The gaps in community health-care in Berks County are clear – poor people don’t have enough doctors who accept public insurance and are within reach. So, many of them drag their sick kids to the emergency room, boosting health costs for everybody. Or they don’t get care, letting problems develop, boosting health costs for everybody.
Last week, Dr. Lucy Cairns, president of Berks County Medical Society, told Berks leaders at the Berks Chamber’s annual community report that Berks lags neighboring counties in patient-to-doctor ratios.
The hospital’s own website has a link to a community health assessment, released in January 2013. Its top recommendation was improving access to essential health care. Here is what to do, it said very clearly:
“Increase the capacity of existing providers and add new providers to improve access to essential healthcare services for at-risk populations.”
The Reading Housing Authority – not the hospital – is leading a charge to make sure more people in Reading get proper health care. It plans to spend $1.5 million to create a health center near the Oakbrook public-housing development. Like the health center on Penn Street, which Reading Hospital used to run, it will serve anyone regardless of ability to pay.
When I read about that effort in October, I sent some questions to the Reading Hospital:
- What is Reading Health System’s involvement in this, a health center to serve poor people in the Oakbrook public-housing development?
- Why was nobody from the Health System mentioned in the story? Was a representative there?
- How much did the Reading Health System provide in 2013 to the Greater Berks Health Center on Penn Street?
- Does the hospital have counselors in the emergency room to meet people while they are waiting for care to explain about getting primary care instead of using the emergency room?
- How does the hospital try to reduce unnecessary ER visits?
- What percent of ER visits are non-emergency?
- How is the Health System working to provide primary care in Reading, an underserved area?
About six weeks later, spokeswoman Ann Valuch replied, but didn’t answer my questions. For some reason, the hospital won’t give a strong statement of support for a city health center. Typical PR hooey: Reading Health leaders support the announcement of the planning. They actively and collaboratively participate in community planning.
“Reading Health System actively and collaboratively participates in community planning of health care services for our community, including the city of Reading.
“The announcement of the planning of the new health center adjacent to the Oakbrook housing property by the Housing Authority is backed by representatives of the health organizations in Berks County, including Reading Health.
“You can learn more about the specific initiatives Reading Health is involved in on our website: https://www.readinghealth.org/healthy-living/community-health-and-wellness/.”
Regarding the health assessment, the hospital’s follow-up implementation plan is full of vague, weak verbs such as define, prioritize, develop, establish, advocate and identify.
I bet the Housing Authority’s health-center action plan had strong, active verbs, perhaps buy, build, hire, publicize, and open.
The Reading Hospital’s action plan does include building a skyscraper with 24 surgery suites in West Reading for $354 million -- a third of a billion dollars of the community’s resources.
The hospital has also built a ring of buildings around Reading, but none in the city. Nearby cities benefit from having a hospital footprint downtown, which naturally draws people to market-rate housing, which creates the need for businesses ….
With the community’s health-care needs so clear, the Reading Eagle should ask hospital leaders how they are working to fill them, but that would disturb the Establishment. The men with the resources have always had a yen for monumental architecture but not always to help the neediest among us, even when outcomes would benefit everyone.
The editors’ attitude seems to be: Surely the hospital leaders, responsible for so many dollars, employees, patients and patients-to-be, know what they are doing, and who are we to ask?
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