Innovation + Job News

By Sharon Hanks

Do you think about starting your own business in West Michigan and not sure where to turn?

Join us for our second Rapid Growth Series event Tuesday night when four entrepreneurs share their stories on how the reach of their small businesses has grown globally. Find out why they chose to locate their business here, and what challenges and opportunities they see that lie ahead.

Diana Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, will moderate the following panelists:

• Dottie Rhodes, principal of Plenty Creative, a downtown design studio
• Bing Goei, chief executive officer of Eastern Floral and founder of the Goei Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence
• Marcel Thibert of tronixr.us, an online electronics retailer
• Carl Erickson of Atomic Object, a developer of custom software solutions.

The event will be held from 5:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 at the Wealthy Theatre, 1130 Wealthy St. SE. Admission, food and beverages are free.

The event is sponsored by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

Please RSVP for the event using the form below



Source: Jeff Hill, publisher, Rapid Growth Media, Grand Rapids

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.read on…

By Sharon Hanks

Community efforts are furiously speeding ahead to convince high-tech giant Google Inc. to pick Grand Rapids as one of its test sites for an ultra-high-speed Internet experiment called Google Fiber for Communities.

The Facebook site Google Fiber to Grand Rapids leads the nation with more than 22,000 fans since it was launched Feb. 10 by Mindscape at Hanon-McKendry. Mayor George Heartwell is one of the most recent fans to join. He even posted a pitch on YouTube.

Nominatations due March 26
But backers of the campaign believe Grand Rapids will have to shift into high-gear to succeed in convincing the innovative company that the River City is among its best choices for the fiber optic network. It's become a race against time. To participate in Google's "Request for Information," nominations from communities nationwide are due March 26.

"I think the activity in Grand Rapids is going very well," says Doug Lang, founder of the Grand Rapids Technology Partnership, an organization devoted to developing the city into a technological hub. "The social media push (here) is huge and that's a component of this," noting that the Facebook fans club created for Topeka, Kansas trails in second place with 14,000 Facebook fan members.

"I think what needs to be stepped up is community involvement beyond the keyboard (such as websites, twitters and blogs)," Lang says, adding that efforts at City Hall are well under way to complete the application earmarked for municipalities. "Google is a diverse company; their corporate culture is alternative to the status-quo business culture. They want to see the community truly involved."

Great opportunities with new video and photo contest
The new video and photo contest called "Bring Google Fiber to Grand Rapids" is a good example where the community has a great opportunity to be really innovative with a sales pitch to the Silicon Valley-based giant, Lang says. The community group behind the inthe616.com website along with four local restaurants are sponsoring the contest that's open from now until March 24. 

"They (contests) will be the engine that will drive creativity," he says. Two winners will be selected from both the photo submissions and the video submissions, with each winnter receiving a $100 gift certificate to one of the following sponsors: Brick Road Pizza, The Gilmore Collection, San Chez, or The Winchester. Contest rules are available at: www.inthe616.com/the-buzzzzz

Another activity that could create some buzz is to use Google products, he says. "There's Google.docs, Picasa (Google's version of flickr's image and video gallery), Google Chrome which is its web browser, and certainly, YouTube."

In the next two weeks, expect to see and hear more about the effort, Lang says. There are several different camps busy with plans. Last night some organizers met San Chez Café in Grand Rapids to explain what the Google Fiber Network would mean to the community. Another event is planned for downtown on Friday, March 19 by GRNow.com.

Google wants to roll out demonstration networks that move roughly 1,000 megabits per second, serving 50,000 to 500,000 people. A typical home broadband connection, in comparison, crawls at 1.5 to 6 megabits per second.

Sources: Doug Lang, founder of Grand Rapids Technology Partnership; several websites including Google and Facebook

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Public schools across Michigan have been struggling for years with cutbacks in state funding and dropping enrollment, while costs for employee health care continued to soar.

Now 10 Kent County school boards have agreed to a solution -- at least for one year -- that cuts through the contentious issue, confirmed Ron Koehler, assistant superintendent of the Kent Intermediate School District.

