For individuals who live in areas of the city where access to medical services is limited — and in many cases, nonexistent — a trip to the doctor can mean traveling across the city for basic care. To help fill this void in Philadelphia's most underserved neighborhoods, Penn Medicine brings support and care to the communities needing it most.
At community clinics around the city and region, Penn's physicians and medical students join staff and students from the University of Pennsylvania schools of Social Policy and Practice, Nursing, and Dental Medicine to provide free routine screenings, referrals for follow–up care, prescription programs, and education about resources and other social services.
The Department of Family Medicine's involvement in public health has greatly strengthened their work in communities, with a major focus on partnering with organizations in urban Philadelphia neighborhoods. The Department has many community links which continually expand. They have a particularly strong link with a broad partnership program at the Sayre High School in West Philadelphia, where the unique Sayre Health Center, a student–based Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), is located. Several of the Department's faculty and residents provide prenatal care at local FQHCs. Learn more about the Department of Family Medicine's community outreach programs and the Center for Public Health Initiatives.
Our department also has an outreach program with the Philadelphia public school system to provide access to in-school high quality sports preparticipation physicals.
In response to the health needs of the local community, the mission of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania is to develop community programs that provide care to the people in Penn's immediate neighborhoods and develop demonstration projects that model health partnerships between academic and community neighbors.
Dr. Bernett L. Johnson Jr. Sayre health center
The Dr. Bernett L. Johnson Jr. Sayre Health Center (SHC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation that will provide clinical services to residents of the surrounding community and educational opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
The corporation was founded to operate a Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the Sayre High School in West Philadelphia. The SHC is a cooperative effort between the University of Pennsylvania, the Sayre High School, and the West Philadelphia community surrounding the school at 58th and Walnut Streets, including students, their families, and community members of all ages.
Center for public health initiatives
The University of Pennsylvania's Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI) is a university-wide center which was founded in 2007 by the Provost's Office. The CPHI promotes interdisciplinary research, education and practice in public health.
The CPHI acts as the organizational home and academic base for Penn's multi-disciplinary, inter-school Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree program, which is one of the first multi-school accredited MPH programs in the U.S.
Asian health initiatives
Established in 2004, the Penn Asian Health Initiatives embodies the three guiding principles of Penn's School of Medicine: "Increase access, integrate knowledge, and engage locally and globally". Consistent with this guiding structure, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health strives to integrate academic exploration with community involvement. The Asian Health Initiatives is an associated program of the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives and is based at the School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Contact Information:
Peter Cronholm, MD, MSCE
Director, Community Programs
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-615-0850
The following are Federally Qualified Health Centers, which are private, independent organizations that serve as a primary care safety net to communities across the country. Patients are cared for regardless of insurance status. Insured patients can pay as they would in a private physician's office and uninsured patients are seen and charged on a sliding scale.
- ChesPenn Health Services Center for Family Health
2600 West 9th Street, Chester, PA 19013
(located in Crozer Community Hospital)
Phone: 610-859-2059
- ChesPenn Health Services
Eastside Medical Center and Eastside Dental Center
125 East 9th Street, Chester, PA 19013
Phone: 610-872-6131
- Covenant House Health
251 East Bringhurst Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144
Phone: 215-844-1020
- Fairmount Primary Care Center
1412 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Phone: 215-235-9600
Fax: 215-684-5360
- Frankford Avenue Health Center
4500-4510 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19124
Phone: 215-744-1302
- Maria de los Santos Health Center
452 West Allegheny Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19133
Phone: 215-291-2500
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #1
(Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic and Walk-in HIV Testing ONLY)
1400 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146
Phone: 215-685-6570
Fax: 215-685-6564
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #2
1720 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Phone: 215-685-1803 (Medical), 215-685-1822 (Dental)
Fax: 215-683-1815
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #3
555 South 43rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-685-7504 (Medical), 215-685-7506 (Dental)
Fax: 215-685-7551
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #4
4400 Haverford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-685-7601 (Medical), 215-685-7605 (Dental)
Fax: 215-386-4902
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #5
1920 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121
Phone: 215-685-2933 (Medical), 215-685-2938 (Dental)
Fax: 215-765-2409
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #6
321 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Phone: 215-685-3803 (Medical), 215-685-3816 (Dental)
Fax: 215-685-3848
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #9
131 East Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144
Phone: 215-685-5701 (Medical), 215-685-5738 (Dental)
Fax: 215-685-5748
- Philadelphia Health Care Center #10
2230 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19149
Phone: 215-685-0639 (Medical), 215-685-0608 (Dental)
Fax: 215-725-4877
- Quality Health Service
2501 West Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19132
Phone: 215-227-0300
Fax: 215-227-0302
- Sayre Health Center
5800 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139
Phone: 215-474-4444
- Southeast Health Center
800 Washington Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Phone: 215-339-5100
- Spectrum Health Services, Inc.
