STATEMENT OF RECORD RELEASE
April 5, 2022
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For Public Health Management Corporation
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Public Health Management Corporation celebrates National Public Health Week; addresses the importance of access to services
PHMC provides public health programs and services to hundreds of thousands across the region.
PHILADELPHIA – Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities, recognizes National Public Health Week 2022, April 4 – 10. This year’s theme, “Public Health is Where You Are,” reinforces the critical importance of public health access at the individual, family and community level and the understanding that where people live directly impacts community well-being.
National Public Health Week is an annual opportunity to focus on efforts critical to creating healthy communities. This year’s focus includes racism as a public health crisis, the public health workforce being essential to the future of public health, community collaboration to foster resilience, taking action for equity, and redefining the meaning of health to include mental wellness.
“As a provider of public health services and programs across Philadelphia and our region for more than 50 years, it’s important for PHMC to continue to evolve and work with the community to provide equitable, sustainable public health services that support the health of all communities,” said Richard J. Cohen, President and CEO of PHMC. “National Public Health Week is an opportunity to renew our commitment to serving the most vulnerable in our society through collaborative partnerships, innovative service delivery, and actively engaging with the community to improve lives across the city.”
PHMC provides critical public health services through its hundreds of programs and a growing list of subsidiary organizations. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health institutes in the nation, its impact is felt across the city, state, region and country.
PHMC Health Network
The PHMC Health Network has provided primary and behavioral health care, COVID-19 testing and COVID-19 vaccinations through its six federally qualified health centers throughout the pandemic. As some patients were uncomfortable or unable to come into the health centers during the pandemic, PHMC Health Network expanded onsite operations to include telehealth services to ensure uninterrupted care to individuals, families and communities served. Since January 2021, PHMC has distributed more than 23,500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine across its health network patients, program clients, community members and employees. With locations throughout the city, vaccinations were accessible and allowed the Health Network to give 68% of vaccines to people of color.
PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar
PHMC’s partnership with Penn Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation to transform the former Mercy Philadelphia Hospital in West Philadelphia into PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. This reimagined public health campus opened its doors to the PHMC Health Center on Cedar, part of the PHMC Health Network, designed to serve the primary care needs of West and Southwest Philadelphia residents. PHMC’s vision for the campus includes a continuum of physical and behavioral health services (including mental health and substance use treatment), health promotion and prevention, child welfare and family social services. PHMC works to integrate services in both community and site-based settings to provide care for individuals and families.
A key element of the campus includes a robust community engagement plan with a community advisory board and regular and ongoing community outreach with stakeholders. This continued engagement between residents and campus program leaders provides an informed approach to meeting current and future community needs, services and supports for residents. Services in the facility are oriented toward meeting top issues identified through a recent Community Health Needs Assessment for the area, which include substance and opioid use, behavioral health care, and access to affordable primary and preventive care.
Behavioral Health Services
The isolation brought on by the pandemic has shined a spotlight on the critical importance of mental and behavioral wellness. PHMC’s long-standing work in behavioral health focuses squarely on promoting recovery, sobriety, supportive relationships, and community integration. PHMC manages nearly a dozen behavioral health treatment programs across the region, with each program using a comprehensive, holistic and culturally sensitive approach that focuses treatment on the emotional, physical and spiritual effects of recovery from addiction or mental illness.
COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns: My Vaccine Counts and Nurses Make Change Happen
PHMC was also selected by Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to receive a grant to address vaccine confidence and increase vaccinations in Delaware and Pennsylvania. A comprehensive and integrated campaign, “My Vaccine Counts,” launched in January 2022 with the goal to target, engage, and connect individuals to COVID-19 vaccines and education through community health workers. PHMC contracted with 22 community-based organizations and have deployed more than 80 community health workers in communities of PA and DE. These workers are trusted individuals working to provide health and social services to members of their community.
Through funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to PHMC subsidiary, National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), the Nurses Make Change Happen campaign encompasses an online toolkit designed to give nurses the resources they need to do their part in the national vaccine effort. It was created to help them decrease vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccination rates in their communities. The supporting, national social media campaign launched in late 2021 and continues to deliver real-time facts and information, resources for the nursing community and sheds light on the nursing voice and the important role they play in providing care and leadership in their communities. Access the Nurses Make Change Happen toolkit. toolkit.
Substance Use Treatment Services
One of the greatest public health crises in the last century, the opioid epidemic, continues to plague every neighborhood in Philadelphia. PHMC works to address substance use through evidence-based programs and services that are grounded in science and identify that substance abuse is a chronic disorder and medical condition from which recovery and wellness are possible. The PHMC Center of Excellence for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment guides patients to the appropriate level of care within PHMC’s network of programs and resources; Pathways to Recovery, a partial hospitalization program; CHANCES, outpatient services with a special program for women that also provides childcare during treatment; Interim House and Interim House West, offering outpatient, short and long term residential services; and The Bridge, an outpatient and residential program for adolescents, are PHMC’s core programs providing needed service to those facing substance use.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Partnership
Throughout the pandemic, PHMC has worked to provide support and continued learning to employees. PHMC subsidiary Pennsylvania Public Health Association joined Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association and Maryland Public Health Association to form the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Partnership and host the annual Mid-Atlantic Public Health Conference. The coalition works to provide public health students, professionals, and partners across the region with the opportunity to learn about and engage in discussions on innovative strategies addressing the most pressing issues in the region – without being limited by state lines.
For more information about National Public Health Week or for opportunities to participate, please visit http://www.nphw.org.
About PHMC
Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that builds healthier communities through partnerships with government, foundations, businesses, and community-based organizations. It fulfills its mission to improve the health of the community by providing outreach, health promotion, education, research, planning, technical assistance, and direct services.
PHMC has served the Greater Philadelphia region since 1972 as a facilitator, developer, intermediary, manager, advocate and innovator in the field of public health. With more than 3,500 employees, hundreds of programs and a network of subsidiary organizations, PHMC serves hundreds of thousands of clients annually and is one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation.
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