly a rural issue. (Music)   When we think about resources, we first have to think about: how do people get those resources? Because many resources don\u2019t come to people\u2019s doorsteps. Even things like mobile food pantries, people have to go to those places to get the food that\u2019s being offered. They have to get to the health department to get the free health services. They have to get to the dental clinic and that  requires transportation. Now, in a rural community your geography is just so vast. You know, your city centers are smaller your suburban centers are smaller, places where people are living is vastly spread out and so to get to those resources is an even greater track. Combine that with economic issues like not having adequate jobs or having unreliable transportation because of limited finances, you\u2019ve got a huge issue. (Music) One of the counties I\u2019ve served is Clare County, Michigan. The average income, in Clare County, is about $33,000 per year and according to the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Ranking System, they are seventy eighth out of eighty three. I\u2019m not going to bore you with what that means, but as far as health outcomes go, that\u2019s not good.   You know, I look to this community and there\u2019s a lot of poverty, there\u2019s a lot of things that maybe aren\u2019t going so well, but there\u2019s a lot of things that are going right. And I got to talk to some really interesting people about the public transportation system in Clare County. (Music)   Tom Pirnstill: Tom Pirnstill, I\u2019m the Executive Director at Clare County Transit. Well, it started in 1981, we have contributed a little over three million rides in that timeframe. We cover an area of five hundred and seventy square miles, population\u2019s about thirty thousand. They\u2019ve developed this dial-a-ride, or demand response, where people call us up and we start building a route based on call ins. So, it\u2019s all fairly fluid and it\u2019s about scheduling the busses and getting people to where they need to go and then going to the next ride as they call in. We have a thousand miles of road in Clare County and only two hundred and fifty are paved.   (Music)   Julia: Out of a thousand miles, in Clare County, only two hundred and fifty miles are paved. That\u2019s only one quarter of the roads in Clare County. That also means that a majority of people who drive everyday are not driving on paved roads. Which can take a toil on their cars. Even if it\u2019s a new car. Dirt, gravel, sand that can be a costly repair for even someone who\u2019s middle class and has those resources.   Julia to Tom: So, that seven hundred and fifty miles of unpaved road, that\u2019s probably really hard on your busses.   Tom: Oh, you bet!  You bet, yeah. And they\u2019re hundred and ten thousand dollar busses. We can replace them seven years or two hundred thousand miles , depending on the capitol that\u2019s available from the state. I have some busses that have over three hundred thousand miles on them. You\u2019ve got to keep them because there\u2019s nothing coming down that we can replace the busses and then that results in higher repair bills because like you said, the roads, they\u2019re rough.   Julia: But there\u2019s something really interesting about the public transportation system in Clare.   Julia to Tom: What kind of relationship do your drivers have with these people? I mean you talk about having\u2026   Tom: They love them. They love them. Most of the time, the elderly, they cook for their drivers sometimes. They bring them cookies or cakes or whatever. They know them on a first name basis. If they come to their house and they\u2019re not out there, normally the driver will go up to the door and find out what\u2019s going on. They\u2019ve developed that kind of a relationship, because we care about them.   (Music)   Julia: In my experience with public transportation, I\u2019ve separated this idea of bus and bus driver, train and train driver. I think of public transportation as those pieces of metal that take me from point a to point b.   One of the students who is involved in the Rural Community Health Program and just so you know, the Rural Community Health Program is a rural training certificate program through Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Katie Lindauer, Just spent a year in Chicago.   Katie: I spent the last year doing research and living in Chicago before returning to my clinical years.   Julia: She used public transportation to take her everywhere that she needed to go. And she can tell you that she did not have the Clare experience when it came to public transit.   Katie: As a single woman in a big city I was instructed by pretty much every adult that I interacted with, ever ever take public transit after, like, ten PM at night. I don\u2019t know if that is necessarily a hard and fast rule depending on where you live, you know whether you\u2019re alone on public transit or, you know, whether people are just being really protective.  But then there are other things too, like Chicago\u2019s public transit system is pretty expensive compared to some of the other places I\u2019ve been. But it\u2019s also pretty nice and it\u2019s usually pretty safe and you learn certain train lines are safer than others.   Julia: I also got to talk to Sarah Kile. And Sarah Kile is the Executive Director of 211 Northeast Michigan. And in a nutshell, they connect people who are in need to the resources that they need. Sarah Kile is the Executive Director, like I said, and she and her team serve twenty three counties and a majority of those counties are rural counties; one of them being Clare.   