Nurses from all the HUP campuses, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), and Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH), gather at the May 6 Nurses’ Week Community Day
Kicking off a week meant to celebrate them, nurses spent the better part of Saturday, May 6, providing health resources to over 300 neighbors of West Philadelphia’s Malcolm X Park, not far from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at Cedar Avenue (HUP–Cedar), at the third annual Penn Medicine Nurses’ Week Community Day.
Nurses from all the HUP campuses, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), and Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) provided free COVID tests, blood pressure screenings, and custom-fitted bicycle helmets, along with demonstrations on how to stop bleeding during emergencies, reverse opioid overdoses, and perform CPR.
“National Nurses Week is a great time to celebrate the contributions of Penn Medicine nurses. We wanted to share in this celebration by meeting community members where they are, and where our health starts – in our neighborhoods,” said HUP Community Engagement Manager Sofia Carreno, MSN, RN, who organized the event with HUP Patient Education Specialist Andrea Blount, MPH, BSN, RN, and HUP–Cedar Behavioral Health Services Administrator Mark Elsasser.
“Since HUP–Cedar primarily serves communities in West and Southwest Philadelphia, Community Day was a great opportunity for us to connect with our neighbors to let them know about the care we provide as well as services and resources available through other Penn Medicine locations and our community partners,” Elsasser said. He emphasized that the hospital is committed to providing high-quality medical and behavioral health care at the Cedar Avenue campus, and will be opening a Crisis Response Center this summer to ensure residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital can access emergency psychiatric services close to home.
The annual community health event was first held in 2021, shortly after Mercy Catholic Medical Center–Mercy Philadelphia Campus at 54th and Cedar Avenue became the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar, which includes HUP–Cedar. In a thank-you message to staff who volunteered this year, Carreno wrote: “We appreciate your many contributions toward educating and raising awareness about many of the health issues plaguing our communities. It wouldn’t be possible without the collaborative efforts of so many.”