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Hello,
Our Picture Berks Healthy celebration included a bittersweet moment, as we announced that our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mary Kelleher, has accepted a position as Senior Medical Director of Medicaid with UPMC. Dr. Kelleher has been a part of BCHC since our inception and has left her mark on the entire Berks County healthcare community. She will be sorely missed!
You can honor Dr. Kelleher through a donation to our brand-new Dr. Mary Kelleher Good Neighbor fund! To learn about this fund, as well as to get a glimpse of Picture Berks Healthy, keep reading!
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BCHC Staff being silly at Picture Berks Healthy | |
Announcing the Dr. Mary Kelleher Good Neighbor Fund | |
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At BCHC, we care for the whole person.
This begins with primary care and the specialty providers who deliver important medical care, run labs and perform exams to diagnose any issues occurring. It extends to:
- Integrated Behavioral Health services for patients with anxiety and depression.
- Medicated Assisted Treatment for those faced with an addiction.
- Insurance Navigators that assist patients in enrolling in insurance.
- A pharmacy in our Rockland location offering discount medication for all our patients.
- A sliding fee scale for payment based on household size and income so patients don’t have to stress making a decision on putting food on the table or paying for healthcare.
We also screen for social determinants of health that are impacting the patients we serve. These are non-medical issues that have a negative impact on their health. They can include food insecurity, inadequate housing, lack of employment, and other related issues. We believe that understanding social determinants of health is critical for patient support.
We provide excellent medical care – and with your help we can provide much more.
Some of our patients' non-medical needs can be met by organizations we partner with. But many of these needs cannot: items like baby diapers, adult diapers, warm coats, toiletries, socks, and home glucometers. The list could go on.
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At Picture Berks Healthy we announced the Dr. Mary Kelleher Good Neighbor Fund, honoring Dr. Kelleher's passion for BCHC and the Berks Community, to meet these non-medical health-related needs.
You can be a good neighbor today by clicking the link below:
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Highlighting Picture Berks Healthy | |
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"We operate under a philosophy that everyone needs and deserves quality healthcare and we work hard to increase access to that care."
With those words at Picture Berks Healthy Mary Kargbo, our President and CEO, succinctly summarized BCHC's Mission.
Picture Berks Healthy brought together friends of BCHC from across the Berks community - healthcare partners, business leaders, non-profit colleagues and friends - to celebrate BCHC's accomplishments. Attendees heard about the administration of over 23,000 Covid-19 vaccines and the impact our mobile unit, Wellness on Wheels, is making in the community.
We also got a glimpse of the future, with the announcement of a partnership between BCHC and Alvernia University to open a new health center in downtown Reading. This center will expand the College Town presence and provide real-world clinical experiences for postsecondary students enrolled in health sciences degree programs at Alvernia.
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The pinnacle of the evening was recognizing this year's Civitas Award honoree. Civitas represents the contract binding us together as we share responsibility, concern, goals and common purpose for our society. Our Civitas Award recipients are people who have distinguished themselves through sharing time, talent and treasure in the Berks Community. Each recipient is driven by a passion and commitment to these ideals. | |
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This year we honored Pat Giles for her many years of service to the Berks community through the United Way, The Berks County Community Federation, The Wyomissing Foundation, Alvernia University and, of course, the Berks Community Health Center. Pat has been a part of our history from the beginning, as part of the coalition that identified the need for a federally qualified health center in Reading. She has served in many capacities with BCHC over the years and it was a privilege to celebrate her at Picture Berks Healthy. Pat gave a riveting speech that encouraged everyone in the room, inviting us to use our time, talent and treasure to build up our community.
One highlight of the speech was when Pat shared how over a decade ago, through her work with United Way, she was part of the original team that diagnosed the need for an FQHC in Reading. It is a bit of a lengthy quote, but well worth your time:
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"We saw that prenatal care rates for pregnant women in Reading were the worst of any other city in PA, by far – a real outlier. In fact, less than 50% of Reading women, year after year, got prenatal care in the 1st trimester.
Conversations were held with new mothers to find out why, and we learned that many women didn’t appreciate the importance of going to the doctor as early as possible when pregnant. They recognized that women who are pregnant, of course, aren’t “sick”, so why should they go to the doctor, especially if they didn’t have good, or any, health insurance? On top of that, if they wanted to get prenatal care, it was difficult to always get a timely appointment in the 1st trimester at the clinics that were available to them.
If only these women had greater access to a consistent, primary care provider and received regular preventive health care … before, during, and after pregnancy! We learned that a Federally Qualified Health Center could help with that … but none existed in Reading! So low-income, pregnant women needing prenatal care, came to represent the “tip of the iceberg” of those who could be better served if we could establish an FQHC here.
That became our goal, and working with many other people and groups in the community, we eventually made it happen… and BCHC opened its doors in June, 2012.
And now, over 10 years later, with 4 sites and a mobile unit, a full range of health services offered, including a pharmacy, providing care to over 16,000 patients … BCHC has lived up to so many of our expectations for improving the health for its patients and the community over all. In fact, the rate for early entry into prenatal care for BCHC patients corresponds to that of the state overall, and Reading is now close to the best on the list of PA cities’ prenatal data."
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BCHC grew out of the vision and dreams of normal, everyday people who saw a need in the community and began the hard work of figuring out how to meet that need.
Pat encouraged us to keep working. She quoted Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, who said, "never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; in fact, it’s the only thing that ever has”.
Pat ended her speech with a challenge:
"Find a way to surprise yourself, and your community, with all the good works that each of you is capable of!"
You are capable of making a huge impact in this community. There are countless ways each of us can work for the good of Berks County.
As we honor those who have begun this good work - Pat Giles, Mary Kelleher and so many others not named - we are faced with a huge challenge of continuing the work they began. One way you can do that right now is by making a donation to BCHC, enabling us to continue our work.
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Picture Berks Healthy Workshops | |
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A portion of the funds received through sponsorships at our Monet level pay for glass-blowing workshops at the Goggleworks for other community organizations we partner with. This is a fantastic way to work with other local non-profits in building up the health and well-being of our community.
John Paul II sponsored by East Penn Manufacturing:
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Safe Berks, Sponsored by Quest Diagnostics: | |
BCHC Receives Health Equity Grant | |
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On Wednesday, March 15, 2023, Senator Art Haywood and Senator Judy Schwank visited Berks Community Health Center at Rockland present a $500,000 Health Equity Grant check for:
- Promoting Health Equity through Trauma Informed Care – $200,000
- Expansion of the mobile health clinic, Wellness on Wheels – $300,000
After remarks and the check presentation, the Senators toured the Wellness on Wheels, which just returned from an event in the Oakbrook community providing care. Both senators were very impressed with the unit and all the services we provide as an FQHC.
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Representative Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz | |
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Dr. Malini Moni, Dr. Mary Kelleher, Representative Cepeda-Freytiz, Senator Schwank, Mary Kargbo, Senator Haywood. | |
Click above to follow BCHC | |
Watch the latest Episode of Berks Community Health Center Presents: | |
Dr. Michael Patti describes the why's and how's to screen for colorectal cancer with Debbie Hartranft, Chief Community Relations Officer, on Berks Community Health Center Presents. | |
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Thanks for reading!
May your day be healthy and happy,
Your friends at Berks Community Health Center
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