ANN ARBOR—One day he couldn’t jump, the next day he couldn’t grip a glass: Andre Artis knew his insides were going haywire. But he didn’t earn enough as a barber to buy health insurance, so he didn’t see a doctor.

However, results from a survey developed and analyzed by University of Michigan researchers and their community partners helped lead to the passage of a one-mill property tax to fund the Genesee Health Plan?one of the first community-funded plans in the country?which gave Artis the help he needed.

The collaborative survey was a critical tool that evolved from a community-based participatory research project, said Daniel Kruger, research professor at the U-M School of Public Health and lead academic researcher on the project. The survey, called the Speak to Your Health! Community Survey, yielded many results that have been used by the health care system and community groups throughout Genesee County.

Genesee County wanted to develop a health plan but needed data to support its funding proposal and the Speak to Your Health! Community Survey served this purpose for them, Kruger said. U-M had the research expertise to generate, analyze and interpret the data.

Marc Zimmerman, director of the Prevention Research Center of Michigan based at the U-M SPH, said that community-based participatory research is a simple concept that’s historically not commonly practiced in academia. With participatory research, the goal is to generate data and shape policy decisions, but the key is to involve the community throughout the process.

Initially the survey and health plan were working on their respective projects unaware of each other. After GHP representatives presented the Speak to Your Health! data, local community foundations donated $1.7 million to develop a plan.

Two years later, when GHP representatives presented Speak to Your Health! to the Genesee County Board of Commissioners, the board placed a millage on the ballot to fund the GHP in the long-term. It passed in Nov. 2006, and now raises $11.7 million annually for health care for uninsured, low-income adults through a network of independent physicians, clinics and hospital systems.

“The Prevention Research Center of Michigan is invested in making our research useful. This was the idea when we introduced the community survey in 2003 which was met initially with some skepticism by our community partners,” Zimmerman said. “The community survey is an excellent example of researchers and community partners coming together to use data to inform policy and make a difference in people’s lives.”

Now, Andre Artis, 35, of Flint, Mich., receives injections to control what doctors immediately diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. Artis says he’s “blessed,” and has no idea how far his symptoms would have progressed without that first, critical doctor visit five years ago.

The paper, “Facilitating the development of a county health coverage plan with data from a community based health survey” appears in the current issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been working to promote health and prevent disease since 1941, and is consistently ranked among the top five public health schools in the nation. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, our faculty, students, and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect our health.

Daniel KrugerMarc ZimmermanPrevention Research Center of MichiganGenesee Health Plan