March 18, 2025 • 22 mins
DR. CHRIS URBANIK DISCUSSES HOW CENTRAL CITY HEALTH PROVIDES INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE SERVICES TO SOME OF THE MOST AT-RISK RESIDENTS IN DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY, AS WELL AS THE OPENING OF THEIR NEW HEALTH CENTER IN DOWNTOWN DETROIT TO BETTER SERVIE THE COMMINTY.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up to D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. I am joined today by doctor Chris Umannik.
He's the executive director of operations for Central City Health,
a FED really qualified health center serving marginalized and underserved communities.
As a clinical psychologist, he dedicated his career to public service,
(01:08):
spanning law enforcement, healthcare, and community leadership. A lifelong Michigander,
doctor Urbanic is a proud data of three. He's passionate
about expanding access to quality care and strengthening the health
of the communities he serves. The web address for more
information is Centralcityhealth dot com. Please join me and welcoming
(01:29):
doctor Chris Ubanik. Thank you for joining us, and you
go by doctor you.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, yes, thank you so much for having me. I
appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, looking forward to hearing more about the Central City Health.
So let's get to it. Tell us about the organization
and like, how did it begin? How did you get involved?
Give us some background? Sure?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Sure, So I got involved actually most recently on the
staff side with the organization in January, so I'm fairly
new to Central City. However, back in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen,
I served on their board for three years as the
vice chair. So I'm new staff wise, but steeped in
the organization for several years.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Now, Okay, that sounds like you've been involved for a
little while, right, And what got you involved? Like, why
did you decide this was for you?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Again, as your introduction was so well put, I am
a lifelong Michigander who dedicates himself to serving those in need,
and so it started several years ago in my former life.
But as I joined the board, I really saw that
the organization was forward thinking and giving care to men,
women and children and diverse populations, communities and everything under
(02:36):
the sun. And so when our CEO, doctor Kim Farrell,
reached out to me last year, kind of wanted to
proposition an idea for me out how I can be
more thoroughly involved with the organization and the members in
the city of Detroit. I kind of jumped at it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And you look like you love it I do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I love the work day in and day out. Again
kind of. I think one of the things that gets
me out of bed is knowing that we are doing
well by people that need it most.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, that's great. I mean that gives meaning to everything
every day that you get up, and so why don't
we give everybody kind of view into the things that
you do that give your life meeting that you go
and do every day.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Sure, so again, Central City offers wrap around service. So
what that means is dental, medical, behavioral, health, housing, helping
individuals seek and obtain and secure employment, community reintegration after
time spent incarcerated. We really run the full gamut of
services and so, as the director of Operations, most of
(03:40):
those services fall under my umbrella right now. Clinical services
do not. But again, so I help undergird all of
the services that we provide to individuals in the community
by facilitating things from security of our organization to the facilities,
to our fleet, to new program to grants, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Wow, that's quite expansive. How have you evolved through the years.
I mean you've seen the organization over many years. What
has that been like to watch?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Initially? I do believe back in I was in nineteen
seventy two the organization was formed, and it was actually
Detroit Central City at the time, and I think it's
gone through a couple of name iterations and evolved from
what you would understand as being pure community mental health. Right,
So it was CMH is kind of the term out
there where we provide pure behavioral services to the marginalized
(04:35):
and underserved. That's where it gained its roots, that was
in need in the city of Detroit in the seventies,
and I'm happy to say kind of here we are
fifty plus years later, fully evolved into an organization that
meets the needs of the whole person. Right. We are
an integrated care model, which means all of the services
that I talked about a few minutes ago are under
one roof. We go well beyond typical care. So for example,
(04:59):
we housed over three hun individuals last year, or helped
house those that were un housed or at risk of
being homeless. We helped thirteen, or we helped three hundred
families and individuals become house Well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, it's probably interesting to witness because behavioral health there
are causes and things that are affected on the front
side of it. And then there are things that are
resulting from behavioral health as well. So you said wrap
around care, you know, to really take care of the
whole person, because the situations they may be in can
(05:31):
affect other things or be caused by so many different things.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Precisely as I assume we'll get into it a little while, right,
their issues are deeply layered and interconnected, and kind of
untangling or helping individuals do that or work through those
things becomes deeply challenging and also deeply rewarding.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, it can be very complicated, but when you see
the success, it's got to be immensely gratifying.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Does it warms you up from kind of the feet
to the top of your head?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I'll bet it does. So let's talk about how you
make the services successible to all individuals, particularly you know,
the marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
One of the things right when you asked me about
evolution that I didn't get to, right, is one of
the things I think that is central to Central City
is that we listen to the community. Right, So we
do need assessments and we find out exactly what the
people want where they want it and how they want it.
