Grand Traverse Internal and Family Medicine (Grand Traverse Internists), a clinic in Traverse City’s medical district, plans to hire a part-time Registered Dietitian -in part because its doctors were inspired after attending a Culinary Medicine conference last September. The conference also kicked into high gear Chip Hoagland’s plans for a culinary campus at the former Long Lake Elementary School.
Doctors typically learn little about nutrition, much less cooking, in medical school. But combining those topics with medicine is a trend that’s garnering headlines for Harvard Medical School with a conference it holds in California wine country; and Tulane University in food-rich New Orleans. Now, a local food version of this idea is launching in Traverse City, starting with a Culinary Medicine conference in September that will be a pilot for future programs. The theme: Think Like a Chef, Cook Like a Dietitian, Eat Like a Local Farmer.
Newly-released data from the United Way shows that nearly 40 percent of people in northwest Michigan struggle to meet a basic standard of living. United Way defines the working poor as living at or below a “household survival budget” of $19,872 for a single adult and $58,740 for a family of four.
What better way to honor the Summer Solstice than with a celebration of the sun and its ability to power our society’s transition toward renewable energy? Groundwork hosts the Michigan Clean Energy Conference & Fair, June 23-25, in Traverse City.
In the late 1990s, Stanford University found a way to trim the mounting costs of providing a high quality education: Pay university staff to leave their cars parked at home. Locally, Northwestern Michigan College recently unveiled a new master plan, which calls for an additional 244 parking spaces to accommodate an expanding technical education program and double the amount of student housing. Are there any lessons local college officials can learn from the California university?
It sounds like bus ridership is growing. Our field reporters tell us that there’s an increasing number of riders on the Frankfort to Traverse City Connector, and that buses all over town are filling up. That’s news we like to hear. What about you? Do you think transit in this region is improving? Do you see more people at bus stops around town? Do you ride the bus? Why or why not? Share your opinions and join the community discussion on transportation, housing, and energy at a new Grand Vision website.