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Exalta Health, formerly Health Intervention Services, is a faith-based nonprofit healthcare center that offers accessible, compassionate care for the whole person.
We primarily serve the uninsured, underinsured, and refugee community in West Michigan. Our integrated healthcare model—including physical, vision, dental, behavioral, and spiritual care services—are provided to our community, promoting wellness for all.
Exalta Health serves the West Michigan community with compassionate, safe, equitable, accessible healthcare that demonstrates our Christian mission.
A collaborative community where accessible healthcare promotes wellness for all.
Exalta Health, formerly Health Intervention Services, was established in 1996 by local physicians, nurses, social workers, pastors, and business people to serve underprivileged women with faith-centered medical care.
The acronym HIS was created to represent our Christian motivation for service. The mission quickly expanded to include all people without access to healthcare. Located in the Burton Heights area of Grand Rapids since 1998, we became a trusted resource for healthcare in the West Michigan community.
The name echoes our commitment to lifting up health and praising God who makes this work possible. Time has also brought other changes, including integrating behavioral health into our physical health team, measuring our impact on patients and the community, focusing on the social factors that determine health, and supporting people where they live and work. What has never changed is our commitment to improving the health of our community motivated by our belief in the healing power of Jesus.
We surround a small core of caring and competent staff with many enthusiastic volunteers. We average 100+ active volunteers each month, ranging from doctors to maintenance staff. Volunteers may be students, full-time employees, or retirees, but they all bring enthusiastic passion for the job.
We are the fortunate ones. We get to show God’s love to the under-served in a tangible manner.
Our staff and volunteers have shown great resilience and compassion, making it a joy to care for patients and our community during this time.
Working at Exalta Health is my calling. It fulfills my faith and provides for the diverse community of patients that otherwise may not have alternatives. They are like a family to me.
Dr. Laura VanderMolen is board certified in Internal Medicine and came to Exalta after returning from medical mission work in Peru. After receiving her medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, she completed her residency in Grand Rapids.
“Our staff and volunteers have shown great resilience and compassion, making it a joy to care for patients and our community during this time.”
Dr. Daniel Armstrong has previously worked for Mel Trotter Ministries, Cherry Health, and Grace Health. Daniel earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 2009 from the University of Michigan. He completed an additional twelve-month training program focusing on care for the mentally handicapped, those with complex medical conditions, and hospital inpatients.
“Working at Exalta Health is my calling. It fulfills my faith and provides for the diverse community of patients that otherwise may not have alternatives. They are like a family to me.”
Doyle Hayes is CEO of dhayesGroup, a management-consulting group, and is also an entrepreneur and industrial engineer who founded and continues to operate an area staffing organization. He is a member of several area boards and says he has been “intrigued by the work of Exalta since I participated in the (Health Intervention Services) golf outings.” He adds: “As a former Board Chair of Metro Health, I am interested in the well-being of the community.” Born in the Massillon/Canton area of Ohio, Doyle was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from the age of two. His hobbies include “anything that involves classic automobiles,” and he continues to pursue a lifelong passion as an educator, assisting several educational institutions with entrepreneurial events and teaching at an adjunct level.
Eva Alexander is Executive Director at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates, a 501(c)3 immigration law and advocacy center in West Michigan. Born and raised in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, she was introduced to Exalta Health via our Annual Luncheon and says she was especially drawn to our holistic approach to serving the individual regardless of the background. “As an immigrant, this resonates with me,” she says. “I want to ensure that people are being helped because health care is a basic need.” She also appreciates all of our staff and volunteers, people she says who remind her that Exalta Health is a ministry of people who care and are selfless. In her free time, Eva enjoys theatre, music, traveling, and trying new dishes with her partner and husband, Michael Alexander, a classically trained chef! The couple also has two young boys.
Board secretary Diane Knapp joined the Exalta Health board when it was still the Health Intervention Services board. She is the Client Marketing Manager for WOOD TV 8, WOTV 4, WXSP, woodtv.com and Nexstar Digital, and Exalta Health benefits from those critical skills and experiences. She enjoys spending her leisure time with family in northern Michigan and all the fun outside activities that come with that. She says she appreciates serving and doing God’s work. “These are exciting times for Exalta Health,” she adds, “with changes and opportunities being presented regularly. I’m proud to be part of this ministry and embrace working with this amazing group of people as we serve those in need.”
Francisco Calderon is the Vice President, Business Intelligence for Family Promise of Grand Rapids. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he remains an avid soccer player, and in the summertime, he loves to road bike and spend time at the beach. He also enjoys mentoring a fourth-grader at Burton Elementary through Affinity Mentoring. He resonates deeply with the Exalta Health mission to make quality healthcare accessible to everyone to improve the health of the community we live in. “It’s a very important and a much-needed service,” he says. “I am proud to be part of an organization willing to provide these types of services to anyone in need, and I look forward to working with other board members and staff to promote Exalta’s vision and mission in our community.”
