![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/REG-L-DoctorWalk1169.jpg\")
The 5K Doctor Walk, led by Dr. John Irwin, right, kicks off the annual Berks Community Health Centers Community Day in the 800 block of Penn Street on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\nA morning walk through downtown Reading gave area residents a chance Saturday to get some exercise, talk with doctors and kick off Berks Community Health Center\u2019s annual Community Day.<\/p>\n
The walk and health fair that followed outside the center\u2019s downtown location, 838 Penn St., were part of an observance of National Health Center Week.<\/p>\n
The annual celebration highlights the work of community health centers and their connections with the people they serve.<\/p>\n
Organizers added the roughly 5-kilometer walk this year to promote healthy habits and give residents an informal way to connect with medical providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all about being active, being healthy, and so we thought this would be a great way to interact with the community,\u201d Dr. John Irwin said.<\/p>\n
Irwin was one of three health center providers who joined staff and community members on the walk, which began outside the center at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
The walk allowed residents to ask questions, get to know providers and learn about services they may need, Irwin said.<\/p>\n
Facilities director Jeff Douglas said the idea emerged as employees brainstormed ways to add something new to Community Day.<\/p>\n
Douglas mapped out a route that took walkers west on Penn Street, across the bridge into West Reading and back to the health center.<\/p>\n
The 5K Doctor Walk, led by Dr. John Irwin, right, kicks off the annual Berks Community Health Centers Community Day in the 800 block of Penn Street on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
He was already thinking about ways to expand the concept when participant Frances Johnson of Reading showed up Saturday wearing a Walk with a Doc T-shirt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know there was already a national organization,\u201d Douglas said. \u201cMaybe we could reach out and develop this into something a little bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Walk with a Doc does not list a Berks County chapter, Johnson said she received the shirt at a previous walking event involving local doctors.<\/p>\n
Johnson, who learned about Saturday\u2019s walk through Berks Encore, said she was glad for the opportunity to walk with physicians and ask questions about controlling blood pressure and other preventive measures.<\/p>\n
The celebration continued after the walk with Community Day in the 800 block of Penn Street from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
Debbie Hartranft, the health center\u2019s chief community relations officer, said the organization has held the annual event for more than 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our opportunity to celebrate with our community, have some entertainment, some refreshments, get to meet some of the other community-based organizations and other agencies that maybe can bring value to their life, and really celebrate as a whole,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The health fair featured about 50 agencies and vendors offering information and resources along with music, food, children\u2019s games, a bounce house and a dunk tank.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s event was the health center\u2019s second of the week. A similar Community Day was held Wednesday at its Oakbrook facility, 1040 Liggett Ave.<\/p>\n
The center also operates a third location at 1110 Rockland St.<\/p>\n
Hartranft said the nonprofit federally qualified health center was founded to provide affordable health care regardless of a patient\u2019s ability to pay. A sliding fee scale based on income and family size helps make care more affordable.<\/p>\n
Services include primary and preventive care as well as dental, chiropractic, podiatry, optometry, obstetrics and gynecology and other specialty care.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/REG-L-ColorRun1179.jpeg\")
The 5K Color Run sponsored by Nemesis fitness steps off in a multi-hued cloud of dust from Sixth and Penn streets during Downtown Reading\u2019s Art and Color Fest on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
The focus on outdoor activity continued downtown Saturday afternoon, when the city\u2019s Downtown Reading division hosted the Color and Art Fest along the 600 and 700 blocks of Penn Street.<\/p>\n
Scheduled activities included the Nemesis Fitness Community Color Fest Run, a free, untimed and noncompetitive run in which participants get showered with colorful powder.<\/p>\n
Together, the events were meant to turn Penn Street into a daylong celebration of community, health and physical activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A morning walk through downtown Reading gave area residents a chance Saturday to get some exercise, talk with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-262834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262834","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=262834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}