simply
a 2015 community benefit report
Caring for the community is a cornerstone of Penn Medicine’s mission. We’re proud that throughout the year, our faculty, staff, and students volunteer their time and expertise to those in need beyond the walls of our hospitals, classrooms, and clinics. These efforts tackle poverty, medical needs, hunger, and educational disparities, in settings ranging from church basements to libraries to the streets of Philadelphia itself. We staff free clinics throughout Philadelphia, serve meals for our neighbors, provide innovative home care support to our most vulnerable patients, light a love for science education among community members young and old, and come together to offer relief for humanitarian and medical crises worldwide. We know that the capacity to care grows through creativity, so we urge the members of our community to spread their reach to give back, and support their innovative ideas for how to make a difference. Penn Medicine CAREs, for example, provides grants to community and hospital-based programs on behalf of Penn Medicine faculty, staff or students who are involved in supporting those efforts. Nearly 120 programs have received funding through CAREs since it was established in 2012. Many grants have helped to strengthen existing programs and partnerships with an array of hardworking non-profit organizations in the region. The program has also sparked new ideas from staff, including the gift of sight for children at a local charter school who needed glasses, and programs to provide free prescription drugs and clothing for needy patients being discharged from Penn Medicine emergency departments. In these and all our efforts, large and small, Penn Medicine cares ‌ simply because.
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Building a community that cares
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One morning during his commute from New Jersey on the PATCO Speedline, David Schaaf stopped and bought a $1, tabloid-sized newspaper from a woman in a bright yellow vest. It was One Step Away, a publication by and about Philadelphia’s homeless. He bought the street paper every day for about a week, just to have something to read on the train. Finally, he stopped to talk to the woman, and learned how One Step Away is part of a national support network. Individuals buy newspapers from One Step Away and then sell them throughout the city, earning money to support their own transition from homelessness. The program has employed more than 1,700 homeless or jobless individuals over the past five years. Schaaf, who works in human resources for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, was impressed. “They’re actively working to pull themselves out of the situation they’re in,” he said. David wanted to help, beyond his daily purchase. He reached out to Penn Medicine’s CAREs, a quarterly initiative that awards grants to staff members to utilize to further their volunteer efforts in the community. David applied and received a grant for One Step Ahead, which will use the money to help its vendors navigate through the sign-up process to enroll in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. “It felt good to be able to say that my workplace believed this organization was worthwhile enough to donate money to,” David said. “Though this is a huge
health system, it says something when it’s willing to give back to the community, and to help change people’s lives.” In fact, Penn Medicine’s commitment to homeless and low-income populations is decades-long, and growing. Many efforts tap into established non-profits, such as Pennsylvania Hospital staffers’ monthly health education talks at the Food, Faith & Friends outreach program for the homeless and hungry poor at Old St. Joseph’s Church in Old City. CAREs grants have helped to make a more homelike environment for those who seek shelter, skills, and fellowship through the Veterans Group of Powelton Village, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center continues to build on its longtime partnership with the nearby People’s Emergency Center (PEC). Staffers participate in PEC initiatives throughout the year, including making sure Christmas is bright for youth through a holiday toy drive, stocking the food pantry, and co-sponsoring the free, annual Jazz & Arts Festival in Saunders Park.
Agents of Change The six outreach workers who are part of the targeted case management program at the Hall-Mercer Community Behavioral Health Center of Pennsylvania Hospital are on the street seven days a week, as early as 8:30 a.m. and sometimes until midnight, ensuring that those most vulnerable are aware of shelters and services. The teams work closely with the city and other agencies to get people off the streets, especially during lifethreatening weather emergencies. “Last winter was one of the worst we’ve had in several years,” says Maryanne Bourbeau, who supervises the
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teams. “We had a lot of people who wouldn’t go into shelter, and the teams were often out there working late. But they are very committed to the population. A lot of the people who work in outreach have been doing this for many years. They feel this is their life’s work.” Bourbeau, who took on a manager role to give maximum support to the dedicated teams at HallMercer, emphasizes that these are not just jobs, but almost callings. “What draws people to doing this are the relationships you build,” she said, “and that relationship can be the agent of change in a person’s situation.” Change doesn’t happen overnight. It can mean making a connection with an individual perhaps dozens of times before he or she will seek shelter. But being that constant presence can make all the difference. “For a lot of people we engage with,” Bourbeau said, “the outreach worker might be the first person they’ve told their story to, the first person they’ve been able to trust.” Perelman School of Medicine students see the same phenomenon in the health clinic they run on Wednesday nights for the University City Hospitality Coalition (UCHC), which works with the homeless and other lowincome populations. In fact, the hope of building better relationships with clients inspired a recent change in how the studentrun clinic operates. This year, these doctors-in-training decided to take interaction up a notch, beyond taking blood pressure and asking a few questions before patients saw the volunteer physician on duty. The med students now perform a more thorough exam, so the physician has more information from the outset and can see more
patients in a shift. The educational benefits are two-fold, allowing students to obtain practice with critical clinical skills earlier than at most medical schools, and orienting them to the many socioeconomic and educational factors that contribute to health and well-being. “Real change comes with plugging people into programs that improve all areas of their lives,” said Will Bassett, one of seven students operating the clinic this year, who worked before medical school as a health coach at the community clinic in East Palo Alto, Calif.
