From Berks Community Health Center<\/p>\n
Pictured above, from left to right: BCHC\u2019s Nurse Practitioner, Diana Arango; Community Health Worker, Janeslly Rodriguez; Medical Assistant, Angely Ortiz; and Catharine Scott, Health Educator for Keystone.<\/p>\n
Berks Community Health Center\u00a0(BCHC)\u00a0is collaborating with Keystone Health Agricultural Workers Program\u00a0to provide\u00a0care for migrant agricultural workers in Berks County through\u00a0BCHC\u2019s\u00a0mobile\u00a0medical\u00a0unit, Wellness on Wheels\u00a0(WOW).<\/p>\n
BCHC is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with three brick-and-mortar locations in Reading. In 2022,\u00a0Wellness on Wheels debuted as\u00a0its fourth location,\u00a0with the goal of increasing access to care for people in Berks\u00a0County who have barriers to\u00a0care. Wellness on Wheels has two rooms set up for primary care and one dental operatory.\u00a0Since 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. 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
Keystone\u2019s 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\u2019s Wyomissing office, then later in the month providing\u00a0care at Giorgi Foods sites in Blandon and Temple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to begin this collaboration with Keystone,\u201d said Debbie\u00a0Hartranft, BCHC\u2019s Chief Community Relations Officer.\u00a0\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
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\u00a0a cornerstone\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Pennsylvania agriculture industry. 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\u00a0Cisneros 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.\u00a0This 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
This partnership demonstrates how healthcare providers and employers can work together to remove barriers to care. Together, BCHC, Keystone Health, and Giorgi are creating healthier communities by bringing healthcare directly to the people who need it most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Berks Community Health Center Pictured above, from left to right: BCHC\u2019s Nurse Practitioner, Diana Arango; Community Health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-263961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263961","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=263961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}