Broad Street Health Center
1415 North Broad Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Phone: 215-235-7944
- Spectrum Health Services, Inc.
Haddington Health Service
Progress Haddington Plaza
5619-25 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139
Phone: 215-471-2761
- Strawberry Mansion Health Center
2840 Dauphin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19132
Phone: 215-685-2401
Fax: 215-685-2440
- Wilson Park Medical Center
2520 Snyder Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Phone: 215-755-3177
- Woodland Health Center
5000 Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone: 215-726-9807
Residents participate in clinical care, health promotion, and public health experiences at a variety of community health locations including United Community Clinics, the Mazzoni Center, local nursing homes and adult day care facilities, domestic violence shelter and transitional housing programs in Philadelphia, the Penn Medicine Hospice program, Unity Clinic, and other sites. We believe that this exposure is important in order to produce future physicians who recognize the powerful effects that environment and socioeconomic status have on health quality.
To be effective community-based providers, residents choosing to pursue careers in clinical medicine, basic science or academic/research-based careers need to be able to expand their perspective, be introduced community-based interventions, and translate their clinical and research knowledge to the bedside or community practices. In addition, in response to the health needs of the local community and region, resident awareness of health disparities and effective ways to work with communities to overcome community-based obstacles to healthy communities must be targeted. Increased exposure to an underserved, ethnic minority population may serve as a resource to help improve the health of our community while educating residents in community medicine and public health. We believe that our training program is a model for developing the next generation of primary care providers trained to mitigate health disparities and to serve as advocates for our community.
The community medicine curriculum takes place within a longitudinal program of didactics, community outreach, health promotional work at community sites, and work with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Residents rotate through a four-week block of community medicine in their PGY2 and PGY3 years.
Community medicine content included in the curriculum covers a diverse range of topics such as:
- Transportation
- community health
- health care safety net
- insurance (e.g. Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare)
- public assistance (e.g. TANF, SSDI)
- public housing
- child abuse/neglect
- elder abuse/neglect
- intimate partner violence/abuse
- community violence
- violence services
- in-home services for older adults
- long-term care of older adults
- care for the LGBTQ community
- harm reduction strategies
- refugee and immigrant health
- school-based health promotion and mentorship
- Patient Centered Medical Home and other progressive models of care (e.g. Federally Qualified Health Centers)
- mental health services
- occupational medicine
- communicable diseases
- environmental illness
- immunization strategies
- disease screening
- disease prevention
- health promotion
- health literacy
- social determinants of health
- epidemiology
The table below describes the layout of elements of the experiential community medicine content of our curriculum.
Current partners:
- United Community Clinics
- Unity Clinic
- Penn Medicine Hospice
- Family Practice & Counseling Network
- Spectrum Health Services
- Mazzoni Center
- Prevention Point Philadelphia
- Hope PHL
- Henry C. Lea Elementary School
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Philadelphia Department of Public Health
- Service Link
- Center for Public Health Initiatives
Free clinics
Penn's Family Medicine residents help to support the operation of three free clinics during their community medicine rotations. Some residents choose to engage longitudinally with these sites using elective time.