“Community Members Have the Answers” That same philosophy guides the IMPaCT program of the Penn Center for Community Health Workers, an effort that puts lay health coaches in high-poverty neighborhoods to help patients with chronic diseases develop – and stick to – a wellness plan to keep them out of the hospital and on the path to better health. These community health workers, who often live in the neighborhoods where they work, are the type of people who are already out in their community helping others. Now, as empowered staff of Penn Medicine, they’re helping spread the organization’s reach to their neighbors by serving as guides to medical and social service supports – from accompanying patients to doctor’s appointments to helping them fill prescriptions to keeping them on track with new health diets. Supporting transitions in care is also a goal of Penn Presbyterian’s Emergency Department, where physicians and staff have developed a program that aims to bridge the gap between hospitalization for an
urgent issue to care in the outpatient setting – a time when patients are most vulnerable to repeat emergency room visits and hospitalizations. A Penn Medicine CAREs grant has helped a group led by John Flamma, MD, PPMC’s chief of Emergency Medicine, to provide medications for treatment of common illnesses such as seizures, diabetes, hypertension and bacterial infections during this crucial transition.
“A lot of the people who work in outreach have been doing this for many years. They feel this is their life’s work.”
These novel efforts are paying dividends: Since 2011, seven IMPaCT CHWs in the Center for Community Health Workers have helped care for a total of about 1,800 people. Now, the program is about to expand dramatically, with 24 CHWs expected to connect with about 1,500 patients annually starting in 2015. This year, the center’s director, Shreya Kangovi, MD, an assistant professor of Medicine, and Judith A. Long, MD, an associate professor of Medicine, received a three-year, $1.9 million grant from the federal PatientCentered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) which will allow the model to expand to the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and a health center in West Philadelphia. Kangovi says the expansion and grant demonstrate support for Penn Medicine’s model. “We’re moving on two different tracks,” she said. “The expansion shows that this program is going from research to practice. This is part of routine care now; it’s a University of Pennsylvania Health System entity. But we’re also trying to push the envelope with further research and
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development, and the PCORI grant allows us to test this model in new settings.”
Research is critical to helping the program continue to hit its mark. It not only helped the center set guidelines at the outset, but was also used to avoid pitfalls of previous CHW efforts elsewhere. Ongoing study helps CHWs adapt their approach if certain methods help some patients but not others. “We’re really committed to evaluating the work with the same level of rigor that we would use to evaluate a new drug or medical device,” Kangovi said. Their results so far? Patients who are connected with CHWs are much more likely to see a doctor within two weeks of being discharged from the hospital than those who receive ordinary case management, and they’re less likely to have repeat readmissions. They also report greater confidence in their ability to manage their care, and better mental health. Grants and research are crucial, but, as Kangovi is quick to point out, the “hero of this story” is the CHWs. “The people who are doing this work are going to help us solve so many complex health-care problems,” she said. “The answers won’t come from a doctor or a health system. We have resources – that’s what we bring to the table. But community members have the answers, the solutions, the passion, and the commitment. It’s rewarding to create an organization that puts these people front and center and allows them to do the good work they want to be doing.”
Hall-Mercer Community Behavioral Health Center Homeless Outreach Initiative 6
Hall-Mercer Community Behavioral Health Center’s Voices of Hope Choir 8
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Old St. Joseph’s Church
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Old St. Joseph’s Church 12
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University City Hospitality Coalition Medical Clinic 14
One Step Away
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University City Hospitality Coalition Medical Clinic 16
Penn Center for Community Health Workers 18
One Step Away
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Cultivating a voice in underserved communities
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When Giang T. N g u ye n , M D, M P H , fo u n d e d Penn Asian Health Initiatives 10 years ago, he drew inspiration and motivation from his own early years in the United States. “As an immigrant myself, who came to this country as a refugee from Southeast Asia, I felt there were a lot of needs that affect the health of immigrant communities,” he said. The same language and financial barriers that make it difficult to assimilate into a new culture in schools, the workplace and neighborhoods can have dire consequences for health, by keeping immigrants from accessing basic medical care. They may, for instance, go without immunizations and checkups, and finding a care provider for a chronic health condition can sometimes prove insurmountable.