The school boards adopted a labor template that requires each bargaining employee in their district to pay $65 per month toward the cost of their health care insurance for the 2010-2011 school year, Koehler says. In addition, they agreed to an increase in co-pays for doctor visits and a freeze on base salaries. The agreement will save the districts millions of dollars, dozens of jobs and long hours at the bargaining table.

The unusual agreement was proposed following negotiations by the Kent County Education Association and the Kent Intermediate Superintendents Association. During the past several years, many non-union support staff and administrators in these districts have been paying a portion of their health care insurance.

"We're just pleased that the Kent County Education Association recognized the severity of the financial situation our districts were facing and joined in on an effort to put kids first," says Koehler. "It sends a message to Lansing that we can work together and put our house in order. . . . it was the right thing to do and we're going to do it."

The districts include Godfrey Lee, Rockford, Lowell, Kenowa Hills, Kent ISD, Byron Center, Comstock Park, Northview, Godwin Heights and Grandville. In the past, teachers in the Grand Rapids Public Schools district were the only ones in the county that paid a portion of their health insurance premiums.

Source: Ron Koehler, assistant superintendent at Kent Intermediate School District.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.



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By Sharon Hanks

After collecting objects of local and "inter-galactic" significance for 155 years, the Grand Rapids Public Museum has arranged for 160,000 of them to be released to the public in one visit: an online collections catalog here.

This catalog allows the public to review the complete scope of the depth and variety of the collections, including those items not on display. The dynamic collection spans dozens of categories from automobiles to dolls to furniture to hats.

Only 10 percent of the museum's vast collection of 245,000 artifacts and specimens are exhibited in the museum at one time, according to Jen Huizinga, the museum's public relations and marketing coordinator. This is due to space demands, the desire to keep exhibits fresh for the public with new materials, and to protect the fragile items from exposure to light and other environmental threats.

"This (project) has been going on for over a year," says Huizinga. "A lot of larger museums have their collections on line so we're finally joining the ranks." Officials hope to have the majority of the remaining items online soon.

To access the collections catalog, visit here and click on the "collections catalog" icon. Once there you can search for artifacts by a category, such as keyword or artisan.

In addition to this new database, site visitors can also find information on featured objects, photo galleries, archival collections, stories, and more.

Because these collections can each contain thousands of documents, there is no way to list everything online. However, if viewers would like to conduct their own research, contact Alex Forist, the Collections Curator at aforist@grmuseum.org to set up an appointment.

The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Sources: Grand Rapids Public Museum's website; Jen Huizinga, Grand Rapids Public Museum's public relations and marketing coordinator.


Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.

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By Sharon Hanks 

Holland-based Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Co. has invested more than $1 million to install a huge rooftop solar energy system at its recycling facility in Wyoming, one of the largest such systems in the state. 

Consumers Energy officials say that when Padnos commissioned Grand Rapids-based Cascade Renewable Energy, a division of Cascade Engineering Inc., to set up the system last year, it was the largest of its kind in Michigan.

The solar system covers a 15,000-square-foot area, nearly 15 percent of the huge roof covering the sprawling plant at 500 44th St. SW. The system generates electricity using 636 3-by-5 foot photovoltaic panels. When sun hits the panels, they directly convert the light into a useable form of electricity, according to Mike Ford, business manager for Cascade Renewable Energy.

Underneath it is a 30,000-square-foot white rubber membrane to allow for better heat reflection. The installation became operational Jan. 4 and will be formally dedicated Monday, March 15.

The solar project taps into a program launched by Consumer's Energy last year called Experimental Advanced Renewable Program. Under the program, Consumer's Energy agrees to purchase the energy produced by the system at a predetermined rate for 12 years. After that time, the power is connected directly to the building's electric meter, allowing Padnos to enjoy significant cost savings and greater energy self-sufficiency.

The unit is expected to last 25 years with a payback of five to seven years, depending on lighting conditions.

"We really see this as a tipping point," Ford says, in advancing Cascade's leadership role in the renewable energy industry. "We have other projects (in negotiations), but the first projects are the toughest."

Last year, the company tackled its first residential solar energy projects with an installation at the Alto home of Fred Keller, Cascade chairman and CEO, and at the Ada home of Ford.