Community medicine didactic lectures
Community medicine didactic lectures occur on the second Thursday of every four-week block. Community medicine content presented is designed to focus on skill-based sessions, providing practical content that can be used in the clinical encounter or in public health work addressing the healthcare needs of the underserved. Community medicine didactic content has included:
- Reach Out and Read
- Food Security/Policy
- Asian Immigrant Primary Care
- Hospice, Child Abuse
- End of Life Symptom Management (non-pain)
- Injury Prevention
- End of Life Pain Management
- Sexual Abuse
- Healthcare for the underserved
- Injury Prevention
- Primary care providers as policy advocates
- Epidemiology (Measures of Association)
- Immigrant Health, Epidemiology (RCTs)
- Disaster Preparedness
- Epidemiology (CBPR and Qualitative)
- Public Assistance
- Using Census data
- Domestic Violence – Victimization
- Drew Health Collaborative
- Epidemiology (IRB and Research Ethics)
- Community Schools
- Health Insurance and Medication Coverage
- Health Policy 101
- Services for the Elderly
- Epidemiology (Study Design)
- Health Literacy
- Family Care Giving
- Neighborhoods and Health
- Accessing Care
- Long-Term Care
- DFMCH Activities in Central America
- Primary care for the LGBTQ Community
- Disability
- Public Health GIS
- Epidemiology (Bias and Confounding)
- Epidemiology (RCTs: Practical Applications)
Home visitation program
Our Home Visitation Program is a model of multidisciplinary collaboration including Family Medicine faculty, residents, Social Work, and Pharmacy. Our indications for home visits include: Newborn Evaluation, Post-partum Evaluation, Home Hospice Care, Long-term Care Needs Assessment, Inpatient Discharge Transition, Poly-pharmacy, Medication Adherence Evaluation, Home Care Needs, Safety Assessment, and Insurance Counseling.
Home visitation is an opportunity for learners to share in the lived experience of their patients. For many learners, this is a formative experience: "I've always imagined that medical adherence is very challenging, but visiting a patient in their home helps me to understand why and how they are unable to adhere. It also helps me to understand how I as a physician can help." Another resident commented: "I realized that a lot of patients downplay their needs or my perception of their living situation was completely inaccurate".
School-based collaboratives
DFMCH has worked in partnership with local schools in our service community for over a decade and a half with focused work starting at the K-8 grade Charles R. Drew School and more recently with the 9-12th grade University City High School (UCHS). Unfortunately our partnerships have been challenged with both schools being closed under the pressures of economic, academic, and social stressors affecting the ability of our local schools being able to meet the needs of our community youth. Resident physicians and faculty have worked with students, teachers, and administrators on improving the health of our community and supporting sustainable support of community schools. We have begun a new partnership with the Lea K-8 elementary school and are developing and implementing a health promotion curriculum for Lea students focusing on health lifestyles and healthy relationships. Our partners include the Lea community, UPenn's Graduate School of Education, and the Center for Public Health Initiative's Service Link. Service Link's overall mission is to improve the health of low-income patients in Philadelphia by linking them with a variety of benefits that they have a right to attain under current US legislation. Service Link focuses on addressing the social determinants of health through education and community engagement.
Our curriculum focuses on:
- Body Image Awareness
- Nutrition/Exercise
- Normal Growth and Development
- Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs
- Peer Pressure, Violence Prevention, Safety, Conflict Resolution, toxic stress
- Hygiene
- Sexual Health, HIV/STI awareness and prevention
- Teen Parenting
- Chronic Health Conditions
- Periodic Health Maintenance
Contact information:
Peter Cronholm, MD, MSCE
Director, Community Programs
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
3400 Spruce Street
2 Gates Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Telephone: 215-615-0850