MI-Support

MI-Support is a program offered through the Michigan Public Health Integrated Center for Outbreak Analytics and Modeling (MICOM) that aims to provide support and capacity building in response to urgent and/or under-supported modeling and analytics needs for local and tribal health departments across the state of Michigan.

The MI-Support Team works directly with local health departments on data analysis projects that strengthen analytics and modeling capabilities and enhance public health emergency preparedness throughout the state. All projects and collaborations are responding directly to local health department needs, with requests being received directly from local or tribal health departments.

In addition to project support, MI-Support offers free educational workshops that provide hands-on introductions to different public health applications of the R programming language.

Local and tribal health department staff can submit a MI-Support project request by emailing micom-misupport@umich.edu or through this Google form.

MI-Support Projects

Automated STI Data Report

An epidemiologist requested MI-Support’s assistance in developing an automated report for STI data. Previously, they manually extracted and analyzed the data in Excel to update an internal dashboard - a process that typically took about an hour. In collaboration with the health department, MI-Support developed an automated report and dashboard, reducing processing time from one hour to 10 minutes, saving staff time and increasing overall capacity.to 10 minutes, saving staff time and increasing overall capacity.

Internal Dashboard table summarizing total cases received, treated, closed by WCHD team as assigned in MDSS, for two consecutive months

Interactive Firearm Dashboard

The MI-Support team partnered with a health department to develop a suite of interactive reporting tools designed to strengthen firearm violence prevention efforts and enhance the impact of community programs. By equipping the department with these tools, the project helps ensure that violence prevention resources are deployed efficiently and in a timely manner.

Firearm Dashboard bar plot using simulated data as made for Washtenaw County Health Department. This plot depicts firearm death rates by Year and Manner of Death

Measles Risk Stratification Tool

The MI-Support team assisted a health department’s preemptive outbreak mitigation efforts by developing a risk stratification tool to evaluate measles outbreak risks at daycare and school facilities. As a result, the team developed a web-based application that estimates risk for any selected facility by modeling multiple outbreak scenarios and contextualizing each facility’s estimated level of risk with respect to nearby facilities.

Measles Dashboard simulation output for the selected facility, depicting the impacts of additional vaccinations

CD TB Report Automation

An epidemiologist at Washtenaw County Health Department (WCHD) reached out to MI-Support about automating the reporting of communicable disease & tuberculosis (CD TB) and gastrointestinal (GI) cases in Washtenaw County. These cases are reviewed during bi-weekly meetings held by the epidemiologist, nursing, and environmental health teams at WCHD. WCHD requested for MI-Support to streamline the process for producing tables, graphs and maps of contagious disease cases of interest through an automated Quarto report.

Expandable choropleth map of Campylobacter cases year-to-date by ZIP code in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Additional tabs for other diseases of interest include Salmonellosis, STEC, Giardiasis and Yersinia top table: expandable table of all communicable diseases with cases within a 2 week period in Washtenaw County, including a column for Total Case counts, Total Hospitalizations and Total Deaths; bottom table: tuberculosis conditions and total cases year-to-date —

Testimonials

STI Data Report Testimonials

  • “My experience with the MI-Support program was wonderful, and the services they provide are invaluable. Not only have I recommended their services to other colleagues and counties, but I plan on using their services again in the near future.” - Epidemiologist, Washtenaw County Health Department
  • “The MI-Support team maintained regular, thorough communication and updates throughout the entire process. I appreciated having weekly email updates on the progress the team made with the ongoing project.” - Epidemiologist, Washtenaw County Health Department
  • “I found both the MI-Support team’s expertise in R automation, as well as their insights regarding the data we were working with, invaluable.” - Epidemiologist, Washtenaw County Health Department

Interactive Firearm Dashboard Testimonial

  • “We appreciated the great technical expertise from the team and the careful planning and needs assessment they carried out.” - Patricia Krause, Community Health Analyst, Washtenaw County Health Department

CD TB Report Automation Testimonials

  • “The aspect of the program I found most valuable is how customizable the projects are and how responsive the MI-Support team was to a requested change or addition” - Chelsi Preuc, Epidemiologist, Washtenaw County Health Department
  • “Without the foundational skills developed through this team’s guidance, completing the project would have taken significantly more time and effort.” - Brionna Powell, Epidemiologist, Oakland County Health Division

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