Twentieth Anniversary

Christ-centered: “We believe in and are committed to Jesus Christ in all we do. We are dedicated to caring for others in the manner He cares for us, partnering with the Body of Christ.”

Prayer: “We access God’s presence through prayer & worship, celebrating our limitations and His greatness, sharing our thanks and our needs, and seeking His help and direction.”

Responsibility: “We take responsibility for the gifts we have been given and the ministry in which we serve, seeking to efficiently use resources entrusted to us while always searching for new ways to improve.”

Family: “We are a community in service together, united as members of God’s family; respecting, sharing with, and offering support to one another.”

Service: “We are called to compassionately serve others by providing whole-person health care, which includes listening to needs and responding with the necessary medical, emotional, and spiritual support.”

Wholeness: “We acknowledge our limitations, place a priority on personal growth, and seek a sustainable balance in our lives.”

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I. Background:

HISTORY

The East Liberty Family Health Care Center was founded in 1982 in the basement of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, in the heart of East Liberty. The Center is dedicated to “showing God’s love, known in Jesus Christ, by providing quality, whole-person health care to all, especially the poor.” The Center has been distinctively faith-based since its inception, offering prayer with every visit, but never discriminating on the basis of religion. Every person is made in God’s image, worthy of good care, welcome at the Center. The Center has for over 25 years provided quality “whole-person” healthcare for all people, without regard to ability to pay. It has grown from a three-room office in a church basement to a dual-location, 55 FTE-staff, full-service health care center, and in 1998 opened a second office in Lincoln-Lemington to help accommodate its (now) more than 35,000 patient encounters each year.

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SERVICES WE OFFER

“The Best Healthcare Anyone Can Get – And Anyone Can Get It!”

People often think that healthcare for the poor is second-class healthcare. Since the money isn’t there, the quality couldn’t be either. This has never been the case at the East Liberty Family Health Care Center. Our track record proves that if you’re looking for a primary care provider in Pittsburgh, you couldn’t do any better anywhere else.

Every year since 1982, more people have come to the East Liberty Family Health Care Center for their primary health care needs. Fully one-third of these are privately insured families who could go anywhere, but choose the Center because of its quality. In 2006, we provided 35,000+ encounters of “whole-person” care for more than 7,000 patients, and our most recent patient satisfaction rate was over 95%.

The East Liberty Family Health Care Center operates two comfortable, attractive offices staffed by fourteen doctors and two mid-level practitioners, all of whom have made and kept a long-term commitment to this practice. Appointments are available 6 days/week from as early as 8:30 am to as late as 8 pm. A doctor is always on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All our doctors are credentialed by virtually every insurer and every hospital in our service area.

Through our Birth Circle program, we deliver healthy babies. Then, we help young moms raise healthy babies by making sure they keep every immunization visit through age two. Well-child visits typically provide one full hour to fully educate parents about their baby’s health.

Certified mental health counselors from Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute are on site every week. Social workers help our patients enroll in Medical Assistance and other entitlement services to support them in their journey toward “whole-person” health.

At the Lincoln-Lemington Office, we have a full-time dentist and hygienist to meet all of our patients’ oral health needs. Also at Lincoln-Lemington, when one of our docs writes a prescription, our Pharmacist can fill it on the spot at a price based on income.

All of our practitioners are board-certified, and make a long-term commitment to this ministry, so they can develop their skills as well as their knowledge of the unique needs of our patients. Our doctors audit each others’ charts to ensure quality care and compliance with best practices, and our Quality Assurance team meets monthly to improve patient compliance in key areas such as immunizations, diabetes, and hypertension. We measure our performance against federal standards such as Healthy People 2010 to make sure that our care is the best we can give. As a result, we find that our immunization rates are among the highest in Allegheny County, and that our patients are generally doing better at managing chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension than anywhere else.

A Safety Net for the Most Vulnerable. Word on the street says that the people in our two East End offices can be trusted. But what about those who can’t or won’t get to our offices? We’re reaching out to meet their needs as well.

We provide more than 2,000 visits for the Homebound Elderly every year, with no maximum number of visits. We stay with our homebound as long as they’re alive, keeping them independent and out of the hospital, often helping them die in their homes with dignity and peace.

We go to local Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and drop-in centers to form relationships with the homeless, and when trust develops, invite them into care at our offices.

We send community workers to the streets of East Liberty every day, helping the addicted get into recovery, treatment, community, and hope.

Our Pediatric Outreach staff goes into the homes of young mothers to educate them and help them manage the health and psycho-social needs of their babies. And our newest outreach venture is training women neighborhood leaders (“Community Ambassadors”) to be knowledgeable about prenatal care, pre-conceptual counseling and breastfeeding, and to share that knowledge on the buses, in the beauty parlors, or wherever they go, in order to finally begin to reduce Pittsburgh’s unacceptably high rate of black infant mortality.

