On March 25, the Penn Medicine family got bigger, and its connections to the community of West Philadelphia grew closer, with the transition of the former Mercy Catholic Medical Center – Mercy Philadelphia campus.
“Like any great idea, it took a village. It took a family. It required everyone to come together,” said Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “And the inspiration was: How do we take care of our neighbors, of our family members, of our community, in the very best setting? And that is always closest to home.”
The property is now known as PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar and owned and operated by Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), with Penn Medicine managing the hospital emergency department, inpatient services, and hospital-based behavioral health programming as a remote location for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), known as Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Cedar Avenue. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation join PHMC and Penn Medicine as Coalition partners for the transformation.
The PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar is founded on the guiding principle to provide high-quality, community-informed, patient-centered health care and social services supporting the needs of the facility’s West and Southwest Philadelphia neighbors. The coalition’s goals for the new public health campus focus on health equity and aim to provide the community with access to primary and behavioral healthcare, emergency services, acute care services, substance use treatment, and other social support services.
“Social determinants of health play an absolutely critical role in terms of individual and community health, and we don’t need to look any further than the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, CEO of HUP.
Beginning in late February, Penn Medicine partnered with Mercy Catholic Medical Center to run a series of volunteer-run, community-based COVID-19 vaccine clinics in West and Southwest Philadelphia, providing vaccination to more than 2,800 local residents — demonstrating the powerful nature of community partnerships when dedicated groups come together to support a community’s health.
“What we are really creating in West Philly is a healthy community. We want to make sure that we are addressing health inequities. We want to make sure we have patient-centered care right in the neighborhood,” Mahoney said.
“When we come together we can do great things. Without unity, there is no community.”
Read more about the history and transition of the Mercy campus in this month’s issue of HUPdate, and go online to watch a video celebrating the new partnership and public health vision with devoted members of the staff who have now joined Penn Medicine.