Episode 340- Building Michigan’s Healthcare Workforce. With Russ Kavalhuna

Episode 340- Building Michigan’s Healthcare Workforce. With Russ Kavalhuna

Author: Richard Helppie September 14, 2026 Duration: 10:37
Healthcare workforce shortages are not a single problem with a single fix, they are a pipeline problem. I’m joined by Russ Kavalhuna, President of Western Michigan University, to talk about what it looks like when a community decides to grow its own talent instead of hoping someone else moves in. From physicians and nurses to lab techs, radiology techs, OT, and PT, we dig into the roles that keep care available in real life, not just on paper. We get specific about what Western Michiga...

There's a palpable sense that our national conversations are stuck, trapped in familiar trenches of left versus right. Richard Helppie's Common Bridge starts from a different premise: that the most persistent issues facing the country do have solutions, but our current partisan frameworks actively prevent us from finding them. Helppie, drawing on his background as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, operates from the conviction that practical problem-solving requires moving beyond the noise. Each episode of this podcast is built around a simple, yet increasingly rare, idea-that a common sense discussion, grounded in facts and a willingness to listen, can actually span the divides that seem so permanent. You'll hear conversations that don't seek to score political points but to explore underlying truths and potential pathways forward. It’s a space for analysis that feels disconnected from the 24-hour news cycle, focusing instead on substantive commentary about government, policy, and civic life. The tone here is one of reasoned inquiry, a deliberate step away from the heated rhetoric that dominates the headlines. For anyone weary of predictable partisan shouting matches, this series offers a thoughtful alternative, proving that dialogue aimed at understanding, rather than winning, can be both engaging and genuinely informative. Tune in for a different kind of political discourse.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
Podcast Episodes
Episode 328- Michigan Health Care Affordability. with Bill G. Schuette [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:51
Michigan’s biggest challenges aren’t neatly separated into “economy” over here and “health care” over there. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Representative Bill G. Schuette of Michigan’s 95th D…
Episode 326- The Cost Squeeze In Health Care. With Rob Casalou [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:18
This episode of The Common Bridge is part of a special 21‑part series of interviews recorded with healthcare leaders from across Michigan during the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, in partnership with the Michigan Healt…
Episode 324- Independent Hospitals And Local Power. with Bill Manns [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:58
This episode of The Common Bridge is part of a special 21‑part series of interviews recorded with healthcare leaders from across Michigan during the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, in partnership with the Michigan Healt…
Episode 322- Why The Real World Feels Different Than The News. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:13
Scotland takes over Boston, travelers flood YouTube with “America is amazing,” and suddenly a question hits hard: if the country is truly collapsing, why do so many visitors leave impressed by the people, the space, and…