He has done just that, helping the Unity Clinic in South Philadelphia provide clinical care and education to Indonesian immigrants, expanding its capacity with medical student volunteers and family medicine residents. In addition, he has involved his learners in health fairs, immunization events and public health research projects, in partnership with a multilingual host of organizations and faith-based institutions.
Trust-Building to Break Taboos The value of community partnerships and trust-building are embodied in several Penn Medicine projects that serve patients and individuals who otherwise have limited engagement with health resources due to language and cultural barriers. From Parkinson’s disease education and refugee and human rights work in the city to health care for rural Chester County’s Spanish-speaking population, a common ethos emphasizes meeting patients where they are – literally.
As a family medicine resident in Philadelphia, Nguyen set out to address the needs of Asian immigrants from the other side of the stethoscope, getting experience with non-profit organizations. As a fellow at Penn, he pursued his dream – a public health effort built on community engagement – in earnest: “I had more time to develop relationships with community groups and learn their priorities, their shared interests, their vision, and what their needs were.”
Working with On Lok House, a social service center in Chinatown, to host monthly community health education efforts with Penn was just the start of efforts to broaden the reach of Penn’s Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorder Center, said Candace Syres, the program’s outreach coordinator. “When facilitating meetings in diverse communities, we have to know that the culture of the person and the community shapes the understanding of the illness,” Syres said. “If we don’t get the cultural piece right, we won’t be asked back.”
Nguyen, now an assistant professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, sought to expand engagement beyond the partnerships involved in short-term research projects. He wanted to involve students and residents, and be there for the long haul. “It’s incredibly important to cultivate relationships with community organizations that are already doing great work, so that they trust you enough to let you in,” Nguyen said.
Sometimes connecting is as simple as asking the right question, or properly interpreting the answer. For example, Syres said, a nod might mean yes to a Westerner, but for clients in Chinatown it might merely be an acknowledgment of the speaker. “We learned that we have to engage more,” Syres said. “We have to make sure they’re comfortable asking questions and to use feedback to make sure we understand what people are telling us.”
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When they began that initiative in 2011, the Penn people did most of the talking. Now, the 30 or so community members who attend speak up and ask questions. “We’ve been able to create an environment where patients and their loved ones feel safer to talk about an illness, which in some cultures is taboo,” Syres said. Forming therapeutic relationships with clients is a cornerstone of the Women’s Refugee Health Clinic, part of the Penn Center for Primary Care, where health education sessions have grown from 30 minutes to two hours, with more time allowed for private sessions. Talk of reproductive health, contraception, and cervical cancer screenings can be a new and uncomfortable experience for women who seek care there. “A lot of them have never fully undressed in front of a doctor, or they have been victims of sexual assault, so this can be a traumatic experience,” explains Chiamaka Onwuzurike, a fourthyear student in the Perelman School of Medicine and coordinator of the clinic, which largely serves women from Burma, Iraq, and Butan. “They may not be comfortable sharing things, and often, they don’t know that they can ask questions.” But with that one-on-one connection between care providers and patients, the barriers can fall. A Burmese woman who had been silent about a problem for months finally approached Onwuzurike, and was grateful and relieved when pointed the way for help. “I really walked away knowing I’d helped this person,” Onwuzurike said. “That doesn’t happen every day.”
Linking Up At the two-year-old Penn Human Rights Clinic, the stakes are high: Help can mean saving someone from deportation. A diverse array of clients, from points on the globe spanning from Haiti to Nigeria, are referred by Physicians for Human Rights. First- and second-year med students
evaluate their application and then schedule a clinician – who will provide either a physical or psychological exam – plus time with a student, and sometimes an interpreter. The nature of the two- to three-hour exam can vary, from a routine workup to a detailed encounter focused on seeking signs of persecution. “Sometimes we’re looking for scars or a pattern of scars, and things like that, to determine whether they’re consistent with a client’s story of physical abuse,” said Rebecca Kim, a second-year medical student. “That’s not something we learn in medical school.” With the clinician, students draft a medical-legal affidavit for the client’s file. And since immigration proceedings sometimes draw out over years, the students are also
physician oversight for the nurse practitioners at the social-service agency, as well as offers free radiology services and lab tests for its uninsured clients. Next up, hospital staff is planning for more seamless prenatal care between the hospital and La Comunidad.
biggest step ever. The organization expects to open a 7,000-square-foot facility in a building donated by Penn Medicine near Penn Medicine Rittenhouse to serve as headquarters for most of its health, education and language programs.
