‘Showing God’s love’: Exalta Health dedicated to mission to serve
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — On the corner of S. Division Avenue and Andre Street in Grand Rapids, in the heart of the 49507 zip code, is an organization that has had its fingers on the pulse of the neighborhood for 25 years: Exalta Health.
The nonprofit exists to serve the uninsured, underinsured and refugees, citing its mission to “show God’s love to anybody who may not have experienced that.”
“Absolute dedication to mission. We really are here to do God’s work,” Exalta Health President Ed Postma said of how his team operates. “We treat the whole person, mind, body and spirit. We have two doctors. We’ve got a nurse, two medical assistants. Full-time dentist.”
“In dental, we have two two volunteers who show up every week. One is an endodontist. The other is an oral surgeon. We have behavioral health person a social worker,” Postma continued. “We take care of everything.”
With that team of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, dentists and more than 50 monthly skilled-volunteers, Exalta Health addresses the multifaceted needs of its diverse patient population. Embracing a holistic approach, they treat not just the physical ailments, but also nurture the mind and spirit of each individual.
“There is a tendency within the Hispanic community and also within the Black community, there are people who will not go to a clinic or will not go to a physician,” Postma said. “We have a little over 1,100 primary care patients in medical, 1,000 in dental and then we have about 500 that do both.”
Over 60% of Exalta Health’s patients lack any form of insurance coverage. The team works with each individual to set up a sliding payment scale that fits their budget. Another 22% rely on Medicaid and 21% on other forms of insurance.
For Postma and the team, success is two-fold. The first is simple: Getting people in the door.
“If you think about it, here you’ve got a young fellow or a young lady who comes out of, say, Guatemala, has never seen a doctor a day in their life, never seen a dentist a day in their life. And they walk through these doors and they’re going to sit down with somebody who’s going to ask them a lot of questions and stick needles in them. That can be frightening,” Postma said. “If you think of the success of that, it’s actually getting those kids to come back and be able to get additional treatment.”
It’s through trust and collaboration that Exalta Health is able to not only reach the community who needs them most, but also assure them they are in a space that cares for them.
“We’ve got a grant from the state of Michigan where we’re going to go in and go door-to-door almost to try to provide some knowledgeable stuff about health. We’ll do some education, we may do some care within the home. And it’s going to take some building of trust, because some people don’t come here because of anecdotal stuff that they’ve heard their entire life… Or fear; fear of not being documented or something of that nature,” Postma said. “Regardless of all the stuff that goes on with all that, the important thing is that they’re still worthy of getting good medical care. And we want to do that.”
That is the second prong of how Exalta Health views success; Treating everyone, a direct reflection of the mission its staff lives by each day.
“If people can see who and what we are, that’s what success is,” Postma said. “If we’re truly showing God’s love, that’s what success is. That’s all it has to be.”
Learn more about the services Exalta Health offers or ways to help by clicking here.
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