Providing Care in Communities

As COVID-19 was spreading across Southeast Michigan in effect on this community. We wanted to ensure that our March 2020, faculty at the Kellogg Eye Center realized the patients continued to have access to urgent and emergent potential dangers of limited access to critical eye care for care during this time.” patients in vulnerable populations.

In keeping with the Kellogg Eye Center’s mission to provide access to essential eye care to all patients, Michigan Medicine and Kellogg made the decision to continue services at our community office in the Grand Blanc/Flint, Michigan, area.

“The services we provide are key to helping patients maintain their vision,” says cornea specialist Shahzad Mian, M.D. “During the height of COVID-19, we closed most community office locations and continued urgent and emergent care at the Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor in line with CDC, AAO and state recommendations and requirements. Our patients in the Grand Blanc and Flint area are farther away from Ann Arbor than other clinics and often not able to make the commute. Shutting services down would have had a dramatic effect on this community. We wanted to ensure that our patients continued to have access to urgent and emergent care during this time.”

Laxmi Devisetty, M.D., and Joan Lippincott with patient Richard Turner at the Kellogg Eye Center in Grand Blanc.

Areas of Grand Blanc and Flint are traditionally underserved and experience health disparities, says Dr. Mian. “We are committed to providing patients the best opportunities to maintain their vision.”

“Many of these patients need care on a regular basis for eye challenges — and some have devastating conditions that will worsen without the necessary treatment,” says ophthalmologist Laxmi Devisetty, M.D. “We want to make sure people are seen on time and that they don’t delay their eye care.”

Looking toward the future, the goal is to expand the Grand Blanc/Flint office location to provide even greater carein the community.

“We know our patients are maintaining their vision in partnership with our community colleagues, and we plan to continue to be in the communities where our patients live,” says Dr. Mian.