“From a patient perspective, we want all the care to seem as if we’re part of the same family,” Huberty said.
Among its offerings: a cadre of “promotoras,” or community health educators – drawn from the community itself – ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, and a thriving partnership at Southwark Elementary school offering summer-reading enrichment curriculum, inclass kindergarten support, an afterschool tutoring and wellness program, a girl’s empowerment program, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program that taps into boys’ interest in video games, and most recently a dual Spanish-English immersion curriculum established in partnership with the Graduate School of Education and the School District of Philadelphia. Plans are also moving forward with the Wharton School to pilot a financial literacy program to further aid in community development.
Health & Education: A Prescription for the Future Though Chester County Hospital is new to the Penn Medicine family, La Comunidad’s ties to Penn Medicine’s community service are longstanding. From
“ From a patient perspective, we want all the care to seem as if we’re part of the same family” working to help link clients to social services that provide continuity of care during that uncertain time. Further afield from Penn Medicine’s Philadelphia facilities, Chester County Hospital (CCH) is focusing on care and services for the growing Spanish-speaking populations in their more rural area. In addition to more than tripling their Spanish language interpretation capabilities in the hospital over the past five years, a key focus involves partnerships with La Comunidad Hispana, in nearby Kennett Square, which offers medical, legal and educational services to lowincome and immigrant populations. “Because of the growing and diverse community, we realized we needed to better understand the intersection between cultural competency and health care outcomes,” said Paul Huberty, who is both chair of La Comunidad’s board and a senior vice president for strategic planning and marketing at CCH. Huberty secured a Penn CAREs grant that provides free mammograms at La Comunidad, and CCH provides
1993 to 2006, Steven Larson, MD, an associate professor of Emergency Medicine, volunteered at LCH’s nursemanaged clinic Project Salud. This experience exposed him to the organization’s interdisciplinary, team approach, and served as a key inspiration when he co-founded Puentes de Salud (“Bridges of Health”) a decade ago for South Philadelphia’s Latino community. “We wanted a combination of nurses, nurse practitioners, and community educators – providers who are experienced in doing what they do: seeing patients and providing clinical care,” said Larson, who started Puentes with Jack Ludmir, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital. Slowly, Puentes has grown into a model program for immigrant health and wellness in Philadelphia. Aided by more than $1.2 million dollars in funds raised through private donations, area foundations, proceeds from the Delaware Investments annual charity golf tournament, and in-kind donations by area construction, engineering and supply companies, this year Puentes is taking its
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“We tie early education and health together. There’s no way around it,” Larson said. “In the long term, you improve the health of a community by preparing kids and the next generation to be responsible, participating members of society.” Separately, many of these programs might be hard to spot. In one building, they will be hard to miss. “People don’t realize the behind-the-scenes collaboration, but that will become apparent when the new facility goes live,” Larson said. And they’ll notice something else, too – a guiding principle that has allowed Puentes to grow from serving over 4,500 clients thus far, to the 10,000 visits that Larson expects to reach not long after the opening of a new facility. “We’re frugal and very creative,” Larson said. “You don’t have to spend big bucks to have programs with meaning.”
Penn Asian Health Initiatives 24
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Puentes de Salud
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Latina Community Health Services 28
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La Comunidad Hispana 30
One Step Away ChesPenn Health Services Prenatal Care Program 31
Penn Center for Primary Care Women’s Refugee Health Clinic 32
Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Center On Lok House Health Education
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Women and Children’s Health Services 34
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Investing in the future through education
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“These programs gave me mentors,
At Penn Medicine, seeing is believing – and belie ving in youth is a cornerstone of our partnerships in the community.
by Jamie Shuda, EdD, director of Life Sciences Outreach at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and coordinator of Life Science Education at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships.
