24 | MARCH 30 • 2023 

hopes to hire nurse practi-
tioners to provide some direct 
care.
“Traditionally, we are always 
trying to devise ways to drive 
individuals from their homes 
and neighborhoods to out-
side resources,” Keidan said. 
“We will be changing this and 
driving the resources to the 
individuals’ homes and neigh-
borhoods.”

DETROIT2NEPAL
Keidan’s work with Brilliant 
Detroit grew out of his love 
for Nepal. In 1982, he took a 
sabbatical from his surgical 
residency and spent most of 
the year backpacking in Asia 
with his wife-to-be, Betsy. A 
highlight of the year was trek-
king to the Everest Base Camp 
in Nepal. Since then, he has 
made more than 30 trips to the 

Himalayas, most recently in 
December and January. After 
working in the Detroit2Nepal 
village in the Khotang District, 
he treks in the mountains.
Keidan started the 
Detroit2Nepal Foundation in 
1988, after seeing firsthand 
the need for health care and 
education in the tiny moun-
tain country. The organization 
recruited volunteers in remote 
villages to help integrate 
Western medicine with the 
country’s traditional reli-
ance on shamans and herbal 
remedies. These community 
health volunteers completed 
an 18-segment curriculum 
on Western medicine, then 
brought that knowledge to res-
idents and helped them access 
resources. 
Detroit2Nepal has a budget 
of $200,000 to $250,000 a year, 

all of it from donations and 
grants. Keidan manages the 
fundraising and grant writing, 
while Betsy handles the admin-
istrative tasks. The Keidans 
take no financial compensation 
for their work and pay their 
own expenses when they travel 
to Nepal.
When Keidan saw a lot of 
similarities between Brilliant 
Detroit and Detroit2Nepal, he 
approached the local organi-
zation about starting a com-
munity health effort. He says 
the group’s leaders took “about 
two seconds” to realize a rela-
tionship between the two could 
help city residents.
The DMC Foundation has 
given the project a seed grant 
of $75,000 for its first year. 
Keidan is optimistic that health 
insurers or the state will cover 
the cost of the community 
health workers once their value 
can be demonstrated, as he is 
certain it will be. The Michigan 

Department of Health and 
Human Services is interested 
in the project, though it hasn’t 
committed to sponsoring it yet.
Students at Wayne State 
University’s medical school 
will soon start working 
with Michigan Healthcare 
Professionals at Brilliant 
Detroit sites, and Keidan hopes 
to get the project on the cur-
ricula for graduate students in 
public health and social work 
as well. 
The program will be piloted 
in two Detroit neighborhoods 
this year, five more in 2024, 
then scaled up to 24 over the 
next five years.
Donations to the pro-
gram can be made through 
Detroit2Nepal’s website, www.
detroit2nepal.org, or mailed 
to D2N at 2035 Bayou Drive, 
West Bloomfield, MI 48323. 
Specify that the funds should 
go to the D2N/BD healthcare 
initiative. 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 22

 

 

 

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