So we expand services in a less than static I
would say, in an agile way. Right, So we are growing, responding, innovating,
(06:29):
and always asking ourselves what do people need in our
community to help them move beyond surviving to thriving. And
that's where that accessibility piece comes in. Right. So, how
we make healthcare I'll call it accessible, is we literally
and figuratively meet members where they are in the community.
So we have teams in house that go out into
(06:50):
the community. So we have outreach teams, we have community
based case managers, we have sliding scale fees, telehealth things
that kind of break down the barriers. If you want care,
we're here for you how you need it, correct, right,
So that's our outward reaching arm. And then at the
same time, our doors are never locked. I mean physically
they are locked at the end of the day, but
(07:11):
when we're in operation, we don't turn people away. You
can walk in, you can get same day appointments. Again,
like I said, sliding scale fee is this idea that
if you can't afford healthcare at what the market rate is,
and we can make it work for you. We try
to eliminate as many barriers as possible, making accessible for
everybody in this city.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So when you say walk in, where are we talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So we have two locations. One is ten Peterborough, which
is off of Woodword Avenue kind of more so in
midtown area. And then we have our new location which
is twelve forty third Street, which is right across from
dpd's headquarters or kind of dtres one Plaza MGM Casino
right there is. That's our newest location that we just
(07:54):
recently opened.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, that's great, something you know for everyone, whether you
need them to come to you or whether you're inviting
them in right.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah. And we are also building a mobile healthcare unit,
which is kind of an extension of getting out there
in the community giving equitable care, accessible care to anybody
and everybody that wants it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Well, and you offer an integrated model of care, like
what let's talk about what that means and how that
creates a better outcome for the people that you serve.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
In accessible language. Integrated care is the whole person, right, body, mind,
life circumstances, who you're with in life, who you're bringing
along with it, your pets, right, It's kind of this
comprehensive look at the individual. I love that and trying
to care for them from every aspect.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, it's not just them, it's the whole. It's the
whole picture of everything that their life is surrounding them.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Right. You talked about the complexities a few minutes ago. Right,
it's exactly that. Nobody walks into the door with just
one issue, you, nor I or anybody else. And then
so it's if we just focus on that one issue,
we're ignoring the individual pretty much.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I got lots of issues me too, but we won't
air those right now. Well, that's wonderful. I love that approach,
and people who visit you are lucky to get that
kind of care that is more of a three sixty approach.
What kind of ways do Central Cities Health emphasize the
integrated approach to care? How is that different from other
(09:15):
healthcare providers? Like does everybody approach it that way? Or
is that unique to you? And how did that come
about that you guys do it that way?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Sure? Yeah, so I think it's an evolutionary kind of
standard right in the in the where we are in
contemporary America, I would say that most healthcare organizations remain
specialized in essence, they kind of work on one particular thing, right,
and we at Central City we bring those puzzle pieces
together again, just like I said, integrated care, we instead
(09:41):
of focusing on one piece, we focus holistically. And because
of that, we're recognized as a Level three patient centered
medical home, which is the highest recognition by the National
Committee of Quality Assurance. And so it's not unusual for
an individual to walk through our door for say, a
primary care appointment, and leave with several follow up appointments
(10:03):
or having seen other specialists that day. So again, it
all goes back to being under the same roof, and
it ultimately demonstrates the power of integrated care.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Congratulations on that recognition.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That says a lot about how you care for people.
You had said that three hundred people you housed last year.
Was that the right now? Okay? And I'd read that
you serve over five thousand Detroit and Wayne County residents
every year. What are some of the challenges that your
patients and consumers face. That's a lot of people to
care for.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yes, it is, and I don't think it falls on
deaf ears to kind of understand what's going on in
Wayne County, right, and I think it would be remiss
of me not to kind of share the complex psychosocial
problems that our members face. Right, as I said a
few minutes ago, not a single person walks through our
door that has a lone, standalone issue. Right. So they
(10:55):
have chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, untreated mental health, unresolved traumas, right,
substance use disorders. In fact, one in three of our
members faces housing instability, which again makes dealing with your
mental and physical health even harder. What we're recently seeing
is there's growing food insecurity, right, growing unemployment again, like
(11:17):
I said, unresolved traumas. And to kind of reiterate the
words that I used a while ago, right, layered and
interconnected are their problems.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And what are like these challenges? How do you overcome
them and make a difference with the result being a
positive health outcome?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Sure, so we charge in head first and we tackle
problems head on with our wrap around support.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right, so they must feel like an immediate like wow,
they're all over me.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yes, that's ultimately our goal. So we have like waiting
room experience where they're immediately greeted when they walk in
the door, there's kind of complimentary refreshments things to kind
of make them at ease. Right. You've got to remember
that some of the individuals that we're working with are
have been again margin lies by the larger healthcare organizations,
and so they don't they've lost trust, and so one
(12:05):
of our things that we want to do is foster
that trust from the get so then we can build
the rapport that helps deepen the care teams that they're
going to see moving forward.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So they come in, you make them feel welcome. You know,
we talked about some of the challenges that you face,
like how do you overcome those?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
It all boils down to our integrated care model. Right.