Jennifer Lai, a nurse in the division of Vascular Surgery, took that mission literally. Her daughter is a student at Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS), on Callowhill Street in North Chinatown, a school founded a decade ago by Asian Americans United and the Philadelphia Folklore Project to provide a unique and safe learning environment for children, especially the children of immigrant and refugee families. During a conversation with the school nurse, Lai learned that several children at FACTS needed glasses, but that their families couldn’t afford them. Lai turned to Penn, and secured a grant from Penn Medicine’s CAREs program to cover the costs of glasses for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
“I believe every child has a right to have an educational experience that is well-rounded and excites them,” Shuda said. “BioEYES can provide that.”
“This is an underserved population, and it’s wonderful to be able to help these children afford glasses. It’s something so basic,” said Lai, who came to Penn to study nursing in 2001 and decided to stay in Philadelphia to raise her family.
Because the strain of zebrafish used is transparent, Shuda notes, the students observe embryonic development in real-time and full color: “They can see the beating hearts. This is so invigorating for them. They get excited and really take ownership of the project.”
Other students get their first look at the world of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through zebrafish, thanks to the innovative BioEYES program, led
By the end of the week, when the zebrafish are in the larval stage, their pigmentation is already apparent. “They not only learn about dominant genes and how traits are
passed on,” Shuda said, “they get to see systems of the body develop before their very eyes.” The program has led to partnerships across the world, serving more than 90,000 students, from Philadelphia to Australia. The necessary ingredients are teachers who want to expand their science offerings, and a nearby research facility such as Penn that can supply the fish.
With BioEYES, students from elementary to high school don’t just learn about scientists; they are the scientists. For one week, their classroom becomes a laboratory. An outreach educator brings adult zebrafish to them, both striped and albino. Students are given scientific journals to record findings, and a question to answer: Given the outward characteristics of the zebrafish, what do you think their babies will look like?
“If kids are turned on to science early, it sticks with them,” she said, with each observation or recorded finding leading them through a door they might not have known was open to them. “BioEYES breaks down the stereotypes of who can be a scientist – black, white, male, female. It really levels the playing field.”
On Monday, the female zebrafish release their eggs on the bottom of the tank and the males fertilize the eggs. The adults go back to Penn, but the embryos remain in the classroom for the student/scientists to raise and study.
A web of other educational and career development programs are made possible by Penn Medicine’s partnerships with local schools, including the Sayre Health Initiatives Education and Leadership Development (SHIELD) program at the William L. Sayre High School in West Philadelphia; the Penn Medicine Pipeline Program; and the Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences.
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A Head Start
The Pipeline Program, managed by Frances Graham, director of workforce development at Penn Medicine, is closely linked to three nearby schools, Sayre High, Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, and the Paul Robeson
mentors who not only help me find new opportunities for me to quench my thirst for knowledge, but also are there just to be my friend.” High School for Human Services. It’s a mentoring, workreadiness program that brings high school students into offices and labs across Penn Medicine after school hours and during the summer, introducing them to a variety of careers, as well as a challenging, fast-paced work environment. Each semester, the students also take a college class – Penn currently partners with Peirce College – toward a health degree. Students are paired with staff mentors, who not only offer day-to-day advice about the workplace, but become personal coaches as students explore career and educational options. “Employees form a bond with the students and really feel like they are giving back by mentoring them,” Graham said. Students who excel can stay in the Pipeline, being offered yearlong internship positions at Penn Medicine after graduating from high school. They are paid for a 40hour work week, but are expected on the job only half that time, with their off-duty focus on taking college courses, at Penn or elsewhere – while reaping the tuition benefits of a full-time employee at Penn Medicine.
Pipeline alum have reported how the program prepared them for college. “Some who have graduated come back and talk about their college experience,” Graham said. “That first year when you move away can be hard, with some very specific challenges. And they see how having college credits earned during the Pipeline program helped them be successful.”
Mentors & Friends Helping students see both their potential and a wide range of career possibilities also guides the Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences (PARS), which focuses on mentoring and educating the next generation of women scientists and health-care professionals. “This is designed for girls,” said Monica A. Mainingi, MD, an assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who directs the program with Jamie Shuda, Christos Coutifaris, MD, PhD, chief of the division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and Marisa S. Bartolomei, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology. “They learn about science, as well as about learning about their bodies, and how to be comfortable and in control of them.” More than 130 students from 33 high schools in the region have participated since 2010. “We open PARS to anyone and everyone, any high school girl who can get here,” Shuda said. And if they don’t make it into one class, students are often encouraged to apply again, with guidance on how to submit a successful application.
