Community Commitment (Mission Effectiveness)

Mission effectiveness defines how well we execute UPMC's mission, and the measurable results and impact of our mission on the community. 

UPMC's mission serves to inspire the organization, delineate its purpose and scope, define its character and uniqueness, and articulate its values. A dramatic linkage between mission, corporate citizenship, strategic plans and day-to-day operations must be visible and demonstrable

Objectives Of Mission Effectiveness

• Encourage executive and board involvement with promotion of UPMC’s mission and accountability for community health.
• Ensure that all business and clinical programs and services delivered by UPMC in central Pa. are consistent with the UPMC in central Pa. mission, accessible to everyone and aligned with its strategic plan and community benefit programs.
• Reinforce a culture of “corporate citizenship” within UPMC in central Pa. to drive community awareness and education.
• Advance strategic alliances, collaboration and resource-alignment with other not-for-profit organizations throughout the community and region.

For more information, please contact Tina Nixon at nixontl2@upmc.edu or 717-231-8216.

Community Programs and Services

Taking health care beyond the doors of its hospitals, clinics, and offices, and bringing it into the region’s towns, schools and workplaces, UPMC in central Pa. is helping create healthier communities across central Pennsylvania. Through its charitable giving and community initiatives, UPMC in central Pa. is making a difference in the health and well-being of its neighbors. From public health and wellness initiatives to school health screenings, insurance enrollment help, home-visit programs, charity care, and free health classes, UPMC in central Pa. provided $18 million in community benefit in 2018.

That spirit of giving is embodied in the health system’s employees. UPMC in central Pa.’s employees have volunteered more than 12,000 hours of their personal time to community organizations and system-wide initiatives from 2017 to 2018.

UPMC in central Pa. began its important work in 1873 and today offers a variety of free community programs that are making a difference in the lives of central Pennsylvanians every day, including:

• Community Paramedicine – Through the program, community paramedics complete home visits to help bridge the gap between hospital discharge and patient follow-up appointments.
• Center for Addiction Recovery – Helping individuals who suffer from opioid or alcohol addiction, UPMC in central Pa. offers a place to go for assistance, support and medical treatment.
• Eat Smart Play Smart (ESPS) – This is a fun-filled eight-week wellness program that teaches youth ages 3-19 years old about fitness, nutrition, and mental health topics.
• Enrollment Specialists – Insurance can be intimidating and confusing, however it is an important part of maintaining one’s health.  Our Enrollment Specialists are here to guide our patients and community through the process.  
• Home Visit Program –  Our Home Visit Program is an innovative, comprehensive, patient centered approach, responding to the medical needs of home-bound patients, while addressing the social determinants of health.  Through regularly scheduled visits, we bring primary care to the homebound patient.
• Kline Health Center– At the Kline Health Center we look forward to providing expert care for you and your family. Our board certified doctors provide family medicine, primary care, internal medicine, pediatric medicine services and more to families in the Harrisburg area.
• Language Services – UPMC believes that each person has the right to understand their health.  This means providing interpreters and translations, in the patient’s preferred language, through all aspects of patient care.  
• REACCH Program – The Resources, Education, and Comprehensive Care for HIV program offers free and confidential HIV testing as well as primary HIV care for men, women, and adolescents. Its additional resources include medical, dental, nutritional, mental health, and social services, and are available to all regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.
• SMILES – Working in partnership with the Harrisburg Area Dental Society, UPMC in central Pa. provides access to urgent dental care for underinsured or uninsured patients.
• The Energy Pack Program – This program helps children in low-income families meet their nutritional needs during weekends and holiday breaks. Each weekend or holiday, participating children receive a backpack filled with nutritious foods to help them avoid hunger and stay healthy.
• Trauma Informed Care – This program promotes a trauma-informed practice of care at UPMC that acknowledges the impact of trauma on patients, staff and the surrounding community, by implementing strategies that build resiliency.

View our Volunteer Services