We wrap around them with the nice, warm intro, right,
and then we do a deep assessment in the beginning
that kind of opens up what we call the care
the individualized care plan that then helps them get assigned
to an integrated care team whose physician, a nurse practitioner,
medical assistant, community health worker, peer support and a peer
(12:45):
support for people who are unaware as a person with
similar lived experience, so they get to connect with a
community member to say, hey, this is a safe place
for you to be and so ultimately, right, those complement
of service help our hope and what we see the
results that kind of helps people reclaim their lives. Right,
So we help members get housed, we help them bring
(13:05):
back stability for them and their families, so.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That really covers multiple health and social issues for them.
Because of the assessment you do at the beginning. Correct, Well,
that's a crucial step I would imagine when they arrive.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
It is, and that's exactly where again, to use the
word trust, that's where it all begins, right, it is
we take a member centric approach where we don't want
to discount anything that might be presented by the member. Right,
we can assume what their life has looked like, but
none of us have ever walked in their shoes, right,
So again we want to walk alongside them, learning not
(13:39):
only about what brings them to Central City, but again
home life, internal challenges and barriers that they face. It
gives us the ability to craft that personalized care plan,
and importantly, it shows our members that we care about
them more than a file right or a whole person.
They have a lot of meaning and that's why we
(13:59):
are in the business that we're in is because we care.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I love that you had spoken of walking alongside, which
is just such a wonderful visual and it makes me
think it's not like they come in and they're one
and done and it's like, oh, here's a solution for you,
and off you go. I mean, some of the things
that people struggle with, like homelessness or substance abuse, those
require long term care to provide a path to even
(14:24):
if it's just not recovery, but like a better life
path hopefully to recovery. Can you tell us a little
bit about how you guys emphasize that to your patients
and consumers who do struggle with those longer term issues.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Sure, so, I think what you're getting at right is
continuous care. And so to use a really kind of
dad joke fishing analogy, right, we're not catching release right.
Our ideas while I personally am a sustainable fisherman, Right,
our idea at Central City is to be it in
for the long haul. Right. Our philosophy is to support
people throughout their journey from start to finish. Right. So again,
(14:59):
case Man peer supports, outreach teams help the members stay
engage long term. So to use that as an example, right,
somebody that's getting support for their substance use dependence. Might
also be outreached for job assistance, for medication management, and
again to use the term integrated care right, we weave
it all together to hopefully reach the best outcomes so
(15:21):
people can rebuild a stable life.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
If you're just joining us right now, our guest today
is doctor Chris Urbanik. He's the executive director of operations
for Central City Health. Doctor you you had said case management,
case workers, and you've implied people deeply care about the
people who walk in the door, and it's apparent by
your joy for what you do, which I can certainly feel,
(15:44):
and I hope everybody listening feels it too. Tell me
about the people. Tell me about the role case managers
play and helping consumers navigate the complex systems of care
that we discussed. You know it is complex, So tell
me about your people.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, absolutely so. Again, as somebody who's been steeped in
healthcare for several years, I don't understand all the nuances, right,
so I can only imagine what it feels like for
somebody walking in off the street. And so I would
consider our case managers to be lifelines. They are really
those mooring lines in the storm of people's lives. They
navigate care, they help people connect to benefits the housing,
getting them connected to work. And if I had to
(16:20):
use a couple of adjectives, right, I mean they are advocates,
they're problem solvers, and they are support systems for our members. Right.
They are consistent care in uncertain times. Right. And so
to use my phrase, right, they walk with members and
help members build self confidence so they can engage more
wholly in their own care.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And building that trust that you said is so important
to them precisely maybe they didn't quite get from other organizations.
I love that. What are some of the key partnerships
that you have to have involved. I can't imagine this
is an easy undertaking and there's got to be people
who are deeply devoted to what you do. Tell me
about that.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Absolutely absolutely so, I mean it all boils down, or
it all kind of runs down from the federal level.