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There are 10 to 12 students in each of the three sixweek sessions held every year, and they receive hands-on learning experiences in genetics, stem cells, reproductive technology, medical ethics, and planning for college and careers in science and medicine. “They learn everything from the basic female fertility cycle to performing in vitro fertilization (IVF) in a mouse,” Shuda said. “So they learn the science about their bodies, but the second part is the research. They see how people dedicate their lives to learning and researching – ethically and soundly – ways to achieve better overall health for women.” A recent survey of PARS alumnae showed that 96 percent of them plan to attend graduate school, and 51 percent said the program introduced them to new careers in science and research. Ninety-four percent of the program’s “graduates” said they would recommend PARS to a friend. Fabliha Khurshan, an alum of both BioEYES and PARS, is now a sophomore at Penn, majoring in Health and Societies. She called the programs her “first glimpses of college life,” introducing her to others who love science as much as she does, and preparing her for the rigors of academics beyond high school. But there was also one other critical factor. “Most importantly,” she said, “these programs gave me mentors, mentors who not only help me find new opportunities for me to quench my thirst for knowledge, but also are there just to be my friend.”
Camp Erin 40
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BioEYES 42
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Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School
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Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences (PARS) 46
Sayre Health Initiatives, Education and Leadership Development (SHIELD) Program 48
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Penn Medicine Pipeline Program
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Making a connection through outreach
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enn Medicine’s mission to educate and empower patients extends far beyond the boundaries of our main University City campus. In fact, the whole city of Philadelphia – and beyond – is fertile ground for making connections with the community, from the youngest children to senior citizens. Members of the Penn Medicine community take their expertise on the road dozens of times each year. You’ll see us throughout the region: at fundraising races for health causes, at music festivals and neighborhood celebrations, at Philadelphia Science Festival events, and at a diverse roster of other events. Each event is a unique opportunity for teaching, learning, laughing, and inspiring healthy living at all ages. Health promotion and disease and injury prevention are our traveling tools, as volunteer nurses, physicians and medical students provide health screenings and offer tips on good nutrition, sun safety, and the facts about heart disease, stroke, and cancer screenings.
The annual United Community Clinic Bike Rodeo brings together several hundred residents in Philadelphia’s Parkside neighborhood for a bike course, health fair, and BBQ. Free bike helmets and hypertension, eye, and dental screenings to promote annual check-ups are all part of the day’s activities. uring the Philadelphia Science Festival’s Science Carnival on the D Parkway, Penn Medicine students and faculty bring experiments and education on the road to give fairgoers – young and old – a glimpse of the mysteries inside our genes, ears, and brains.
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P ennsylvania Hospital clinicians give health education talks to members of the public at the Philadelphia Free Library. P hysicians and staff at the Dr. Bernett L. Johnson, Jr. Sayre Health Center work with the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI), part of Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, to distribute healthy vegetables every week to patients. A t the American Brain Foundation’s Brain Health Fair, Penn Medicine neurologists, nurses, and social workers shared insights about brain diseases through a series of informative and fun booths and activities.
T he Clark Park Discovery Day, part of the Philadelphia Science Festival, gives local residents the opportunity to meet local scientists and students, explore the natural wonders of the park, and try their hand at various exhibits. P enn Medicine teams joined with members of the West Philadelphia community to offer free education, including skin care and sun safety tips, to residents at a “Smiling for Sarah� event honoring a young woman who died of melanoma in 2014.
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y the numbers: 2014 Committed to the community
Emergency Department Visits
Financial Support
63,565 38,048 34,390 43,240 179,243 Total Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
82 m
132 m
$
$
Physician training support
Charity and underfunded care for Medicaid families
557 m
$
Pennsylvania Hospital
Research support
Chester County Hospital
771 m Total
$
Strengthening the local economy Each year, Penn Medicine contributes to the stability of the region in a number of vital ways – including creating new jobs and attracting new businesses to the area.
3.7 b
$
Total Annual Economic Impact on the City of Philadelphia
6.5 b
$
Total Annual Economic Impact on Pennsylvania
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860 m
$
Total Annual Economic Impact on New Jersey
Our mission is a simple one: We intend to be the very best we can be. We pursue this mission in service to our scholarship, our obligation to teach others, and our commitment to caring for those we can help. At Penn Medicine, we see the future every day through discovery, learning gained and shared, and lives made better. Those who join us in this mission are grateful for the privilege and accept the many responsibilities such privilege entails.
To learn more about Penn Medicine’s commitment to the community, visit PennMedicine.org/community
We acknowledge the physicians, nurses and staff throughout the Perelman School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System who contributed to this report and to our community. ŠCopyright 2015 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.