Linda Bailey calls her work leading Access Health as its second board president the proudest of her nursing and healthcare administration career.
And the Access Health agency surely reciprocates that feeling of gratitude as it dedicated its offices at 1200 Ransom in the City of Muskegon in honor of Linda’s service to the agency and the community.
Linda was honored for “for her unparalleled commitment and dedication to the advancement of Access Health and its mission. Linda was a formative member of the Access Health Board, and her leadership was instrumental in inspiring the growth and prosperity of the organization,” according to the Access Health website.
Linda came to Muskegon mid-career from the Chicago area and began her work with Muskegon Visiting Nurse Service before developing and heading a physician’s organization – the Lakeshore Health Network.
The late Dr. Robert Garrison – Access Health’s first medical director — introduced Linda to the concept of building a health plan that would serve the noninsured but also support the medical practices in Muskegon, she said. Linda was on the original Access Health board, its second president and an agency champion before retiring and moving back to Illinois in 2013.
“The people at Access Health were some of the most wonderful people I have ever worked with,” Linda said of staff, members and community supporters. “I couldn’t be any prouder to have worked with Access Health those years.”
As a representative of Muskegon-area physicians, she found challenges with the Access Health model. Physicians believed in their hearts the mission and direction of the agency but that had to be balanced with the financial realities of healthcare and the needs of the members, she said.
“I think we had the right people at the right time and in the right place,” Linda said of the 25-year history of Access Health. “Everyone has always looked down on Muskegon, the poor community can’t do anything right. But we are a working-class community that always takes care of each other. That was our winning piece.”