So we use you know, hud kind of to help
us support our housing department. But we have you know,
d Win. We have been around for fifty plus years
and with that right, we have long standing relationships with shelters,
employment agencies, the Michigan Primary Care Association. What I really
(17:21):
want to highlight is more recently, we've started to engage
with local universities, right, so the University of Detroit, Mercy
Wayne Say University, which is my alma mater. And what
we're doing right is, so at the University of Detroit,
we're offering outpatient primary care kind of an extended reach.
Right at Waynesay, we're trying to kind of build a
hiring pipeline. Right. We want high caliber people who believe
(17:42):
in our mission to come join the team. So if
anybody out there is listening wants to join, kind of
come find us. But again, we strive to extend our
reach to offer services that transform people's lives. And that's
what it boils down to.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It all on that day. That's meaningful at the universities
because you're giving people a pathway to to be involved
in helping their community and do meaningful work that they're
going to find value in as well.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yes, and that's what I loved about Wayne State, right.
I got to live among you know, the midtown Detroit
and kind of extend the care that I could give
beyond there.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So I love them. That's awesome. Those kids are lucky
to have that chance to work with you. So you
were mentioning locations. You recently announced the opening of your
third Street Health Center in downtown Detroit. How did that
come about? You know, these the fact that you come
to people or they can come to you, and you're
providing this new additional location for them. Again another large undertaking.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yes, and it all goes back to kind of one
of our central tenets is that we keep a pause
on the community. Right, So when people spoke up, we
listened and we actually heard. So there was a clear
need for accessible, integrated care in downtown Detroit, and that's
what we strived to provide. In essence, we want to
(18:57):
serve people closer to their homes and where they work,
with services again that can change their lives in kind
of an easy central hub.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
How do you expect it to improve access to primary care,
behavioral health, dental services, those kinds of things to the community.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Sure. Again, the easiest way to put it is there's
more capacity, right, So we have more exam rooms, we
have more therapy space, we have more lab space. And
so what all that equates to is shorter wait times
and equitable care for more people. Right, So we are
all about convenience, trust and access. We want to be
that one stop shop. So vaccines, chronic disease management, testing,
(19:36):
medication management, other central services. That's what we gear to
provide in as many places as we can in Detroit
and Wayne County.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I love that you keep saying that you listen and
that you also you know the pulse on what the
community needs. Like those are really pillars. It sounds like
of the way you operate.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, and as a clinical psychologist, right, somebody who is
trained and listening, I'm happy to work for an organization
that does the same.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I love that you know, you guys open new administrative
offices nearby. How is that expansion helping improve operations as well?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
So yes, right right, actually adjacent by a parking lot
is our new administrative offices. And one of the things
I think that move was made for was to build efficiencies. Right,
So behind the scenes efficiency for our organization matters, and
streamlining operations allows our incredible frontline staff to do their
work better. And so obviously we're trying to remove internal
(20:28):
barriers so they can give better member care. It also
gives us the ability, because we're centralized kind of downtown,
we have the ability to grow and innovate again, listening
to kind of the pulse of the community and what
they need and want.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
What do you think's next for the Central City Health.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Next is so we're kind of seeking state grant funding
to kind of expand programs. So one of the programs
that we're looking to we're trying to gear ourselves a
little bit in our behavior health space to focus on use.
We're kind of those transitional time periods, right, so again
adolescence moving into adulthood or adulthood moving into or I
should say adolescence moving into an early adulthood or full
(21:09):
on adulthood. We're trying to kind of hone in on
those big transitions and what those milestones mean in contemporary
America and just kind of offering a robust response. I
guess that's probably the biggest one that I want to
highlight at this moment.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay, what is it that you love about what you do?
I mean, you affect so many people in so many
different ways. What you know and you said it, you
know it brings you deep satisfaction and fulfillment. What is it.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
The process? So I'm a I'm a process driven person.
I like to be able to have my hand in
a lot of the operations and kind of be that
single node that can trickle down to watch positive progress
be pushed out on a larger scale. Right, so I
can effectively help streamline a program or remove barriers from
a program that then ultimately gives not only one individual
(21:59):
kind of the care that they need to give us
many hundreds thousands. Right. Having lived in the space of
a clinical psychologist, right, I did a lot of my
work kneecappedinkneecap early in my career. And while I love
the fulfillment that I get from watching people's lives change
then move in a positive direction, why not expand that?
And so when I get to see that happen in
real life, that fills me up.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Oh yeah, And to help, like you said, thousands and
thousands of people.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's my ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's fantastic. Our guest today has been doctor Chris Ubannock.
