Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, visited the future regional behavioral health campus to see current construction and discuss funding on Tuesday.

Stabenow said the Great Lakes Recovery Centers is doing “wonderful work” for the community — and we agree wholeheartedly with that statement.

“I’m working hard to support them and to be able to do even more,” Stabenow said. “It’s a really important vision, allowing women to have their children here. Sometimes you can’t get help because you can’t afford child care and to be able to reach out and ask for help, (it’s) so very important.”

She said the John Kivela Center is about comprehensive care for people.

“It’s about serving people, whether they have insurance or not, and allowing folks to walk in the door,” Stabenow said. “That’s what my efforts have been about with community behavioral health clinics to say that regardless of what’s happening to you, you can walk in the door and ask for help and actually get help.”

According to the GLRC’s website, the former Teal Lake Medical Clinic was transitioned to the GLRC with the goal of “strengthening community-based recovery and behavioral health care.” The facility was renamed the John Kivela Center in memory of former state Rep. John Kivela who passed away in 2017.

The facility will be the new home for the GLRC’s women’s residential treatment program, including social detox, a recovery house allowing women to continue their life of sobriety after residential treatment and more, according to the GLRC’s website.

In our opinion, naming the facility after Kivela is a wonderful salute to an outstanding man, and anything that aids in keeping his memory alive is a positive move.

“There’s just wonderful things happening here and Great Lakes Recovery Center(s) is really leading the way,” Stabenow said.

For more information on the John Kivela Center, visit glrcfoundation.org/john-kivela-center.