Retired State Senator Walter North (right) mans a Mackinac Bridge toll booth, handing a small first-aid kit to Reverend Wayne Foote of St. Ignace, headed north on I-75 in his car. They are making a practice run at what will be a common sight at the toll booths Sunday, November 1, when motorists will pass over the bridge free of charge, saving them the $3 one-way toll, and receive the kits. The promotion is organized by Mackinac Straits Health System Foundation and sponsored by Grand Hotel and First National Bank of St. Ignace. The two men are committed to the hospital; Sen. North, a former executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, chairs the Mackinac Straits Health System Foundation board and Rev. Foote serves on the board of the hospital's Moses Dialysis Unit and the long-term care committee. Motorists crossing the Mackinac Bridge Sunday, November 1, will get a free trip paid by the Mackinac Straits Health System Foundation. The free day is a first in the history of the Mackinac Bridge, which opened to traffic November 1, 1957.

Free travel will begin Sunday at midnight and run until 11:59 p.m. Since daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. November 1, those crossing the bridge will receive a 25-hour instead of a 24-hour window to take advantage of the promotion.

All non-commercial traffic crossing the bridge between those hours will receive first-aid kits bearing the hospital's logo in addition to the free crossing.

The promotion offers toll-free travel in the midst of the recession and is designed to call attention to the important role continued travel to the Upper Peninsula plays for the Mackinac Straits Health System, said its board chairman, Ronald Mitchell.

"People don't always make the important connection between tourism and our healthcare system," noted R. D. Musser III, president of Grand Hotel. "The bridge was one of the ways health systems like Mackinac Straits really began to flourish, and it's important we recognize that relationship."

The Mackinac Bridge Authority estimates 11,000 cars and trucks will cross Sunday, based on typical traffic counts and current trends, but the free fare promotion could boost that number 30%, said Authority Executive Secretary Bob Sweeney.

The cost of the program, estimated to be $33,000 if the expected 11,000 vehicles cross, will be shared by Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and First National Bank of St. Ignace, and the publicity is hoped to attract donations to the Foundation, which is raising $3 million toward construction of the new hospital facility being built this winter in St. Ignace.

The three-year, $3 million fundraising campaign, said First National Bank President Jim North, is required by the hospital's lenders to supplement construction loans. The bridge promotion may also help to catch the eye of a philanthropist interested in donating to the cause, he said.

Launched in the spring of 2007, the campaign has raised more than more than $800,000, which has gone to hospital construction, although Hospital Chief Executive Officer Rod Nelson said any additional funds raised will help support other hospital programs like longterm care and new hospital equipment and services.

In that respect, he noted, the November 1 free fare day will also bring awareness to the services the hospital provides to the community, including emergency care, medical clinic, nursing, long-term care, and specialty services ranging from dialysis to oncology.

In 1950, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation offered a grant for a rural county hospital in St. Ignace and the county raised $100,000 in local funds toward its construction during a campaign led by St. Ignace businessman Peter J. Della-Moretta. Since the hospital was built, services have been expanded in other areas of the county, including clinics in Naubinway and on Mackinac Island and Bois Blanc Island.

The hospital began offering outpatient dialysis, mammography, and bone density services in 2002 through a collaborative relationship with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The tribe donated 16 acres of land for the new hospital and tribal health center being built on North State Street.

In May 2008, voters in the City of St. Ignace, St. Ignace Township, Moran Township, and Brevort Township approved a ballot measure to dissolve the hospital authority that operated the entity on behalf of residents of the four communities, to be replaced by the private, nonprofit Mackinac Straits Health System. This transfer was designed to help the hospital administration receive U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to fund construction of the new hospital.

The new 86,000-square-foot facility, which will replace the current hospital on Burdette Street, is expected to open in April 2010.