He is the executive director of Operations at Central City Health.
Thank you so much for joining us, doctor at Bannack.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
If your organization would like to.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up to D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. I am joined today by doctor Chris Umannik.
He's the executive director of operations for Central City Health,
a FED really qualified health center serving marginalized and underserved communities.
As a clinical psychologist, he dedicated his career to public service,
(01:08):
spanning law enforcement, healthcare, and community leadership. A lifelong Michigander,
doctor Urbanic is a proud data of three. He's passionate
about expanding access to quality care and strengthening the health
of the communities he serves. The web address for more
information is Centralcityhealth dot com. Please join me and welcoming
(01:29):
doctor Chris Ubanik. Thank you for joining us, and you
go by doctor you.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, yes, thank you so much for having me. I
appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, looking forward to hearing more about the Central City Health.
So let's get to it. Tell us about the organization
and like, how did it begin? How did you get involved?
Give us some background? Sure?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Sure, So I got involved actually most recently on the
staff side with the organization in January, so I'm fairly
new to Central City. However, back in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen,
I served on their board for three years as the
vice chair. So I'm new staff wise, but steeped in
the organization for several years.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Now, Okay, that sounds like you've been involved for a
little while, right, And what got you involved? Like, why
did you decide this was for you?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Again, as your introduction was so well put, I am
a lifelong Michigander who dedicates himself to serving those in need,
and so it started several years ago in my former life.
But as I joined the board, I really saw that
the organization was forward thinking and giving care to men,
women and children and diverse populations, communities and everything under
(02:36):
the sun. And so when our CEO, doctor Kim Farrell,
reached out to me last year, kind of wanted to
proposition an idea for me out how I can be
more thoroughly involved with the organization and the members in
the city of Detroit. I kind of jumped at it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And you look like you love it I do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I love the work day in and day out. Again
kind of. I think one of the things that gets
me out of bed is knowing that we are doing
well by people that need it most.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, that's great. I mean that gives meaning to everything
every day that you get up, and so why don't
we give everybody kind of view into the things that
you do that give your life meeting that you go
and do every day.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Sure, so again, Central City offers wrap around service. So
what that means is dental, medical, behavioral, health, housing, helping
individuals seek and obtain and secure employment, community reintegration after
time spent incarcerated. We really run the full gamut of
services and so, as the director of Operations, most of
(03:40):
those services fall under my umbrella right now. Clinical services
do not. But again, so I help undergird all of
the services that we provide to individuals in the community
by facilitating things from security of our organization to the facilities,
to our fleet, to new program to grants, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Wow, that's quite expansive. How have you evolved through the years.
I mean you've seen the organization over many years. What
has that been like to watch?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Initially? I do believe back in I was in nineteen
seventy two the organization was formed, and it was actually
Detroit Central City at the time, and I think it's
gone through a couple of name iterations and evolved from
what you would understand as being pure community mental health. Right,
So it was CMH is kind of the term out
there where we provide pure behavioral services to the marginalized
(04:35):
and underserved. That's where it gained its roots, that was
in need in the city of Detroit in the seventies,
and I'm happy to say kind of here we are
fifty plus years later, fully evolved into an organization that
meets the needs of the whole person. Right. We are
an integrated care model, which means all of the services
that I talked about a few minutes ago are under
one roof. We go well beyond typical care. So for example,
(04:59):
we housed over three hun individuals last year, or helped
house those that were un housed or at risk of
being homeless. We helped thirteen, or we helped three hundred
families and individuals become house Well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, it's probably interesting to witness because behavioral health there
are causes and things that are affected on the front
side of it. And then there are things that are
resulting from behavioral health as well. So you said wrap
around care, you know, to really take care of the
whole person, because the situations they may be in can
(05:31):
affect other things or be caused by so many different things.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Precisely as I assume we'll get into it a little while, right,
their issues are deeply layered and interconnected, and kind of
untangling or helping individuals do that or work through those
things becomes deeply challenging and also deeply rewarding.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, it can be very complicated, but when you see
the success, it's got to be immensely gratifying.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Does it warms you up from kind of the feet
to the top of your head?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I'll bet it does. So let's talk about how you
make the services successible to all individuals, particularly you know,
the marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
One of the things right when you asked me about
evolution that I didn't get to, right, is one of
the things I think that is central to Central City
is that we listen to the community. Right, So we
do need assessments and we find out exactly what the
people want where they want it and how they want it.