Sarah: The transportation infrastructure here in Michigan needs a massive overhaul. Because we pay insurance in middle class because that\u2019s the bill that comes and we have to pay it. But when somebody\u2019s in poverty and they get pulled over or they get into an accident we just dig another hole for someone. It\u2019s really just an unfortunate situation and I think, looking at communities like Galdwin, Clare we have people who can\u2019t drive. And that public transit, as limited as it is, you know, it\u2019s only from seven to four or seven to five during the weekdays and you have to call a day in advance, sometimes you have to call three days in advance to schedule a ride. That is a lifeline for some folks. Where they couldn\u2019t go anywhere without it. We have people who have to schedule their infusions around the bus schedule. That just blows my mind, like, I\u2019m just flabbergasted that something like an infusion, they have to go three times a week, or well I can\u2019t go on the weekends because I simply don\u2019t have transportation. That\u2019s shocking to me.      (Music)   Julia: And with 211, the Clare County Transit Corporation and the Community Foundations in the area have started to solve problems.   Tom: Non emergency medical transportation has always been an issue following the country. I mean you have ambulances and rescue squads, they do the emergency. The non emergency things has always been an issue of people being able to afford transportation to get there.   Julia: This non emergency medical transport system was created to meet that very need that Sarah talked about.   Tom: At our transit, we did a study about five or six years ago on that very issue. Of how can we get people in Clare County to the doctors when they need to go without fear of not being able to pay for it.   (Music)   Julia: Michigan State University has been training medical doctors in rural communities for over forty years. I know that this University is doing their part to help alleviate that medical professional shortage. But even if we have enough doctors, we will still need to make sure that everybody living in these communities can get to those doctor's appointments and this non emergency medical transport is helping to break down one more of those barriers.   You know, people need to get to doctor\u2019s appointments, people need to get to grocery stores people need to get to play practice. But people also need to be part of a community. And that\u2019s one thing that Clare County has got down. They are a community.   Dr. Bremer has been a physician in rural communities for over thirty years.   Julia to Dr. Bremer: Now, do you ever run across individuals who have a hard time getting transportation?   Dr. Bremer: Sometimes but not always. Most of them have a relative, a friend, neighbor. And so people help each other out in the community if, you know, Mary who lives by herself and doesn\u2019t have any kids or family around, they usually have a neighbor who will take them, kind of thing. So a lot of that kind of stuff goes on. Neighbors, friends, somebody from church will bring you or that type of thing if they can\u2019t find transportation on their own.   Julia: He hit this idea of community right on the head.   Julia to Dr. Bremer: In the rural communities that you\u2019ve served, what is their greatest strength?   Dr. Bremer: The greatest strength is the people in each community. That\u2019s what the strength is. People helping each other. That\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do. Whether it\u2019s a big community or small community. You\u2019re supposed to look out for your neighbors, help one another, share, help each other, think about each other, don\u2019t think about yourself all of the time, kind of thing, we\u2019re supposed to be a community. Whether it\u2019s a big community or small community. So, that\u2019s what a community\u2019s supposed to do. A community can be anywhere. It doesn\u2019t have to be a little Clare. It can be a big Midland or a Big Lansing, whatever. Yes.   Julia: Poverty and inadequate transportation will most likely be with us, forever. But there\u2019s something else that will always be with us, and that\u2019s each other. And I really think that what you get out of a community is what you put into it. And places like Clare County are putting a whole lot into their communities. And I think that shows, not only in the public transportation system, but in so many other organizations and collaboratives.   (Music)   Julia: I want to thank everyone for listening to this podcast. This Rural Mission is produced by me, Julia Terhune. I\u2019m the Assistant Director for Rural Community Health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and I just want to say that I love Clare County. I also want to thank Dr. Andrea Wendling and John Whiting for your help and support with this podcast. I also want to thank Tom Pirnstill, Katie Lindauer, Sarah Kile, and Dr. Bremer for agreeing to be interviewed for this podcast. Before I go, I just want to encourage you, I want to encourage you to consider making rural your mission. And until next time, I\u2019m Julia.   To learn more about 211, the Clare County Transit Corporation, or the Rural Community Health Program, please visit our website at www.msururalhealth.chm.msu.edu. By joining our website, you can connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can also find out more about our musician. Music today was brought to you by Horton Creek and Byran Edgers, a local musician and Michigan native. I hope you tun in next time for more from This Rural Mission.   ","author_name":"This Rural Mission","author_url":"http:\/\/thisruralmission.libsyn.com\/website","html":"