Consumer's Energy just gave the go-ahead for Cascade Engineering's facility in Grand Rapids to undergo its own solar make-over, Ford says.

In a press release, Keller hails the companies' collaboration on the project they began discussing in June, saying it represents "the kind of innovation that can take place between two companies that share a long history of trust. Our partnership goes back to the business Jeff (Padnos)'s father conducted by my father more than 60 years ago."

Jeff Padnos, president of Padnos Iron & Metal, called the project "an exciting expansion of our expertise and environmental commitment, and a path we hope many other businesses will emulate."

The coordination with Consumer's Energy is part of a larger strategy to meet Michigan's recently passed law that requires utilities to generate 10 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2015. When the law was passed, the utility was getting about 4 percent of its power from renewable sources.

Sources: Mike Ford, business manager for Cascade Renewable Energy, Grand Rapids; Amanda Passage of Lambert, Edwards & Associates, Grand Rapids.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

A stroll down Hope College's campus near Holland seems like a picturesque dream scene from another era, with its stately historic buildings and old whispering pines.

But the private college widely known for its high academic standards and deep roots to Christianity is not about to take for granted the safety of its 3,200 students, faculty and staff have enjoyed for generations.

The college is testing for the first time the benefit of surveillance cameras, a common safety device used for several years by a number of campuses nationwide, including Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Central Michigan, Michigan Tech, Western Michigan, Harvard, and Brown.

Since mid-January, the college has been taping the campus goings-on with five new surveillance cameras. Four cameras are situated inside the Martha Miller Center which houses expensive radio, television and computer equipment. A fifth monitors parking lot activities outside nearby Kollen Hall.

"We're not sure it's going to be a benefit," says Greg Maybury, Hope College's director of operations, adding that the college already maintains a "safe community" for its students compared to other campuses.

But the administration wants a 30- to 90-day test period to make an educated decision on the installation, he adds. "A place like Calvin has more than 140 of them (cameras)."

Results so far? Well, no one is monitoring the cameras, adds Maybury, saying "that would be expensive." No suspicious behavior has been reported that requires the need to download and replay the tapes for review, Maybury says. After the footage is kept for 48 hours, officials rewrite over it and tape new activities, he adds.

Once the semester ends in early May, Maybury says a final evaluation will take place to determine whether the benefits are worth the expense. It cost more than $5,000 to install the equipment and software, he says, adding the surveillance "can get expensive."

Sources: Greg Maybury, Hope College's director of operations; websites of these colleges: Harvard, Brown, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Michigan Tech and Marygrove.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.read on…

By Sharon Hanks

Grand Valley State University has tapped Linda Chamberlain, a director of a Grand Rapids technology incubator, to be the leader of its newly created Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Chamberlain, the executive director of the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative for the past three years, began March 1 on focusing her energies on supporting the region's high-growth entrepreneurs.

"I'm very excited," Chamberlain says, adding that she welcomes "any sort of conversation" with the community regarding ideas to encourage new business and innovation in the region. "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the community, Grand Valley, students, entrepreneurs and investors to continue our march for entrepreneurship."

In addition to work at WMSTI, for the past eight years Chamberlain has had her own consulting business, Inno Valuation, where she focuses on creating and validating business opportunities. Her career also includes leadership roles in research and product development at both blue-chip and start-up companies, including Shell Chemical in Texas, Allied Signal in New Jersey and Johnson Controls in Holland.

The new director grew up in Grand Rapids, graduated from the city's Creston High School and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University. She completed her post-doctorate work at the University of California-Irvine.

Among her first goals are to help with the selection of an advisory board, introduce new programs focused on synchronizing resources, and complete a plan aimed at identifying new sources of capital. She will also work with the university's faculty and staff to develop additional academic programming for student entrepreneurs-in-training.

In the announcement released this week, GVSU President Thomas J. Haas says the Center will be "part think tank and part resource clearinghouse," with a goal of boosting entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Center will operate within GVSU's Seidman College of Business on the Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids.

Rick Cook, director of WMSTI's Venture Center, has been named interim executive director for WMSTI, an initiative located in GVSU's Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences along Medical Mile in Grand Rapids.

