Earlier this year, Borgman Ford announced that Grand Rapids Michigan was selected for the Ford City of Tomorrow Challenge. Today we're pleased to share the winner of the challenge: Kaizen Health. In the challenge, members of the community were asked to share ideas about how to solve mobility problems within the city. Entrants gave written proposals which were reviewed by other participants and a panel of expert judges, and the winner would be awarded a $100,000 prize to fund a pilot program.
Kaizen Health identified that many people in underserved communities cite transportation as a barrier to their medical care. Doctor visits and trips to the pharmacy can be difficult for the elderly, disabled, and other marginalized patient niches, so Kaizen Health recommended Grand Rapids adopt their patient-focused ridesharing program to remove these barriers and increase attendance.
This not only solves the immediate problem of giving these patients better access to their care but nurtures their long-term health as well. The Kaizen Health's ride-sharing program has already been implemented by several hospitals in the Chicago area, and we're excited to see it implemented within our own community.
Grand Rapids Announces Winner of City Of Tomorrow Challenge
This latest article from the Official Ford Media tells more - check out some excerpts below: After working collaboratively with Ford Motor Company, AT&T, Dell Technologies and Microsoft, the City of Grand Rapids today announced the winning project in the Ford City of Tomorrow Challenge.TM The winning proposal will be awarded $100,000 to fund a pilot program that will test its implementation in a real-world setting.
Kaizen Health, a proposal that aims to eliminate transportation as a barrier to good medical care, was chosen as the winning project in the City of Tomorrow Challenge - a crowdsourcing platform created to help prepare cities for the future by bringing groups of people together to design and pilot new solutions that help improve mobility in cities.
Kaizen Health is an early stage health technology company working to modernize and streamline access to transportation in partnership with providers, payers, self-insured employers and municipalities. The team is passionate about pursuing creative ways to deploy its technology and vehicle network to reduce unnecessary costs in health care and help people live healthier, happier lives. In Grand Rapids, the group has proposed a pilot that integrates existing services from Lyft, GO!Bus, The Rapid call center and Innova EV's first- and last-mile vehicles to allow Grand Rapids residents to make independent decisions about their mobility options.
"This proposal stems directly from the experiences of Grand Rapids residents and the obstacles they face on a daily basis," said John Kwant, vice president of Ford City Solutions. "Listening to the community, collaborating with residents and bringing them into the design process is a new and novel approach to developing mobility solutions, and it's exactly the kind of local engagement we wanted to foster with the City of Tomorrow Challenge."
The Bright Future of Transportation in Grand Rapids, MI
Keep reading on Media.Ford.com. Borgman is grateful for all the people in Grand Rapids and West Michigan that have chosen us for their automotive needs over the years. As this city we're all a part of continues to grow, Ford gave us a unique opportunity to shape how our transportation systems grow with it. The winning solution addressed an important problem: making sure that transportation does not pose a practical or financial barrier to their medical care. We're excited to see how the pilot program performs, as we're certain there are members of our community that could really use it.
To find out more about the Ford City of Tomorrow Challenge in Grand Rapids, MI, visit Challenges.CityOfTomorrow.com. Should your transportation needs include a New Ford Car, Truck, or SUV, check out our Online Inventory, read about our famous Fair Trade Deals, or explore our Day Trader Program. Come and see why Borgman is the Best in the West!
