{"id":301281,"date":"2026-02-20T15:51:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T15:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/301281\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:51:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T15:51:21","slug":"muskegon-health-center-removes-transportation-barriers-to-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/301281\/","title":{"rendered":"Muskegon health center removes transportation barriers to care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"LWGSTEBO2ZGWVMBYA5JUXYYOF4\">MUSKEGON, MI &#8212; Hackley Community Care is offering transportation services to patients, addressing what officials say is a major barrier to accessing health care in Muskegon County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EIQI63YP4JBENMJWQ22CGM6RPI\">The Federally Qualified Health Center has partnered with Pioneer Resources to provide rides to medical, mental health, dental and specialty appointments at no cost to patients. The service has no geographic restrictions and will use fully accessible vans to accommodate patients with varying mobility needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"WMJWR6U2EVF63M2WID25UONN5I\">\u201cRemoving transportation barriers is essential to improving health outcomes,\u201d said Michael Weessies, chief executive officer of Hackley Community Care. \u201cThis partnership ensures our patients can more easily reach the care they need \u2014 care that truly has the power to change lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"WJ22VODFGJAOBIWW2SLSUPQWZM\">The collaboration emerged from recognition that transportation challenges prevent many patients from keeping appointments and receiving timely care. Hackley Community Care serves more than 22,000 patients annually across Muskegon County, offering primary medical care, dental services, mental health treatment and other health programs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BRLKY67GSRGHNISVNRZBAVG2AU\">Pioneer Resources brings more than 70 years of experience providing accessible transportation to people with disabilities, older adults and others facing mobility challenges. The nonprofit operates one of the largest accessible transportation fleets on the Lakeshore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"5N7VFDMPBNA43HSWKWRBL5HPHQ\">\u201cWe are honored to partner with Hackley Community Care on this important initiative,\u201d said Jill Bonthuis, CEO of Pioneer Resources. \u201cOur mission has always been to create access and opportunity. By working together, we can help ensure that transportation is never an obstacle to receiving essential health care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"54KL2L7BPVEVZCU2K6K63TWDSI\">Staff at Hackley Community Care will arrange transportation on behalf of patients who have scheduled appointments at either Hackley locations or specialty providers. Pioneer Resources will then contact patients to confirm pickup times and locations. Drivers will provide business cards so patients can communicate if they are running late or ready for pickup earlier than expected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HMHAAC5735ERZJ2BYHVUR2ENDI\">The program, which began this month, is available to any Hackley Community Care patient with a scheduled appointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MUSKEGON, MI &#8212; Hackley Community Care is offering transportation services to patients, addressing what officials say is a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-301281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}