Two Thumb health networks each get $750,000 to widen rural opioid care

SANDUSKY, Mich. — Federal rural health dollars are landing in Sanilac County’s two main care networks that fight opioid addiction across the Thumb.

The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded $750,000 to Bluewater Healthcare Network in Marlette and another $750,000 to Thumb Community Health Partnership in Sandusky under the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program–Impact, Sanilac County News reported Sept. 30. The awards are part of a larger $89.3 million RCORP round HRSA announced for rural communities.

Rep. Lisa McClain, whose district includes Marlette, said in an Oct. 1 statement that the Bluewater award would expand access to substance-use treatment and recovery services in rural Southeast Michigan and help grow the local addiction-care workforce.

Thumb Community Health Partnership has described a related Thumb Pathways Project aimed at prevention, treatment, recovery and workforce development across Huron, Sanilac, Tuscola and rural Lapeer counties, with year-one funding and later years tied to progress and federal budgets, according to regional coverage.

HRSA Administrator Tom Engels, quoted in the Sanilac County News report, said overdose deaths have fallen nationally but rural places still struggle to reach treatment close to home.

Marlette and Sandusky sit on the inland side of the Thumb Coast map — farm towns that feed the same county hospitals and clinics the Lake Huron shore towns use when addiction care is the issue, not the lighthouse.

Sources:
Sanilac County News, “$1.5 million awarded to Thumb health care organizations,” Sept. 30, 2026, https://sanilaccountynews.com/articles/1-5-million-awarded-to-thumb-health-care-organizations/
Office of Rep. Lisa McClain, “Chairwoman McClain Brings Home $750,000 for Opioid Response in Rural Communities,” Oct. 1, 2026, https://mcclain.house.gov/2026/10/chairwoman-mcclain-brings-home-750-000-for-opioid-response-in-michigan-rural-communities
Photo: Intropin (Mark Oniffrey), “Opiod Rescue Kit 1,” June 3, 2020, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opiod_Rescue_Kit_1.jpg

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