Hospital chiefs: Lack of transit in metro Detroit is a public health issue

Strong public transit is fundamental to building and maintaining healthy communities in Southeast Michigan. Connecting our communities and removing the barriers that keep patients from accessing regular health care is critical to our region’s future. The evidence is clear. Lack of access to a working regional transit system can have life and death consequences for residents of our community. It is a public health issue and an issue that we have the ability to solve.

Affordable and accessible transit boosts public health by making communities more walkable, providing greater ability to access health services and quality food. The region’s lack of transit increases the number of missed appointments, causing delays in care that often result in emergency room visits that put patients at unnecessary risk. In addition, transit barriers inhibit patients from filing prescriptions, which can result in missed work days, increased healthcare costs and damage long-term health in our region.

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The elderly, children and the transit-dependent suffer most from our lack of transit. Yet, all of our communities would become healthier with a connected, thriving regional transit system.

The healthcare industry employs more than 320,000 people in southeast Michigan, according to the 2018 Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Economic Impact Report.  We are job providers with a workforce that requires a viable transportation system to get to and from their jobs. We are community partners that believe in the future of our region, and that transit is an essential element of helping metro Detroit compete on a national and global scale. But most importantly, we are care providers whose patients suffer because our region has yet to come together in support of a regional transit system. We are committed to changing that in 2018. The health outcomes within our reach make it clear that we cannot afford a further delay.

We urge our regional leadership to come together in support of a regional transit plan in 2018.

This guest column is signed by: 

• John Fox, President and CEO of Beaumont Health
• Jean Meyer, Chief Operating Officer, Ascension Michigan
• Dr. Anthony J. Tedeschi, CEO of Detroit Medical Center
• Wright L. Lassiter III, President and CEO of Henry Ford Health System