Pike County celebrates National Health Center Week

The Commissioners of Pike County adopted the resolution to make the week of Aug. 6-12 National Health Center Week on Aug. 2.

Health centers are a critical element of the health system. It serves both rural and urban populations which often provides an accessible and dependable source of primary care. The health center community model continues to provide an effective means of overcoming barriers to healthcare access. These include geography, income and insurance status, improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare system costs according to Commissioner Tony Waldron.

“For over fifty years community health centers have provided high quality, affordable, comprehensive primary and preventive care in our nation’s underserved communities delivering to and having a significant impact on America’s healthcare system,” Waldron said.

Wayne Community Health Centers employ more than 350 people that include physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, licensed behavioral health therapists, administrators and support staff. These individuals are dedicated to treating the whole patient and managing chronic and emergent diseases. Wayne Community launched in 2007 with services in Pike and Wayne County, then expanded into Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties, according to Waldron.

“During this National Health Center Week, we celebrate the legacy of America’s health centers and their vital role in shaping the past, present and future of Americans’ health,” Waldron added.

“We (commissioners) always in the county want to recognize Wayne Hospital for what they do for the Pike County residents,” said Commissioner Matthew Osterberg.

Wayne Memorial has added more to their services such as recruiting a new dentist and expanding their pediatric office along with continuing to do tick borne disease testing according to Teresa Lacey, the new CEO for Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers.

“As we come out of this public health emergency, I really would encourage all of the residents to seek preventive care. We have found not only locally but nationally that people have not sought healthcare for prevention and because of just cause. They were afraid to go into healthcare facilities due to the pandemic,” Lacey said. “Now that we are out of a public health emergency, we encourage people to seek care and re-engage with their primary care physicians.”

Implementable Comprehensive Plan

Pike County Implementable Comprehensive Plan Community Collaboration meeting dates were announced by Planning and Mapping Director Mike Mrozinski. These meetings will take place in the three school districts; East Stroudsburg North High School on Aug. 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.; Wallenpaupack High School on Aug. 17, from noon to 2 p.m.; and Delaware Valley High School, also on Aug. 17, but from 4 to 6 p.m.

These meetings will be open-house format with a 15-minute introduction presentation on what the comprehensive plan is. There was a survey already conducted that identified the concerns that the residents have.

There will be another collaboration meeting in the fall to wrap things up in order to put the document together and have it ready by next spring, Mrozinski said.