Long-Awaited North Philly Health Center Has Ribbon Cutting Today
The Stephen Klein Wellness Center has been in the Project HOME pipeline for years, and today the 28,000-square-foot health center finally got its long-awaited ribbon cutting. According to NewsWorks’ Elana Gordon, the center is expected to bring long overdue services to a neighborhood where “more than one third of residents live below the poverty level” and where high rates of cancer, obesity and heart disease have rendered the area as having “the lowest life expectancy in the city.”
The $19.4 million project, which is a partnership between Project HOME, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Jefferson Medical College Department of Family and Community Medicine, the Middleton Partnership and Stephen Klein, offers services in dental care, mental heath, diabetes management, and childcare to name a few. Gordon reports Project HOME’s previous health center space had been in a church:
McCurdy and other leaders get excited walking through the 28,000 square foot space in preparation for the official launch (the center is already seeing patients on a limited basis). Cleaners give the floor-to-ceiling windows a final wash. The center is a lot bigger than Project HOME’s old space in a nearby church. “We went from 4 medical exam rooms at the old building to 15. Yeah.” said McCurdy, laughing.
New $19 million wellness center aims to transform one of Philly’s most struggling neighborhoods [NewsWorks]