Sources: Linda Chamberlain, executive director of GVSU's Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Grand Rapids; Brian J. Bowe, GVSU's News & Information Services

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

A Hope College professor is being lauded by two national organizations for his "ground-breaking work" in the promotion of hearing loops, a technology that allows users who visit buildings installed with a loop system to turn their hearing aids into mini-loudspeakers customized for their own hearing needs.

David Myers has worked since 2002 to expand the use of telecoils in hearing aids in places such as churches, theaters, schools and other public meeting sites after he discovered first-hand how the wireless system enhanced his own hearing.

A telecoil that's installed in more than two-thirds of all hearing aids functions as an antenna, relaying sounds directly into the ear without background noise, much like Wi-Fi connects people to the web.

Myers says he and his wife first learned about telecoil-assisted hearing when they were visiting an abbey in Scotland and noticed a hearing assisted sign. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Myers says when he turned on the telecoil in his hearing aid that day. "What I was hearing was a crystal clear voice speaking at the center of my head."

The Hearing Loss Association of America and the American Academy of Audiology both have commended Myers for his crucial role in getting both organizations to endorse a public education campaign called the "Get in the Hearing Loop."

Pat Cricks, president-elect of the Academy, is quoted in a news release as saying "there have been steady increases in accessibility for individuals with hearing loss" due to Myers efforts.

"This is very gratifying," Myers says about national spotlight. "I don't want to take too much credit, but I guess the press release speaks for itself. It was sort of my fantasy that West Michigan could be a model for the nation and I think it is. It's really exciting!"

When Myers first learned about telecoils in Scotland, there was virtually no places in America that had installed the technology. Working with local corporations, Myers obtained grant money and support to help install the loop system in public venues. Today, there are 300 public places in West Michigan that are equipped with a loop, with each site costing from $2,000 to $10,000, Myers says.

In addition to this, Myers has helped spread the magic of the loop through a series of his own personal writings, including a memoir of his own hearing loss. He also established an informational website called www.HearingLoop.org that contains helpful facts for the hard of hearing.

Sources: David Myers, Hope College psychology professor in Holland; HearingLoop.org website; joint press release issued by HLAA and AAA

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

In keeping with its commitment to using cutting edge technology, Grand Rapids Community College announced last week the release of a free iPhone app called GRCC Mobile so that students can more easily tap into the latest college information.

Anyone with an iPhone can access up-to-the-minute updates on such things as classroom information posted on Blackboard websites, faculty absences, maps and directions to entranceways of more than a dozen college facilities, and, in the near future, the availability of parking spaces at the college's downtown area's five parking areas, says Derek DeVries, GRCC Communications Technology Manager. In addition, users can access the college's popular YouTube channel, course catalog and phone listings, he says.

"I've been chompin' at the bit to announce this," DeVries says. "I've worked here for eight years and I'm amazed at the stuff we have going on."

In the past, information posted at GRCC Mobile has been available to almost anyone using a laptop computer. Among the most popular was the college's YouTube channel where students, faculty and alumni could view video clips of select college sporting events, employee training sessions, and lectures by guest speakers. But the iPhone is preferred by a growing number of students because it's smaller, lighter and easier to carry than a laptop.

"I think right now we're the only higher education institution that has an app in West Michigan, but I know of other universities in the country that have an app," DeVries says. Among them are Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, he says.

In the future, DeVries says the college will be sharing the GRCC Mobile platform with other higher education institutions, such as Grand Valley State University, so they can develop their own apps.

He credits Szymon Machajewski, the college's senior Blackboard solutions engineer, for developing the program. Got suggestions for the app? Users are encouraged to e-mail Machajewski at smachaje@grcc.edu.

Sources: Derek DeVries, communications technology manager at Grand Rapids Community College

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Parents worrying about the safety of their teenagers behind the wheel now have a new training tool that will monitor driving behavior on the road in real-time.

Holland's wireless startup Crayon Interface introduced Copilot this month, an innovative wireless device that plugs into a standard port found on all vehicles built after 1995. It tracks in real time the driver's performance on everything from the speed of driver to the location through the use of personal computers, software and mobile applications, according to Kevin Virta, Crayon Interface's vice president of business development.

