UPMC Ensures Health Resources for the Greater Braddock Community

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 1, 2010 – As part of its commitment to ensure access to primary care and enhance key community-based services, UPMC announced today the expansion of a number of health and wellness initiatives for the greater Braddock community.

• Expanded evening and Saturday office hours at the Braddock Family Health Center, 404 Braddock Ave., are being made possible through a new partnership with UPMC Health Plan. The expanded services include Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• UPMC McKeesport Physician Offices at Forest Hills, 2020 Ardmore Blvd., Suite 120, Forest Hills, already is open and represents many of the physicians who practiced in the UPMC Braddock Professional Building. Medical specialties include internal medicine, general medicine, hand surgery, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, endocrinology, nephrology, pulmonology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
• UPMC McKeesport Outpatient Center at Forest Hills, 2020 Ardmore Blvd., Suite 120, Forest Hills, is a new, community-based diagnostic resource that will open in late February or early March providing medical imaging and laboratory services.
• UPMC will expand its Homebound Phlebotomy Service throughout the region. Based at UPMC McKeesport, it offers home blood draws, which provide convenience and accessibility for homebound, elderly and disabled patients.
• In a new partnership with UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, the Braddock Dental Center will move to a new facility at 818 Braddock Ave., and provide comprehensive dental services for adults and children.
• The Family Care Connection of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC at its new location at 818 Braddock Ave., offers enhanced access to primary and specialty care, and a variety of maternal and child health programs.
• UPMC Steps to a Healthy Community will move this month to a new, highly visible and accessible location in the Heritage Community Initiative building at 820 Braddock Ave. UPMC Steps to a Healthy Community offers free resources for community health including Steps to Home for continuity of care from hospital to home; health insurance counseling; and a number of health education, wellness enhancement and health screening programs.
• UPMC Health for Life Summer Camp at Braddock will continue providing a seven-week day camp and a one-week overnight camp experience free of charge for Braddock children.
• House of HOPE of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC will continue to provide services for homeless, chemically dependent pregnant and postpartum women and their families.

A new, free shuttle service, the UPMC-WorkLink Community Health Free Shuttle Service, is being launched today to provide convenient transportation to physician offices and health services from Braddock to the neighboring community of Forest Hills and the new UPMC McKeesport Outpatient Center. The three-month pilot program, a partnership of UPMC, Heritage Community Initiatives and its WorkLink Community Van Service, concludes on April 30, at which time the community’s use of the shuttle will be reviewed to determine whether the service will be continued.

For more information on health resources for the greater Braddock community, the UPMC-WorkLink Community Health Free Shuttle Service, and to find a physician, please visit our Web site at www.upmc.com/braddockservices. UPMC Steps to a Healthy Community, the starting point for health care resources and referrals within the greater Braddock community, can be reached directly at (412) 636-5273.

UPMC continues to work with Allegheny County and community groups on the most appropriate disposition or redevelopment of the closed UPMC Braddock facility and land. To date, more than 82 percent of the willing and qualified full- and part-time employees at UPMC Braddock have transferred to jobs at other facilities within UPMC.