Nathaniel Williams is quick to say that he received good care at the now-defunct Mercy Philadelphia Hospital at 54th Street and Cedar Avenue in Cobbs Creek, the West Philadelphia neighborhood where he has lived his entire life.
But Williams, who is nearly 60 and diabetic, is just as quick to say that the care he currently receives at the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar – an innovative collaboration between Penn Medicine and the not-for-profit Public Health Management Corporation located in the grand old Mercy building – is the best he’s ever had.
Williams now sees a primary care physician from Penn Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, at a PHMC-run health center in the building; most patients there live within a 10-block radius. It’s one of a comprehensive set of improvements to build an innovative public health campus whose emphasis is addressing social determinants of health and making preventive care easy to access.
“For the community, the change is for the better,” Williams says. “It may be the same building, but it’s not the same hospital.”
Read more about the transformation of Mercy Philadelphia at Service in Action
Human/Nature
Can trees and fields save lives? A new community-academic collaborative is betting that they can.
Representatives from Penn Medicine, CHOP, and community organiza¬tions celebrated the launch of the Deeply Rooted initiative in May. At center are Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Eugenia South, MD, MSHP, director of the Penn Urban Health Lab.
Deeply Rooted is a community-driven program drawing on the research of Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Eugenia South, MD, MSHP. Her findings that cleaning and “greening” abandoned lots reduce gun violence and self-reported levels of depression are now the basis of an intervention to improve the lives of people living in West and Southwest Philadelphia.
By increasing greenspace, offering community grants, providing career development, and promoting environmental justice, this partnership between the Penn Urban Health Lab and over 13 community and faith-based organizations, aims to reduce violent crime, improve public health, and reverse health in¬equities, all of which are effects of structural racism on neighborhoods that have experienced disinvest¬ment. The team plans to green over a million square feet of vacant lots.
Deeply Rooted launched in May 2022 with multi-million dollar investments from both Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society serving as the lead strategic greenspace implementation partner.
Watch a video highlighting the Deeply Rooted initiative at Service in Action
880 Ways to Make an Impact
For 10 years, the Penn Medicine CAREs grant program has supported volunteerism.
Barbershops and church basements. Roller derby rinks and a refugee health clinic. The places where you can find people from Penn Medicine giving back and making a difference in their local communities are as varied as you can possibly imagine.
Penn Medicine provides financial support to help staff, faculty, and students to extend their impact on the community through the Penn Medicine CAREs grant program. The grants of up to $2,000 each allow recipients to purchase supplies or other resources for their outside volunteer efforts. Celebrating 10 years this year, the program has provided more than $880,000 in funding in over 880 awards to support service initiatives across the region and around the globe. It is on track to surpass 1,000 total grants awarded in 2023.
See more examples and explore the 10-year history of the CAREs grant program at Service in Action