Virta says the goal is to give parents a method of observing and teaching their teenager safer driving habits without always being in the passenger seat. With 12.5 million teen drivers on the road nationwide, Virta says the company hopes to reduce the number of traffic accidents which are the leading cause of teen deaths.

With Copilot, parents can instantly locate their teen drivers using an interactive map, receive alerts when they are rapidly accelerating or decelerating, set geographic boundaries, and keep track of their time behind the wheel for verification of supervised driving time required by most Graduated Drivers License (GDL) programs, including those in Michigan.

As a parent of a teenager, Virta is fully aware of the anxiety parents experience when their son or daughter hits the road as a novice driver.

"I think there are a lot of parents who go through this," he says.

Virta says there are other applications available to monitor the behavior of drivers, but they are designed for tracking drivers of large fleet trucks, he says, and not customized for novice drivers.

The Copilot device is about half the size of a deck of cards and plugs into the vehicle's computer diagnostic port. This is the same port a technician uses to diagnose a problem with the vehicle. It is normally located under the dashboard, usually near the steering column. It takes about five minutes to install.

Available only online, the unit costs $299, with a renewal annual service fee of $99 after one year. There is a 30-day risk-free trial program available.

"We're now looking for other (distribution) channels and retail opportunities for it," Virta says.


Sources: Kevin Virta, Crayon Interface's vice president of business development; Crayon Interface's website.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Spectrum Health's hopes of performing the first heart transplant in West Michigan picked up steam recently with a state approval to advance plans for admitting patients needing the complicated surgery. But a number of critical steps still need to be completed before the health care system can conduct surgery on its first heart transplant patient.

Last week the Michigan Department of Community Health approved the hospital's certificate of need (CON) application for performing the sophisticated medical procedure at its Butterworth Campus in Grand Rapids, making it the third and final program in the state allowed to perform heart and lung transplants.

As a condition of the state's consent, Spectrum must perform the first heart transplant within 18 months from the day it is granted certification, Feb. 18, state officials say. Spectrum also must perform a minimum of 12 heart or heart/lung transplants annually in the second 12-months of operation.

"The clock is ticking," Spectrum Health spokesman Bruce Rossman says. "But there are a number of things involved," he adds, before surgery gets under way at the Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center.

"We have to recruit a nationally renowned heart transplant surgeon to help pull a team together," he says. "There's training involved . . . and of course, you can't do a heart transplant unless there is a heart available."

The business plan is expected to be approved next week by Spectrum's board of directors, he says.

Spectrum health leaders are confident the hospital can sustain a transplant program, noting that 19 patients were referred to hospitals on the Eastside of the state or to those in Chicago. They argue that a local program would allow many patients to remain living in the area while undergoing treatment instead of bearing the expense and trouble associated with a temporary move elsewhere to be near an authorized heart transplant hospital.

"We're very pleased with the action," Rossman says about the state's go-ahead with the plan. "We think it's going to be a real positive thing for not only patients in West Michigan but another step in making West Michigan a real destination for health care."

Spectrum's efforts to perform the somewhat rare surgery began in earnest last August after officials from Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit revealed that it was performing heart transplants under a CON shared by the Henry Ford Hospital system.

Since the state's second CON was long ago filled by the University of Michigan Health System, the only other hospital in the state authorized to conduct heart transplants, the administrative discovery opened up the availability of an unused third CON.

Sources: Bruce Rossman, Spectrum Health media relations manager; the Michigan Department of Community Health's website

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Despite the Great Recession, growth at the Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewing Company continues at bottle-neck speed, with plans on tap this year to hire another dozen workers to accommodate projected sales of $10 million, up from last year's $6.8 million.

Topping off that good news are tentative plans to expand the micro-brewery's manufacturing footprint with additional real estate and equipment by year's end.

"It's been crazy," says Founders Brewing President and cofounder Mike Stevens about the micro-brewery's market that now covers 15 states. "We're proud of how we've grown over the past 13 years to become not just a local name but a serious contender on the regional and national craft brewing scene.

"Our crew is making some of the best beer in America, and that is reflective in the continued growing we're seeing in the local, state and regional marketplace."