Vincente Rojas is the owner of Fully Promoted Grand Rapids, a business that offers extensive branding and marketing services for businesses and organizations, including custom medical and healthcare products. He bought the business in February 2020 – yes, right before the pandemic! – and Exalta Health was a customer. Soon after he joined the board. “I know a lot of people in the Hispanic community who do not have health insurance,” he said. “When I heard about what Exalta Health does, I knew it was the perfect organization to help our community.” Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, but now a U.S. citizen, Vincente a Grand Valley mechanical engineering graduate, loves spending time with his kids, two boys ages 1 and 3. He also coaches soccer.
Antonia Henry, MD, MPH is a Colorectal Surgeon and Associate Chief Clinical Officer for Surgical Specialties and Health Equity at University of Michigan Health—West. A Michigan native, she returned home after serving in the US Navy and lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and two daughters. She is passionate about increasing access to equitable, high quality health care to improve the lives of all.
Janina Kreider is the First Vice President, Accounting & Finance Administrator at Mercantile Bank. With previous roles at Steelcase, investment firms in New York and Chicago, and Teach for America, Janina brings both financial and non-profit experience to the board. Janina has a MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Emory University. Janina resides in East Grand Rapids with her husband, two children, and a lively 7 month old, 90-pound Swissie puppy.
Hector Lugo has an MBA and is Certified in Health Compliance (CHC). He also serves as a Compliance Officer for University of Michigan Health – West (UMHW, formerly Metro Health) and is a member of their Senior Leadership Team. He also keeps busy with three children and all of their activities, joking that he is their parttime chauffeur. Still, when asked to be part of the Exalta Health board, he quickly agreed, saying the investment of his time is well worth it to “serve a growing community, families who are uninsured, underinsured and who need quality and affordable healthcare.” He noted that the partnership between UMHW and Exalta has been intentional and is one of “shared values where the patient is our top priority.” And he is proud to serve on a Board alongside other industry leaders also committed to Exalta’s sustainability.
Lee Moyer is a Director of Community Programs with Healthier Communities in Spectrum Health. In this role he is responsible for the Maternal Infant Health Program, Strong Beginnings/Baby Scholar Programs, Prenatal Education, and the School Health Program.
Lee is originally from North Carolina where he graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology. Lee started his professional career with General Motors as a Design Engineer. While at GM, Lee continued his education and earned an Executive Master’s Degree in Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology. Lee has 14 years of experience in healthcare in several improvement roles within Corewell Health (formerly Spectrum Health) which consist of the Quality Department, Safety and Reliability Department, Process Improvement Department, Care Management and most recently Healthier Communities Department.
He currently serves as a Co-lead over the Stones Church Children’s Ministry with his wife Tonja, servers as the Immediate past Co-Chair for Spectrum Health African Americans for Resource and Engagement (SHAARE)/Black Professional Collective, is a Scout Master with Omega Scout Troop 258 & 8258/Cub Scout troop 3206 in Grand Rapids. He serves as the Keeper of Peace for the Iota Pi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and is a proud life member of the organization. He also serves on the boards of the Boy Scouts of America, the Literacy Center of West Michigan, Thresholds Grand Rapids and is a co-owner of Black Queen Bee honey with his Wife. His most proud accomplishment is that of his family of (5), his wife-Tonja; son-Armand, daughter-Phoenix, and son-Booker T.
Martha Norden Harvey says she is now “mostly retired” but for two decades she was a scoring director for Measurement, Inc., an organization that states would contract with to score their state assessment tests. Martha is an Exalta Health patient and was asked to serve on the board by staff physician Chris Shoemaker. She was quick to say yes, adding: “I have received such excellent care and support, so I want to do everything I can to support the mission of Exalta.” Martha is also a part-time usher and ticket taker at DeVos Performance Hall which she describes as a wonderful way to be able to get in on various concerts and Broadway shows. She is a native of Yokohama, Japan where her parents were missionaries for 40 years with the Reformed Church in America. In her free time, she enjoys reading, walking, traveling, singing and playing handbells.
Carol Nowak is a graduate of the Butterworth School of Nursing and a Registered Nurse. She also has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Aquinas College and a master’s degree in Health Administration from Grand Valley. All of those educational credentials come together in her current work at Priority Health as Vice President of Member Operations where she oversees the customer service provided to plan members.
She joined our board in the fall of 2022 and said simply: “I was excited to be connected with an organization whose mission, vision and values are a great fit for my interests. And I was drawn to the daily challenges of providing so much service through the work of volunteers and a very lean staff. I like solving problems and collaborating with others to create successes.”
Carol has served on numerous other boards, including the Red Cross of West Central Michigan, the Women’s Resource Center and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of West Michigan. In her free time, she enjoys fitness boot camps, walking, biking, gardening with her husband and family cooking.