So we expand services in a less than static I
would say, in an agile way. Right, So we are growing, responding, innovating,
(06:29):
and always asking ourselves what do people need in our
community to help them move beyond surviving to thriving. And
that's where that accessibility piece comes in. Right. So, how
we make healthcare I'll call it accessible, is we literally
and figuratively meet members where they are in the community.
So we have teams in house that go out into
(06:50):
the community. So we have outreach teams, we have community
based case managers, we have sliding scale fees, telehealth things
that kind of break down the barriers. If you want care,
we're here for you how you need it, correct, right,
So that's our outward reaching arm. And then at the
same time, our doors are never locked. I mean physically
they are locked at the end of the day, but
(07:11):
when we're in operation, we don't turn people away. You
can walk in, you can get same day appointments. Again,
like I said, sliding scale fee is this idea that
if you can't afford healthcare at what the market rate is,
and we can make it work for you. We try
to eliminate as many barriers as possible, making accessible for
everybody in this city.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So when you say walk in, where are we talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So we have two locations. One is ten Peterborough, which
is off of Woodword Avenue kind of more so in
midtown area. And then we have our new location which
is twelve forty third Street, which is right across from
dpd's headquarters or kind of dtres one Plaza MGM Casino
right there is. That's our newest location that we just
(07:54):
recently opened.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, that's great, something you know for everyone, whether you
need them to come to you or whether you're inviting
them in right.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah. And we are also building a mobile healthcare unit,
which is kind of an extension of getting out there
in the community giving equitable care, accessible care to anybody
and everybody that wants it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Well, and you offer an integrated model of care, like
what let's talk about what that means and how that
creates a better outcome for the people that you serve.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
In accessible language. Integrated care is the whole person, right, body, mind,
life circumstances, who you're with in life, who you're bringing
along with it, your pets, right, It's kind of this
comprehensive look at the individual. I love that and trying
to care for them from every aspect.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, it's not just them, it's the whole. It's the
whole picture of everything that their life is surrounding them.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Right. You talked about the complexities a few minutes ago. Right,
it's exactly that. Nobody walks into the door with just
one issue, you, nor I or anybody else. And then
so it's if we just focus on that one issue,
we're ignoring the individual pretty much.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I got lots of issues me too, but we won't
air those right now. Well, that's wonderful. I love that approach,
and people who visit you are lucky to get that
kind of care that is more of a three sixty approach.
What kind of ways do Central Cities Health emphasize the
integrated approach to care? How is that different from other
(09:15):
healthcare providers? Like does everybody approach it that way? Or
is that unique to you? And how did that come
about that you guys do it that way?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Sure? Yeah, so I think it's an evolutionary kind of
standard right in the in the where we are in
contemporary America, I would say that most healthcare organizations remain
specialized in essence, they kind of work on one particular thing, right,
and we at Central City we bring those puzzle pieces
together again, just like I said, integrated care, we instead
(09:41):
of focusing on one piece, we focus holistically. And because
of that, we're recognized as a Level three patient centered
medical home, which is the highest recognition by the National
Committee of Quality Assurance. And so it's not unusual for
an individual to walk through our door for say, a
primary care appointment, and leave with several follow up appointments
(10:03):
or having seen other specialists that day. So again, it
all goes back to being under the same roof, and
it ultimately demonstrates the power of integrated care.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Congratulations on that recognition.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
That says a lot about how you care for people.
You had said that three hundred people you housed last year.
Was that the right now? Okay? And I'd read that
you serve over five thousand Detroit and Wayne County residents
every year. What are some of the challenges that your
patients and consumers face. That's a lot of people to
care for.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yes, it is, and I don't think it falls on
deaf ears to kind of understand what's going on in
Wayne County, right, and I think it would be remiss
of me not to kind of share the complex psychosocial
problems that our members face. Right, as I said a
few minutes ago, not a single person walks through our
door that has a lone, standalone issue. Right. So they
(10:55):
have chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, untreated mental health, unresolved traumas, right,
substance use disorders. In fact, one in three of our
members faces housing instability, which again makes dealing with your
mental and physical health even harder. What we're recently seeing
is there's growing food insecurity, right, growing unemployment again, like
(11:17):
I said, unresolved traumas. And to kind of reiterate the
words that I used a while ago, right, layered and
interconnected are their problems.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And what are like these challenges? How do you overcome
them and make a difference with the result being a
positive health outcome?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Sure, so we charge in head first and we tackle
problems head on with our wrap around support.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right, so they must feel like an immediate like wow,
they're all over me.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yes, that's ultimately our goal. So we have like waiting
room experience where they're immediately greeted when they walk in
the door, there's kind of complimentary refreshments things to kind
of make them at ease. Right. You've got to remember
that some of the individuals that we're working with are
have been again margin lies by the larger healthcare organizations,
and so they don't they've lost trust, and so one
(12:05):
of our things that we want to do is foster
that trust from the get so then we can build
the rapport that helps deepen the care teams that they're
going to see moving forward.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So they come in, you make them feel welcome. You know,
we talked about some of the challenges that you face,
like how do you overcome those?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
It all boils down to our integrated care model. Right.
