In an announcement made on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., stated that six hospitals in the 12th Congressional District received a total of $159 million in federal funding. These hospitals included Michigan Medicine Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, which received over $45.5 million of the funds.
“Hospitals are the frontlines and they need support for critical care,” Dingell said. “When we passed the first CARES package we knew the support had to go to hospitals and health systems so they can help those most in need. We will not stop working until all hospitals in Michigan have the resources they need.”
The other local hospitals to receive aid through this funding are St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital, Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital and three Beaumont Hospital locations — Dearborn, Taylor and Trenton. Each of these locations received between $9.4 million to $45.3 million in aid.
These grants came from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed by Congress in March. The funds are meant to provide emergency assistance and healthcare for communities affected by COVID-19.
Dingell discussed the implications of the CARES Act in a virtual town hall last week. During this talk, she emphasized the improvements of COVID-19 testing in the state, as well as her personal commitment to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order. She also fielded questions regarding the state of science research labs.
“There is agreement that when things do slowly reopen that the research labs need to be one of the first places that that happens,” Dingell said. “I think people are working to get those labs back open, but they are trying to make sure that it is done in a safe way and using data to drive those decisions.”
She also thanked universities across Michigan for their research in these times, specifically noting the University of Michigan’s research influencing public health decisions and actions being made in the state.
A complete list of Michigan hospitals that have received aid as a result of the CARES Act can be found here.
Daily Staff Reporter Iulia Dobrin can be reached at idobrin@umich.edu.