Taking Time to Care. Most of all, what our patients count on is practitioners who know them by name, and who take the time to care. Our doctors spend two to three times as long as an insurance-driven practice with every patient. They take time to listen to the “whole-person” needs of each patient. At the end of every visit, a doctor and a nurse will offer to join hands and offer prayer for the patient’s concerns. Participation is voluntary, and respects the different religious traditions of our patients. But even science is beginning to recognize what the church has known through the ages—the healing power of human touch and Divine prayer.

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Those We Serve

The East Liberty Family Health Care Center strives to meet the whole-person health needs of Pittsburgh’s East End, including East Liberty, Garfield, Larimer, and Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. All of these areas are a part of an Allegheny County Medically Underserved Area and a PA Health Professional Shortage Area.

The Center’s service area faces serious demographic, geographic, and cultural barriers to health care, resulting in several serious health disparities in the area. Residents of the target service area are predominantly low-income (The Median Income is $19,946, 30% lower than the City Median, and 48% lower than the County Median).[1] 57% of those residing in the service area have incomes less than 200% of poverty level, compared to 41% of the City and only 27% for Allegheny County[2]). And the percentage of persons living in the service area with incomes below 200% of poverty level has risen by 5% since 1990—a negative trend.

Medical Assistance recipients make up approximately 25% of the service area’s population, with an estimated 27% completely uninsured.[3] Fully 86% of the service area is minority, 81% African-American and 5% other races.[4] Unemployment is almost 14%, more than double the State and County rates.[5] 23% of the service area’s households are single-female headed living in poverty, more than twice as high as the City and four times higher than the County.[6] Health status indicators in the Center’s service area are higher than City and County rates across the board.

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WHO WE ARE

Board of Directors

Mr. Benjamin Butler

The Rev. Etta Calvert

Mr. Reid Carpenter (Emeritus)

The Rev. Douglas A. Dunderdale

Mr. W. Craig Esterly

Jay A. Gilmer, Esq.

Ms. Judy Ginyard

The Rev. Edward Givner

Ms. Floretta Irvin

Mr. John Millar

Mr. Thomas H. Nimick, Jr.

Stephen P. Paschall, Esq.

Ms. Georgette D. Powell

The Rev. Paul E. Roberts

Mrs. Kristen Wilson

Staff

Clinical Staff

David G. Hall, M.D. Medical Director

Eileen Boyle, M.D. Associate Medical Director

Gregory Anderson, MD Pediatrician

Diane Balestrino, M.D. Physician

Tricia Labuda Bhat, M.D. Physician

David Ferguson, M.D. Physician

Irene Frederick, M.D. Obstetrician

Frances Irvin, M.D. Physician

Allison Kliber, M.D. Physician

Wendy LeMarquand, M.D. Physician

Mark W. Meyer, M.D. Physician

Peter R. Murray, PA-C Physician Assistant

Betty Mae Tatman, CRNP Ped. Nurse Practitioner

Lynn Williams, M.D. Physician

Stephen A. Wilson, M.D. Physician

Richard K. Zimmerman, M.D. Physician

Beverly Friedline, RN Nurse Manager

Mary Carter, RN Nurse

Maxine Coleman, RN Nurse

Carol D’Amico, RN Nurse (Homecare)

Danielle Edgar, RN Nurse

Deborah L. Keck, RN Nurse (Homecare)

Tracee Kirkland, RN Nurse

Julie McCaslin, RN Charge Nurse

Jennifer Pernesky, RN Nurse

Sr. Kari Pohl, RN Nurse

Lori Porter, RN Nurse

Cheryl Prepelka, RN Nurse

Becky Rohland, RN Charge Nurse

Sr. Mary Lou Shimshock, RN Nurse

Sherry Steele, RN Nurse

Nancy Steffey, RN Nurse

Renee Teichman, RN Nurse (Homecare, Coord.)

Megan Twichell, RN Nurse

Ericka Addison-Waite, M.A. Medical Assistant (Peds. Outreach)

Kimberly Gillespie, M.A. Medical Assistant

Tujwina Jacobs, M.A. Medical Assistant (Homecare)

Jeressia Johnson, M.A. Medical Assistant

Margaret Johnson, N.A. Nursing Assistant

George Lee Rivers, N.A. Nursing Assistant (Homecare)

Michelle Townsend, MA Medical Assistant

Tamika Yates, MA Medical Assistant

Katherine Hast, RHIA Medical Secretary

Marie Linton Medical Records

Suzanne Maslo, DMD Dentist

Gwendolyn Bazmore, RDH Hygienist

Jennifer Botti Dental Assistant

Karen Willmarth, RPH Pharmacist

Outreach Staff

The Rev. George S. Steffey Chaplain/Behavioral Care Director

Robert Booker Addiction Outreach Worker

Tammie Brown Whole-person Case Manager

Gordon Jenkins Associate Director, Behavioral Health

David Stewart Whole-person Case Manager

Sue Stewart, RN Whole-person Case Manager