Triage System Helps Colleges Treat Mentally Ill Students

Miranda Dale had her first breakdown during her freshman year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. It was 2 a.m. on a Saturday, and she hadn't left her dorm room in days.

"I honestly didn't know what to do," says Dale. "I heard rumors that at a big university you're just a number and you're not going to get through to anyone" at the university counseling center.

But when she called the school's counseling line, someone answered right away. Dale got help getting a prescription for medication, and she was booked for an appointment that Monday. She was eventually diagnosed with bipolar II, a mood disorder that usually requires medication.

Over the past decade, colleges and universities across the country have seen an influx of students like Dale with mental health needs.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/01/07/168618329/triage-system-helps-colleges-treat-mentally-ill-students

Wayne State med students care for homeless, others on Detroit's streets

First the left arm. Then the right.

Jonathan Wong, a 29-year-old Wayne State University medical student, moved the blood pressure cuff from one of Thomas Wise's arms to the other to get a better reading. Then, another medical student tested the 45-year-old's cranial nerve response -- could he puff his cheeks? Could he move his tongue?

The students were at St. John Congregational Church in Detroit on Friday, treating some of the men in the church's shelter as part of a new venture between about 100 Wayne State medical students and the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO).

Called Street Medicine Detroit, the program takes doctors-to-be such as Wong and Paul Thomas, 25, out of the clinic and into the city, treating homeless people in the shelters, parks and underpasses where they often live.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130107/NEWS01/301070047/1001/news

Bridge Card use grows at farmers markets

Michigan farmers markets saw a 42 percent increase in the number of purchases made using a Bridge Card last year, according to the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.

That’s good news to both the markets and farmers, who are growing their customer base and selling more produce, and to consumers, who have more access to healthy, locally grown food, according to those involved with farmers markets at the state and local levels.

“I think it’s just tremendous that families across the state who are experiencing economic hardship can support local farmers and have access to healthy foods,” said Dru Montri, director of the Michigan Farmers Market Association. “We feel very strongly that farmers markets and local farms should have access to food assistance benefits.”

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20130105/NEWS01/301050018/Bridge-Card-use-grows-farmers-markets