July 9, 2025 • 4 mins
Chris Palusky, CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries and Megan Erskine, CEO at Catherine's Health Center join us to discuss a new partnership to serve those experiencing homelessness in West Michigan.
More information can be found here: https://woodradio.iheart.com/featured/wood-radio-local-news/content/2025-07-08-catherines-health-center-to-staff-full-service-med-clinic-at-mel-trotter/
More information can be found here: https://woodradio.iheart.com/featured/wood-radio-local-news/content/2025-07-08-catherines-health-center-to-staff-full-service-med-clinic-at-mel-trotter/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What a cool partnership we are about to explore. This
is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve, Kelly, bred Mekita and
Laurence Smith. You know about that partnership, but what about
Meltrotter and Catherine's Health Center joining us in studio on
West Michigan's Morning News once again. The CEO of Meltrotter Ministries,
Chris Puluski, thank you for coming in today, Thanks for
having me, and let's start with Megan Erskine, who is
(00:23):
the CEO of Catherine's Health Center. Got the press release
yesterday about how you'll be working together at the mission.
Talk to us a little bit about why this partnership.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, So, Catherine's Health Center is a nonprofit community health center.
We serve low income people all over Kent County. But
with the rising rate of homelessness in our community, we
knew that we had to do more and we really
see community as our patient and so for this population,
we found a lot of success in the last three
years of going into churches, going into shelters, going to
(00:56):
places where the homeless community is and we consider that
right time and right place care. The opportunity to work
with Meltrotter is a dream because we knew that we
needed a dedicated clinic, like a brick and mortar clinic
to connect to sort of these place based care models
as well. And so when Chris came on and some
of his predecessors had this vision as well, we were
(01:19):
able to secure a grant where we could put a
full time medical team and a part time dental team
and some mental health services at Meltrotter and a clinic
that they already built. So it's a delightful partnership. We're
very lucky and I think it's going to have meaningful
impact in our community.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Chris, what does this mean to Meltrotter and your clients?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
This is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh, it's huge. So we've had this clinic for years
and it was refurbished right before COVID, then COVID hit,
and it has not been used to its maximum potential
for really since COVID. So we see this as, let's say,
almost a grand reopening where there will be more services
for our guests and also the community. So it's huge
for the community. It's huge for our Yes, we just
(02:00):
see it as a plus plus. Also, it's not Maltroter
doing it. We see ourselves as part of this ecosystem,
and Catherines they know how to run clinics, and so
we see it as a great partnership for running a
clinic at the highest level with professionalism and serving the
people we want to serve.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So, Megan, what type of services will be provided?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
You touched on a little bit obviously, with mental health
being a big piece.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, So we're going to have what we call medical
primary care services. We want people to think of this
as their medical home, just like anyone else who has
a doctor. So we're going to have forty hours a
week of medical services. We're going to have sixteen hours
a week of dental services. We're going to have psychiatric services,
and all of our medical providers are trained to offer
substance use disorder treatment services as well, which is a
(02:44):
really important component of providing holistic care to this population.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So Chris, talk to us a little bit about this
as part of the mission of mel Trotter. Folks who
are in transition and in some of the most vulnerable
times of their life are now getting some of the
best care. Your goal, however, is not to have them
stay there forever. This is just a component for whatever
(03:08):
their next Step is absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So I think people know Meltrotter for the shelter, which
is good, needed and great, but I wish it wasn't
so needed. So at Meltrotter, we try to keep people
from coming into homelessness, so we do diversion and prevention programs.
They also got the shelter and we have a variety
of services in the shelter. And also we want people
to launch, so we want them to be there as
short as possible, so we work with groups for affordable housing,
(03:30):
transitional housing. We have our workforce development team over at
next Step. So we don't want people to have to
come to the shelter, but if they do have to
come to the shelter, we want to offer them high
quality services. So we see it great with Catherinees. We
also partner with Network one eighty. We've got great community
partners for women down the street at Degage, we've got
Family Promise that is also sharing our facility with us.