In addition to tasty suds, Stevens credits local support among retailers, distributors, restaurants, beer lovers and a great branding campaign for contributing to the success of the company at 235 Grandville Ave. SW where operations are running two shifts. He's also grateful to his great brewers and about 20 other partners who have invested in the company over the years.

Stevens, 42, and his college friend, Dave Engbers, 39, followed their dreams of majoring in large-scale beer production following graduation from Hope College. After establishing their little startup in 1997, sales trended upward to a point 10 years later in which the craft beer makers had outgrown their 8,000-square-foot facility in the then-lifeless Monroe North district. It then relocated to a spacious and renovated 27,000-square-foot site, when employment at the happy hops place at that time was 19 workers instead of the 70-plus workers today. 

"It's been fun," Stevens says with a laugh. "Now there are departments and budgets and structure. The dynamics of the company have really changed."

One thing that hasn't changed, however, is Founders commitment to serving up a consistent quality beer to satisfy a large and diverse beer-lover's palate. In 2010, ratebeer.com ranked Founders as the 4th highest-rated microbrewery in the world. Can you drink to that happy hops success story?

Sources: Mike Stevens, president and co-founder of Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids; Diane Stampfler of Promote Michigan; website: www.ratebeer.com.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Due to an overwhelming response from its first collection, organizers of the Muskegon Area Medical Disposal Program are busy preparing for its next drop-off event April 17 where residents can safely get rid of unused or expired medications.

"We knew it (service) was needed and this just confirmed that," says Laura Fitzpatrick, a project manager for the Muskegon Community Health Project and one of the event's organizers. She says 170 individuals dropped off more than 400 pounds of prescription and over-the-counter drugs at the Disposal Program's first four-hour drop-off collection at the Norton Shores Fire Station.

The collection generated more meds than expected says Fitzpatrick, who also leads the community's efforts for a drug-free Muskegon. Six pharmacists and two pharmacy technicians were kept busy sorting the meds throughout the drug take-back.

The free program is aimed at improving the environment and reducing the chances of accidental poisoning. All medications and evidence, such as labels with patient names, are to be incinerated. Controlled substances were turned over to law enforcement agencies and the other medications were turned over to a certified waste hauler for incineration.

The U.S. Federal Drug and Administration used to recommend that these drugs be flushed down toilets, but this method raised environmental concerns about the effects even traces of the medications might have on drinking water and on the ecology of wildlife.

The Medication Disposal Program developed through a unique and wide-ranging collaboration among a number of entities, including the Lakeshore Health Network, Mercy Health Partners, the Muskegon Community Health Project, the Muskegon County's Sheriff's Office, the Muskegon Safe Homes, the Muskegon Police Department and the Norton Shores Police and Fire Departments.

Conversations about a disposal program had been an ongoing topic among many community leaders. But the program didn't get off the ground until Grand Valley State University student Carrie Uthe got involved with her senior thesis on the effect prescription drugs have on a community's water system. She's widely credited for her leadership role in pulling the pieces together, Fitzpatrick says.

The next Medication Disposal Drop-off event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., April 17 at the White Lake Ambulance Authority. Another one is planned for June 19 in a yet-to-be-determined site in Muskegon. Others will be scheduled for August and October.

Fitzpatrick says that by late summer, the coalition, in partnership with Mercy Health Partners' Retail Pharmacies, will provide daily drop-off locations for medications as well as disposal of needles and sharps at local pharmacies.

Sources: Laura Fitzpatrick, project manager for Muskegon County Community Health Project and leader for Drug-free Muskegon; Grand Valley State University's website; the Muskegon Area Medication Disposal Program's website.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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By Sharon Hanks

Bean, squash, pumpkin and tomato plants along with other fruits and vegetables could be thriving in a field outside the historic Felt Mansion this spring if Pat Meyer, Felt Estate Restoration Project Manager, can plant and grow enough seeds of interest.

Meyer is getting word out about her proposed Victory Garden for an abandoned, overgrown plot next to the magnificently restored 1928 mansion. She hopes the garden will supply fresh food for numerous wedding and social events held at the mansion throughout the year. Surplus food would be given away to local food pantries.

