Images courtesy of Copper Shores Community Health Foundation

HANCOCK — The name is changing, but the services won’t.

Portage Health Foundation announced Tuesday it is changing its name to Copper Shores Community Health Foundation.

The name change is partly to eliminate public confusion about the connection to UP Health System — Portage hospital, which established the foundation in 1990. After LifePoint Hospitals bought the hospital in 2013, the foundation converted from a hospital foundation to a 501c3 non-profit foundation supporting the charitable health needs of Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.

Keeping Portage Health in the name had initially been a way to avoid confusion with other foundations in the area, and honor the century-plus legacy of the hospital, Executive Director Kevin Store said. But after 10 years, the confusion persisted for many people.

A natural turning point came when the foundation acquired Copper Country Senior Meals, and most recently Dial Help. “The whole purpose with the merger was really for us to be able to better identify and fill those gaps that are not being met right now,” Store said. “So we don’t expect to see dramatic shifts in that, but we needed a name that better encapsulated where we are.”

Copper Country Senior Meals will now be known as Copper Shores Meals on Wheels, also reflecting the foundation’s hope to expand services to additional people in need. The prevention services and victim services offered through Dial Help will be rebranded as Copper Shores Community Support and Outreach.

Changing the name to Copper Shores Community Health Foundation also addresses another misconception about the foundation, Store said — that it only serves the Houghton-Hancock area.

“Copper is something that is consistent throughout our region, and certainly the shoreline that we have, when you extend from west Ontonagon County and south Ontonagon County, all the way up to the tip of the Keweenaw, we felt that this would better reflect our region and get it more of a regional presence,” Store said.

Copper Shores updated its signage and social media presence Tuesday with the new logo, designed by the foundation’s graphic designer, Adam Campbell-Olszewski. The new color scheme includes lake blue and copper. The copper “swoosh” evokes both the shoreline and the shape of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

“It’s really impressive work,” said Michael Babcock, director of marketing and communications for Copper Shores. “It does a really good job of telling the story of who we are, and our region.”

Copper Shores will have promotional gear ready to distribute at Bridgefest this weekend to spread the word about the name change.

While Copper Shores staff anticipate some early confusion with the name change, Babcock and Store stressed that the services — from grants to congregate meal sites to the helpline — will continue as is.

“In due time, this name will be extremely normal for people throughout our region, and I think it flows well,” Babcock said. “Just saying Copper Shores, I think the more you say it, the more you realize that it is maybe the best way to describe our region.”