Chad Versluis is a lifelong Grand Rapids resident who has a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Ohio’s Marietta College but has worked for some 35 years as a commercial real estate broker, specializing in industrial brokerage.
He said a critical part of his work is really getting to know the details of the companies he works with, and he’s looking forward to doing the same as an Exalta Health board member as his term begins in the fall of 2022. “Starting out, I’m hoping to see and understand a little better what the people who are going to Exalta need and try to understand their situation a little better to see how best to help.”
In his free time, Chad said, he and his wife love to travel to out-of-the-way places to hike and backpack.
Irving E. Vega obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus. He continued his research training in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the Graduate School of New Brunswick, Rutgers University, earning his PhD. Dr. Vega completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Neuroscience Department at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, where he developed his research career focusing on the pathobiology of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Vega is a Red Cedar Distinguished Associate Professor at the College of Human Medicine and Associate Professor at the Department of Translational Neuroscience at Michigan State University. Here, his research focuses on molecular and biochemical mechanisms that modulate the accumulation of pathological tau proteins in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Dr. Vega is also working on health disparities and the influence of ethnoracial factors on blood biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease.
Doris Drain is Senior Vice President, Commercial Loans, for United Bank of Michigan and hails originally from up by the tip of Michigan’s index finger, the maritime town of Rogers City, on the shores of Lake Huron. In her free time, she very much enjoys cycling, needlework and, of course, her two grandsons. She has a heart for service and said being on the Exalta Health board is gratifying because of our Christ-centered approach to healthcare. “And,” she adds, “Exalta Health serves the underserved with dignity. I like being part of the mission to serve the underserved. As believers, our mission is to do justice and love mercy and serving on the Exalta Health Board does just that.”
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Tom Hillegonds is a CPA and attorney with Cunningham Dalman, P.C., where he serves businesses and individuals with their needs related to corporate and business law, estate planning and probate/trust administration, and the tax laws impacting both. As a West Michigan native, he appreciates the chance to serve on the Exalta Health board. “It’s a local organization dedicated to improving the lives of local residents,” he says, “and I was looking for a way to give my time to a charitable organization.” Tom has already served us as a board member for two years and is a regular member of various committees. On top of that, he is a husband and a father of three young children. He jokes that he enjoys the “occasional” round of golf (when he actually has any free time).
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Amy Gerard is a consultant with Marsh McLennan of Michigan. A Grand Rapids, Michigan, native, Amy was drawn to service on the Exalta Health board because she is passionate about all people having access to quality healthcare. She says: “Families and communities are all greatly affected when our physical and mental health is cared for. We as Christians (and humans) are called to care for one another.” Amy adds that she is excited about helping to serve and grow Exalta Health as a board member so that “Exalta Health can continue to serve the community in the beautiful, giving way that Exalta Health does.” In her free time, Amy enjoys time with her family in Northern Michigan, cheering on Purdue and B1G sports and watching her son play college football.
Kyle Hollemans works in Commercial Insurance Sales for Lighthouse Group here in his native Grand Rapids, where he enjoys the many opportunities our area has to offer for outdoor activities, including golf and baseball. A former high school baseball coach, he especially appreciates the team aspect of the relationship between the Exalta Health board and staff. He said: “I think that the board really wants to know what the staff and patients are going through on a daily basis. Not many organizations that I’ve been part of have the communication in place that we do.” He also is proud of the many ways in which Exalta Health helps out families and individuals who are in need and the ways we work with people to get productive outcomes from often-difficult situations.
Jose Nietes is the South Division – Grandville Avenue Corridor Manager. After graduating Calvin College in 2018, he was brought on to the City of Grand Rapids as a Planning Aide to help with the South Division Area Specific Plan. What drew him to service on the Exalta Health board is the opportunity to work with amazing individuals from different backgrounds to advance this great organization. What he really enjoys about being on the Exalta Health board so far is how its members and volunteers genuinely care not only about the organization but the community they serve as well. In his free time, he likes to listen to music, take road trips, visit different coffee shops, and visit his home town Chicago.
Vanessa Greene is Chief Executive Officer of the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute where she heads up community outreach and engagement, strategic planning, fund development, staff development and more. A big part of her work is approaching health equity from a data-driven, systems-level lens, including working with physicians, health care systems, insurance providers, educators and businesses.
She was asked to join the board by Ed Postma and said the mission and the impact of the work being done by Exalta allowed her to say a hearty “yes” to Ed’s ask.
“I’m looking forward to working with a group of compassionate and talented leaders committed to serving vulnerable populations,” she said. She added that she has served on other boards and always appreciates the opportunity to “utilize my passion in supporting the success of others.”
Greene is a native of Mississippi but moved to Michigan and graduated from Creston High School and then Grand Valley State University where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In her free time she enjoys reading, poetry, traveling, camping, cooking and working with elderly women of whom she said simply: “I learn so much from their faith and wisdom.”
