News

Sarah Seymour, RN, a caregiver on the hospital’s oncology unit (11 South), is the 2025 Margaret McLaren Nursing Excellence Award Winner.  McLaren Flint honored Sarah and 21 other nominees at a May 8 ceremony.  The excellence award is named after Margaret McLaren, RN, who served as Superintendent of McLaren General Hospital and its predecessor, the Women’s Hospital, for 27 years. When McLaren General Hospital opened in October 1951, the facility was named in her honor, making it the first hospi...

Three hospitals part of statewide McLaren Health Care have earned an ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national distinction that recognizes the hospital’s achievements in protecting patients from harm while providing safe, compassionate health care. McLaren Port Huron, McLaren Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant, and McLaren Northern Michigan in Petoskey have all earned ‘A’ grades. The highest achievable recognition, grades are assigned based on a hospital’s performance in preventing m...

Lions Club members Diane Fleming and Gerard Desormes, McLaren Central Michigan ER manager Sam Franklin, RN, Lions Club members Dana Rudoni, Jenny Justis, and Roger Gilbert. Leadership at McLaren Central Michigan is humbled by the generosity of the Mt. Pleasant Lions Club, whose members generously organized and donated almost 200 backpacks—filled with stickers, colored pencils, a coloring book, and a stuffed animal—for children visiting the hospital’s emergency department. “We are incredible grateful for...

Leadership at McLaren Central Michigan proudly spent an afternoon recognizing the many and various contributions of its staff of dedicated and compassionate volunteers during its annual luncheon. Organized during National Volunteer Week, the event celebrated the selflessness of those who collectively volunteered more than 6,600 hours of their time to aid the patients, visitors, and staff within McLaren Central Michigan. “The first face many of our patients and visitors see if that of a volunteer greetin...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is common and widespread virus, and about 85% of people will get an HPV infection in their lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , it spreads mainly through direct contact, particularly during sexual activities such as vaginal, anal, or oral sex. There are over 200 types of HPV, but some of them can cause serious health problems, like cancer. Most of the time, the body fights off the infection on its own, but if certain types of HPV persist for too...

McLaren Central Michigan, part of statewide McLaren Health Care and a longtime comprehensive provider for the communities of Isabella County dating back to its time as Central Michigan Community Hospital, has added four esteemed and long-serving members of its past medical staffs to its Physician Hall of Fame. Originally dedicated in 2006 with an inaugural class of 11 providers covering the hospital’s 82-year history, McLaren Central Michigan leaders have routinely added physicians to its Hall of Fame, ...

When should you go to the ER for the flu? With the 2024-2025 flu season being described as the “most intense” in 15 years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated there have been at least 24 million cases across the country. This has resulted in more than 310,000 hospitalizations and, tragically, 13,000 deaths. The widespread nature of this flu has caused many to seek care in their nearest emergency department, increasing the potential to overwhelm physicians and caregivers. In ...

At what point should a doctor evaluate headaches? Everyone gets headaches. They can range, perhaps starting as a dull pain before escalating to the squeezing, dizzying feeling, and start from a number of causes: a lack of/poor quality sleep, certain foods, alcohol consumption, stress, eye straining, dehydration/lack of food, among others. In many cases, a drugstore pain reliever or headache medicine will resolve the symptoms relatively quick. There does reach a point, though, that consistent headaches —...

McLaren Central Michigan, part of McLaren Health Care and the statewide Karmanos Cancer Network, has significantly enhanced its care of a common and very serious form of cancer with the expansion of its lung cancer program, which includes the addition of advanced technology capable of thoroughly diagnosing lung cancer in its earliest stages. Early detection allows physicians to treat the cancer when it is most responsive to treatment therapies. As part of the hospital’s ongoing commitment to provide com...

It’s Not Too Late to Get Vaccinated Across the winter months, emergency departments across Michigan have been treating patients arriving after experiencing the classic symptoms of upper respiratory infections—the seemingly ever-present cough, congestion, runny noses, though with the occasional fever. While these symptoms can be mild and be a sign of common cold, they can also be symptomatic of the season’s more serious conditions: influenza, COVID-19, and RSV (though any condition can only be confirmed ...