"I just don't want to overbuild (the garden) and not have the volunteers to support it," says Meyer, a master gardener who is hoping to attract enough seeds, tools, materials and volunteers to begin turning spades this spring. "I'm going to need more help than just me to take care of it. I would love to have a group of master gardeners to help."

I B Compost company of Zeeland has already offered to supply compost as long as Felt volunteers haul it away themselves, Meyer says.

The stately Felt Estate has plenty of special events that could use the Victory Garden's fresh fruits and vegetables. The popular 17,000-square-foot mansion with 25 rooms and a third-floor ballroom has already been rented for every weekend from mid-April to the end of October, Meyer says.

Beautifully situated 10 miles south of Holland and six miles north of Saugatuck at 6597 138th Ave., the Felt Estate was once the luxurious summer home of self-made millionaire Dorr E. Felt. In 1886, Felt invented the Comptometer, the first office processing machine that could perform four math functions quickly and accurately. The sprawling estate once boasted a thriving farm with orchards, vineyards, vegetables and animals in its heyday.

Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites, the sumptuous Felt Mansion retains the architectural beauty of a bygone era and offers a glimpse into the wealth and lifestyle of the Roaring '20s – a time cut short by The Great Depression.

For about two decades, Felt's descendants kept the home until it was sold to a Catholic seminary in 1949. It later housed cloistered nuns, prisoners, the state police, and a drug enforcement agency until the run-down estate was purchased for $1 in the early 1990s by Laketown Township for use by the public. Meyer has been spearheading restoration efforts since 2002.

Victory Gardens were popular during World War I and World War II when the government encouraged people to grow their own food so it could divert the country's agricultural products to the needs of wartime soldiers.

To help Meyer hit pay dirt with the Victory Garden project, interested parties should contact her at 616-896-7860 or at paymeyer@patmeyerrestoration.com.

Sources: Pat Meyer, Felt Estate Restoration Project Manager, Laketown Township; Felt Mansion Estate website.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.

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By Sharon Hanks

Huntington Bank's announcement last week to allot $750 million for new loans over three years to cash-starved small businesses in West Michigan has drawn "extraordinary interest," says Jim Dunlap, Huntington's regional president of West Michigan based in Grand Rapids and its senior executive vice president of commercial banking overseeing the Michigan market.

"There's an enthusiastic willingness to participate. We're very excited with this initial test," says Dunlap in describing the bank's efforts to revise its underwriting requirements to make it easier for small businesses to access capital. "We're trying to be more innovative and flexible . . . and maybe more realistic."

It's no wonder cheers of relief surrounded the announcement. Small businesses traditionally have been the engine for economic recovery and job growth, but during this Great Recession, their recovery has widely been stymied by more rigorous lending practices and tighter credit.

To push through the $750 million in loans as soon as possible, Dunlap says the bank is quickly bringing on board six new small business bankers in West Michigan. This will double its lending staff to process double the amount of money the Columbus-based bank would historically loan to West Michigan small businesses during three years. The majority of the loans are expected to be made this year.

Though Huntington is the nation's 24th largest bank, its lending volume to small businesses ranked it as the nation's 7th largest lender in 2009. In Michigan, it ranked number one in Small Business Administration loans both in amount and volume last fiscal year.

The bank's announcement is part of a sweeping push to offer $4 billion in small business loans in the Midwest over three years, an amount that could translate to an estimated 27,000 loans.

Dunlap says the commitment follows a troubled year when businesses struggled with the recession and made "significant changes" to accommodate the dynamic economy. "I think we'll all agree that 2009 was an unusual year," the bank executive says.

Now, instead of looking primarily at historic payment patterns while deciding to underwrite a loan, Dunlap says bank lenders will look more closely at a company's current performance and its business plan. "That's a really big change," he says.

He says loans to small businesses -- defined as one with annual sales of $15 million or less -- typically ranges from $150,000 to $1.5 million, depending on a company's business plan. The money will be used for working capital, expansion, new equipment and additional staff.

Sources: Jim Dunlap, Huntington Bank's president of West Michigan operations and senior executive vice president of commercial banking overseeing Michigan.

Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at sharon@rapidgrowthmedia.com. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.

Photo:

Jim Dunlap, Huntington's regional president
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