MAY 28 • 2020 | 23

JN: What is the status 
of affiliation talks with the 
Henry Ford Health System?
Dr. Schweitzer: We are 
having clinical affiliation 
talks with a number of insti-
tutions. No one institute can 
take the whole class. We need 
capacity to handle unexpect-
ed situations.
JN: Were you concerned 
about taking this position 
given the turmoil among the 
members of the University 
Board and the opposition of 
some toward Dr. Wilson?
Dr. Schweitzer: I met with 
every member of the board; 
they initiated it. There was a 
unanimous vote to support 
my hiring. I expect a produc-
tive relationship. They asked 
about the (medical school) 
tuition increase but that was 
appropriate.
JN: Will the COVID-19 
have any impact on medical 
school curricula?
Dr. Schweitzer: How far 
does a rubber band stretch? 
There is inertia. When you 
let go, does it stretch or 
break?
JN: What about hospitals? 
Will they be better prepared 
for the next emergency?
Dr. Schweitzer: For the 
next decade, yes. After that, 
no.
JN: What was your impres-
sion of the Canadian health 
care system?
Dr. Schweitzer: We have 
some really excellent health 
care (in the U.S.) but in 
Canada, at least each prov-
ince has a system that can 
manage within its system 
effectively. Canada has a 
more holistic training sys-
tem, which I want to instill 
here. There is a focus on the 
broader societal impact — 
not just treating one patient 
but all patients with the judi-
cious use of resources. 

Filling
the Gap

Project Healthy 
Community expands 
distribution efforts in 
Northwest Detroit.

P

roject Healthy 
Community (PHC), a 
nonprofit organization 
focused on aiding community 
wellness and education efforts 
in Northwest Detroit, is expand-
ing food and hygiene product 
distribution to families and 
senior citizens in response to 
the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Over the next three months, 
the organization aims to raise 
$250,000 for its COVID relief 
efforts, according to a letter 
from PHC’
s president and CEO 
Dr. Melvyn Rubenfire. 
Karen Rubenfire, 
PHC’
s COO and 
Melvyn Rubenfire’
s daughter, 
told the Jewish News that the 
group has already raised 
$141,782, thanks to grants, 
major donations and smaller 
individual gifts. 
PHC plans to allocate around 
$72,000 to purchasing sup-
plies for a home and personal 
hygiene pantry made available 
to families in Northwest Detroit. 
 “People don’
t just need 
food in order to be healthy,
” 
Karen Rubenfire said. “You need 
to have cleaning products for 
your home, hygiene products 
for yourself, things like that.
” 
$40,000 will go toward an 
“SOS” fund PHC has set up 
in coordination with four of 
its partner schools to help 
Northwest Detroit families over 
at least the next four months. 
Families can apply for SOS 

stipends monthly, and PHC 
has already received about 
22 applications for funds, 
Karen Rubenfire said. 
“The goal is to extend this 
beyond four months,
” she 
said. “It’
s not going away quick-
ly, and there’
s such urgency.
” 
PHC also intends to devote 
$138,000 of its target amount to 
providing food to seniors and 
families in Northwest Detroit 
who aren’
t currently covered by 
the organization. PHC partners 
with Gleaners Community 
Food Bank and Forgotten 
Harvest to run a food pantry in 
the area and has worked with 
Gleaners to expand its reach 
since the pandemic started. 
The organization is also 
working to maintain and 
expand its Family Wellness 
Center and in-home health 
behavior courses, which aim to 
address disparities in preventa-
tive care in the community. 
PHC was inspired by 
Temple Israel’
s Rabbi Joshua 
Bennett in 2012, when he 
gave a Yom Kippur sermon 
about the importance of com-
munity service work. Shortly 
after, Melvyn Rubenfire, a 
Temple Israel member, estab-
lished the nonprofit, along with 
his late wife, Diane, and their 
daughter Karen. Many of PHC’
s 
programs are run out of the 
Northwest Activities Center, 

a former Jewish Community 
Center in Northwest Detroit. 
When COVID-19 came 
to Michigan in March, 
the Rubenfires and their 
colleagues at PHC knew they 
wanted to help the community 
where they’
ve been working for 
the past eight years. 
“When this all first started … 
we knew we had to do some-
thing quickly that would be as 
impactful as the rest of the stuff 
we do,
” Karen Rubenfire said. 
“The focus was around 
emergent needs and this 
addition to making our food 
pantry much more sustainable 
and impactful for the families.
” 
Detroit residents have been 
hit hard by the COVID-19 
pandemic. With high rates 
of poverty and poor access 
to healthcare, Detroit’
s 
communities of color have 
found themselves particularly 
vulnerable to the virus. 
PHC has worked with com-
munity members in northwest 
Detroit to identify what resi-
dents need during these chal-
lenging times. 
“We’
ve tailored all of our pro-
grams around the community’
s 
ask, so to speak, filling those 
gaps. 
“This was another opportu-
nity,
” she said. “We wanted to 
be that vehicle to provide those 
resources.
” 

MAYA GOLDMAN 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

KAREN RUBENFIRE

Northwest Detroit residents pick 
up supplies from a Project Healthy 
Community food pantry.