We wrap around them with the nice, warm intro, right,
and then we do a deep assessment in the beginning
that kind of opens up what we call the care
the individualized care plan that then helps them get assigned
to an integrated care team whose physician, a nurse practitioner,
medical assistant, community health worker, peer support and a peer
(12:45):
support for people who are unaware as a person with
similar lived experience, so they get to connect with a
community member to say, hey, this is a safe place
for you to be and so ultimately, right, those complement
of service help our hope and what we see the
results that kind of helps people reclaim their lives. Right,
So we help members get housed, we help them bring
(13:05):
back stability for them and their families, so.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That really covers multiple health and social issues for them.
Because of the assessment you do at the beginning. Correct, Well,
that's a crucial step I would imagine when they arrive.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
It is, and that's exactly where again, to use the
word trust, that's where it all begins, right, it is
we take a member centric approach where we don't want
to discount anything that might be presented by the member. Right,
we can assume what their life has looked like, but
none of us have ever walked in their shoes, right,
So again we want to walk alongside them, learning not
(13:39):
only about what brings them to Central City, but again
home life, internal challenges and barriers that they face. It
gives us the ability to craft that personalized care plan,
and importantly, it shows our members that we care about
them more than a file right or a whole person.
They have a lot of meaning and that's why we
(13:59):
are in the business that we're in is because we care.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I love that you had spoken of walking alongside, which
is just such a wonderful visual and it makes me
think it's not like they come in and they're one
and done and it's like, oh, here's a solution for you,
and off you go. I mean, some of the things
that people struggle with, like homelessness or substance abuse, those
require long term care to provide a path to even
(14:24):
if it's just not recovery, but like a better life
path hopefully to recovery. Can you tell us a little
bit about how you guys emphasize that to your patients
and consumers who do struggle with those longer term issues.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Sure, so, I think what you're getting at right is
continuous care. And so to use a really kind of
dad joke fishing analogy, right, we're not catching release right.
Our ideas while I personally am a sustainable fisherman, Right,
our idea at Central City is to be it in
for the long haul. Right. Our philosophy is to support
people throughout their journey from start to finish. Right. So again,
(14:59):
case Man peer supports, outreach teams help the members stay
engage long term. So to use that as an example, right,
somebody that's getting support for their substance use dependence. Might
also be outreached for job assistance, for medication management, and
again to use the term integrated care right, we weave
it all together to hopefully reach the best outcomes so
(15:21):
people can rebuild a stable life.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
If you're just joining us right now, our guest today
is doctor Chris Urbanik. He's the executive director of operations
for Central City Health. Doctor you you had said case management,
case workers, and you've implied people deeply care about the
people who walk in the door, and it's apparent by
your joy for what you do, which I can certainly feel,
(15:44):
and I hope everybody listening feels it too. Tell me
about the people. Tell me about the role case managers
play and helping consumers navigate the complex systems of care
that we discussed. You know it is complex, So tell
me about your people.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, absolutely so. Again, as somebody who's been steeped in
healthcare for several years, I don't understand all the nuances, right,
so I can only imagine what it feels like for
somebody walking in off the street. And so I would
consider our case managers to be lifelines. They are really
those mooring lines in the storm of people's lives. They
navigate care, they help people connect to benefits the housing,
getting them connected to work. And if I had to
(16:20):
use a couple of adjectives, right, I mean they are advocates,
they're problem solvers, and they are support systems for our members. Right.
They are consistent care in uncertain times. Right. And so
to use my phrase, right, they walk with members and
help members build self confidence so they can engage more
wholly in their own care.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And building that trust that you said is so important
to them precisely maybe they didn't quite get from other organizations.
I love that. What are some of the key partnerships
that you have to have involved. I can't imagine this
is an easy undertaking and there's got to be people
who are deeply devoted to what you do. Tell me
about that.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Absolutely absolutely so, I mean it all boils down, or
it all kind of runs down from the federal level.
