IMPART Alliance is proud to announce the opening of A Caregiver’s Butterfly Garden at the Ishpeming Multi-Purpose Senior Center—marking an exciting milestone for this growing, statewide initiative. Opening February 19, this installation represents the fourth Butterfly Garden exhibit overall and the first to land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, expanding the project’s reach to new communities […]
IMPART Alliance presents, in partnership with AgeAlive and the City of East Lansing EAST LANSING, MI — A moving art-advocacy installation celebrating Michigan’s Direct Care Workers (DCWs) will soon brighten the halls of the Hannah Community Center. A Caregiver’s Butterfly Garden opens November 17, 2025, and will remain on display through April 30, 2026. The […]
Hundreds of Michigan’s direct care professionals, employers, educators, and advocates recently gathered to the state’s Capitol city for the inaugural Direct Care Worker Conference, hosted by IMPART Alliance in partnership with Easterseals MORC. The three-day event marked a defining moment in the state’s long-term care movement, a celebration of the people who provide essential support […]
When Vinculum Care’s founder and director, Elia Hussein, first envisioned her company, she wasn’t just building another home health care agency — she was building a bridge. “The word vinculum comes from Latin, meaning bond and connection,” Hussein explained. “It’s not just a name. It’s the heart of our mission. It represents the unbreakable bond […]
For Ashley Drooger, caring for others isn’t just a job – it’s her calling. “There’s no getting around it,” she said. “This is absolutely what I was meant to do. I was put on earth for this right here.” Ashley began her career as a certified nurse assistant, working in hospitals to build her bedside manner and medical skills. But she found her true passion in direct in-home care, where she could […]
For Jennifer Voegtline, CEO and administrator of Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice, the work is about more than medicine; it’s about dignity, hope, and honoring life to the very end. Recently, her team helped a patient fulfill a final wish: one last ride in his sports car with his daughter. “People still have goals, […]
On a warm June afternoon at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, something extraordinary unfolded. It wasn’t just an art installation—it was a gathering of hearts, hands, and stories. A Caregiver’s Butterfly Garden hosted a reception after its second wave of the installation and what bloomed was more than color or creativity—it was connection. The […]
Every day, more than 165,000 Direct Care Workers in Michigan make it possible for people to live with dignity, safety, and comfort. They are caregivers, companions, advocates, and lifelines. And yet, they are too often invisible.
An East Lansing High School classroom buzzed with creativity this week as students participated in a Kaleidoscope Painting Workshop, part of A Caregiver’s Butterfly Garden, a statewide public art initiative led by artist Zahrah Resh and Michigan State University’s IMPART Alliance in partnership with AgeAlive.
Before the first butterfly fluttered onto the wall of the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, it began as a single sheet of white paper in someone’s hands. A Caregiver’s Butterfly Garden is a collaborative, evolving art installation made possible by Direct Care Workers, students, volunteers, and advocates across Michigan.