(03:51):
So the intention at Meltrotter is to try to keep
people from coming into homelessness. If they do, we want
to get them out as soon as possible. But we
don't have to do it alone, and that's why we
have good.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Partners, Megan. To that point, it's easy for us to
walk by someone on the street and marginalize, dehumanize them,
but to the point of what you're providing for them,
these are human beings right made in God's image, and
that's one of the things that you bring to the
table too.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, we believe everybody deserves quality healthcare, and there's no
better way to demonstrate that than providing great healthcare, quality healthcare,
and compassionate healthcare to the in house community.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Unbelievable. You'll see more about it. We'll put the link
in the podcast section atwoodradio dot com. Meganer's kind CEO
at Catherine's Health Center, thank you for coming in. CEO
Chris Puluski at Demelchratter Minister's Great Stuff. As always, thank you,
Thank you,
What a cool partnership we are about to explore. This
is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve, Kelly, bred Mekita and
Laurence Smith. You know about that partnership, but what about
Meltrotter and Catherine's Health Center joining us in studio on
West Michigan's Morning News once again. The CEO of Meltrotter Ministries,
Chris Puluski, thank you for coming in today, Thanks for
having me, and let's start with Megan Erskine, who is
(00:23):
the CEO of Catherine's Health Center. Got the press release
yesterday about how you'll be working together at the mission.
Talk to us a little bit about why this partnership.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, So, Catherine's Health Center is a nonprofit community health center.
We serve low income people all over Kent County. But
with the rising rate of homelessness in our community, we
knew that we had to do more and we really
see community as our patient and so for this population,
we found a lot of success in the last three
years of going into churches, going into shelters, going to
(00:56):
places where the homeless community is and we consider that
right time and right place care. The opportunity to work
with Meltrotter is a dream because we knew that we
needed a dedicated clinic, like a brick and mortar clinic
to connect to sort of these place based care models
as well. And so when Chris came on and some
of his predecessors had this vision as well, we were
(01:19):
able to secure a grant where we could put a
full time medical team and a part time dental team
and some mental health services at Meltrotter and a clinic
that they already built. So it's a delightful partnership. We're
very lucky and I think it's going to have meaningful
impact in our community.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Chris, what does this mean to Meltrotter and your clients?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
This is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh, it's huge. So we've had this clinic for years
and it was refurbished right before COVID, then COVID hit,
and it has not been used to its maximum potential
for really since COVID. So we see this as, let's say,
almost a grand reopening where there will be more services
for our guests and also the community. So it's huge
for the community. It's huge for our Yes, we just
(02:00):
see it as a plus plus. Also, it's not Maltroter
doing it. We see ourselves as part of this ecosystem,
and Catherines they know how to run clinics, and so
we see it as a great partnership for running a
clinic at the highest level with professionalism and serving the
people we want to serve.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So, Megan, what type of services will be provided?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
You touched on a little bit obviously, with mental health
being a big piece.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, So we're going to have what we call medical
primary care services. We want people to think of this
as their medical home, just like anyone else who has
a doctor. So we're going to have forty hours a
week of medical services. We're going to have sixteen hours
a week of dental services. We're going to have psychiatric services,
and all of our medical providers are trained to offer
substance use disorder treatment services as well, which is a
(02:44):
really important component of providing holistic care to this population.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So Chris, talk to us a little bit about this
as part of the mission of mel Trotter. Folks who
are in transition and in some of the most vulnerable
times of their life are now getting some of the
best care. Your goal, however, is not to have them
stay there forever. This is just a component for whatever
(03:08):
their next Step is absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So I think people know Meltrotter for the shelter, which
is good, needed and great, but I wish it wasn't
so needed. So at Meltrotter, we try to keep people
from coming into homelessness, so we do diversion and prevention programs.
They also got the shelter and we have a variety
of services in the shelter. And also we want people
to launch, so we want them to be there as
short as possible, so we work with groups for affordable housing,
(03:30):
transitional housing. We have our workforce development team over at
next Step. So we don't want people to have to
come to the shelter, but if they do have to
come to the shelter, we want to offer them high
quality services. So we see it great with Catherinees. We
also partner with Network one eighty. We've got great community
partners for women down the street at Degage, we've got
Family Promise that is also sharing our facility with us.
(03:51):
So the intention at Meltrotter is to try to keep
people from coming into homelessness. If they do, we want
to get them out as soon as possible. But we
don't have to do it alone, and that's why we
have good.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Partners, Megan. To that point, it's easy for us to
walk by someone on the street and marginalize, dehumanize them,
but to the point of what you're providing for them,
these are human beings right made in God's image, and
that's one of the things that you bring to the
table too.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, we believe everybody deserves quality healthcare, and there's no
better way to demonstrate that than providing great healthcare, quality healthcare,
and compassionate healthcare to the in house community.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Unbelievable. You'll see more about it. We'll put the link
in the podcast section atwoodradio dot com. Meganer's kind CEO
at Catherine's Health Center, thank you for coming in. CEO
Chris Puluski at Demelchratter Minister's Great Stuff. As always, thank you,
Thank you,
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