So we use you know, hud kind of to help
us support our housing department. But we have you know,
d Win. We have been around for fifty plus years
and with that right, we have long standing relationships with shelters,
employment agencies, the Michigan Primary Care Association. What I really
(17:21):
want to highlight is more recently, we've started to engage
with local universities, right, so the University of Detroit, Mercy
Wayne Say University, which is my alma mater. And what
we're doing right is, so at the University of Detroit,
we're offering outpatient primary care kind of an extended reach.
Right at Waynesay, we're trying to kind of build a
hiring pipeline. Right. We want high caliber people who believe
(17:42):
in our mission to come join the team. So if
anybody out there is listening wants to join, kind of
come find us. But again, we strive to extend our
reach to offer services that transform people's lives. And that's
what it boils down to.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It all on that day. That's meaningful at the universities
because you're giving people a pathway to to be involved
in helping their community and do meaningful work that they're
going to find value in as well.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yes, and that's what I loved about Wayne State, right.
I got to live among you know, the midtown Detroit
and kind of extend the care that I could give
beyond there.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So I love them. That's awesome. Those kids are lucky
to have that chance to work with you. So you
were mentioning locations. You recently announced the opening of your
third Street Health Center in downtown Detroit. How did that
come about? You know, these the fact that you come
to people or they can come to you, and you're
providing this new additional location for them. Again another large undertaking.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yes, and it all goes back to kind of one
of our central tenets is that we keep a pause
on the community. Right, So when people spoke up, we
listened and we actually heard. So there was a clear
need for accessible, integrated care in downtown Detroit, and that's
what we strived to provide. In essence, we want to
(18:57):
serve people closer to their homes and where they work,
with services again that can change their lives in kind
of an easy central hub.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
How do you expect it to improve access to primary care,
behavioral health, dental services, those kinds of things to the community.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Sure. Again, the easiest way to put it is there's
more capacity, right, So we have more exam rooms, we
have more therapy space, we have more lab space. And
so what all that equates to is shorter wait times
and equitable care for more people. Right, So we are
all about convenience, trust and access. We want to be
that one stop shop. So vaccines, chronic disease management, testing,
(19:36):
medication management, other central services. That's what we gear to
provide in as many places as we can in Detroit
and Wayne County.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I love that you keep saying that you listen and
that you also you know the pulse on what the
community needs. Like those are really pillars. It sounds like
of the way you operate.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, and as a clinical psychologist, right, somebody who is
trained and listening, I'm happy to work for an organization
that does the same.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I love that you know, you guys open new administrative
offices nearby. How is that expansion helping improve operations as well?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
So yes, right right, actually adjacent by a parking lot
is our new administrative offices. And one of the things
I think that move was made for was to build efficiencies. Right,
So behind the scenes efficiency for our organization matters, and
streamlining operations allows our incredible frontline staff to do their
work better. And so obviously we're trying to remove internal
(20:28):
barriers so they can give better member care. It also
gives us the ability, because we're centralized kind of downtown,
we have the ability to grow and innovate again, listening
to kind of the pulse of the community and what
they need and want.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
What do you think's next for the Central City Health.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Next is so we're kind of seeking state grant funding
to kind of expand programs. So one of the programs
that we're looking to we're trying to gear ourselves a
little bit in our behavior health space to focus on use.
We're kind of those transitional time periods, right, so again
adolescence moving into adulthood or adulthood moving into or I
should say adolescence moving into an early adulthood or full
(21:09):
on adulthood. We're trying to kind of hone in on
those big transitions and what those milestones mean in contemporary
America and just kind of offering a robust response. I
guess that's probably the biggest one that I want to
highlight at this moment.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay, what is it that you love about what you do?
I mean, you affect so many people in so many
different ways. What you know and you said it, you
know it brings you deep satisfaction and fulfillment. What is it.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
The process? So I'm a I'm a process driven person.
I like to be able to have my hand in
a lot of the operations and kind of be that
single node that can trickle down to watch positive progress
be pushed out on a larger scale. Right, so I
can effectively help streamline a program or remove barriers from
a program that then ultimately gives not only one individual
(21:59):
kind of the care that they need to give us
many hundreds thousands. Right. Having lived in the space of
a clinical psychologist, right, I did a lot of my
work kneecappedinkneecap early in my career. And while I love
the fulfillment that I get from watching people's lives change
then move in a positive direction, why not expand that?
And so when I get to see that happen in
real life, that fills me up.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Oh yeah, And to help, like you said, thousands and
thousands of people.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's my ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's fantastic. Our guest today has been doctor Chris Ubannock.
He is the executive director of Operations at Central City Health.
Thank you so much for joining us, doctor at Bannack.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
If your organization would like to.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
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