{"id":259197,"date":"2026-08-04T21:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/259197\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T21:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:36:09","slug":"berks-community-health-center-joins-keystone-health-to-expand-access-to-medical-care-locally-berks-regional-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/259197\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks Community Health Center joins Keystone Health to expand access to medical care locally | Berks Regional News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Berks<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of BCHC<\/p>\n

BERKS CO., Pa. – Berks Community Health Center (BCHC) is collaborating with Keystone Health Agricultural Workers Program to provide care for migrant agricultural workers in Berks County through BCHC\u2019s mobile medical unit, Wellness on Wheels (WOW), according to a news release from BCHC.<\/p>\n

BCHC is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with three brick-and-mortar locations in Reading. Officials say in 2022 Wellness on Wheels debuted as their fourth location, with the goal of increasing access to care to people in Berks County who have barriers to care. Wellness on Wheels has two rooms set up for primary care and one dental operatory. Since debuting, Wellness on Wheels has brought BCHC\u2019s care to schools, churches and other nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n

Keystone Health is an FQHC based in Franklin County founded in 1986. The release says their Agricultural Workers Program provides seasonal services to migrant agricultural workers across the Commonwealth, with full-time services in Adams, Berks and Erie counties.<\/p>\n

BCHC says Keystone’s existing relationship with migrant workers makes them an ideal collaborative partner for BCHC in working to increase access to primary care. In May, the collaboration launched with Wellness on Wheels providing care at Keystone’s Wyomissing office, then later in the month providing care at Giorgi Foods sites in Blandon and Temple.<\/p>\n

\"Berks<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are delighted to begin this collaboration with Keystone,\u201d said Debbie Hartranft, BCHC\u2019s Chief Community Relations Officer. \u201cBy working together to bring care to the people, we are overcoming a common obstacle where many workers cannot get to a brick-and-mortar healthcare provider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catharine Scott, Health Educator for Keystone Health, added, \u201cWe share a very similar mission with BCHC, to improve the life and health of individuals by increasing access to care. We look forward to continuing to work together on this mission for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The release says Giorgi Mushroom Company is the largest single-location mushroom farm in the world, producing over 180 million pounds of mushrooms annually. A third generation, family-owned company, Giorgi is cornerstone of the Pennsylvania agriculture industry. Berks officials say this industry includes many migrant and seasonal workers who have obstacles to accessing primary care, which makes bringing primary care to them an ideal situation.<\/p>\n

Sergio Cisneros spoke on behalf of Giorgi: \u201cWe are proud to partner with Berks Community Health Center and Keystone Health to expand access to healthcare for the agricultural workers who play such an important role in our operations and our community. This innovative collaboration demonstrates what can be accomplished when organizations like BCHC and employers work together to meet people where they are. Giorgi Mushrooms is excited to support this effort and help create healthier outcomes for our employees and their families!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courtesy of BCHC BERKS CO., Pa. – Berks Community Health Center (BCHC) is collaborating with Keystone Health Agricultural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[110020,57999,28480,110019,108098,110018,107130,40063,22639,128,130,129,110017],"class_list":["post-259197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-access-to-care","tag-berks-community-health-center","tag-collaboration","tag-giorgi-mushroom-company","tag-keystone-health","tag-migrant-agricultural-workers","tag-mobile-medical-unit","tag-pennsylvania-agriculture","tag-primary-care","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-wellness-on-wheels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}