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KEYSTONE HEALTH CENTER PARTICIPATES IN PROGRAM TO HELP LOCAL INDIVIDUALS OBTAIN A MEDICAL OR DENTAL DEGREE
(Chambersburg, PA) -- The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) anticipates that our nation will need an additional 14,000 physicians by 2020. This need will especially be felt by Community Health Centers, the nation’s healthcare safety net. To address this need, NACHC has partnered with A.T. Still University (ATSU) to establish a new osteopathic medicine school on its campus in Mesa, Arizona. The two organizations first partnered about four years ago to establish a school of dentistry. Through the new school, called the College of Osteopathic Medicine-Mesa, ATSU has created a learning-centered community to educate and mentor tomorrow’s physicians. In order to meet the needs of Community Health Centers (CHCs) by attracting dedicated, motivated, and qualified community-minded students to the innovative new medical school, ATSU and NACHC have developed a program called Hometown Partnerships for Health. The program in the dental school is called Hometown Partnerships for Oral Health. CHCs—including Keystone Health Center in Chambersburg, PA, Franklin County’s only Community Health Center—will be participating in these programs. Through the Hometown programs, Keystone Health Center and other CHCs can let ATSU know which applicants they believe could become compassionate community-minded physicians and dentists that they may want to employ. To obtain an endorsement letter that would be included with the standard ATSU application, an interested individual needs to contact a CHC about volunteering or working at the health center to develop a relationship with the CHC’s staff and leadership. ATSU gives preference to applicants with a history of community service, public health involvement, and/or a commitment to underserved communities and populations. Nationwide, Community Health Centers offer innovative programs in primary and preventive care to 16 million people at 5,000 health centers. The successful Community Health Center model blends comprehensive primary care strategies, health services coordination and teamwork, measured community outreach, and continuous quality improvement methods to advance community health status. Keystone Health Center in Chambersburg, PA, is encouraging local individuals who have an interest in becoming a doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) or doctor of dental medicine (D.M.D.) to consider the programs at A.T. Still University. Through ATSU’s Hometown programs, potential students will learn about a Community Health Center’s approach to improving the health of individuals, families, and the community. Individuals interested in the programs may begin exploring how they might become a Hometown endorsed applicant by visiting www.atsu.edu/soma and www.atsu.edu/asdoh where they will find additional information including descriptions of the programs and requirements for admission. To find out how they could hopefully receive an endorsement from Keystone Health Center, they may call Joanne Cochran, Keystone Health Center’s CEO, at 717-217-6006. For More Information and Related Links:National Association of Community Health Centers: http://www.nachc.com Bureau of Primary Health Care web site through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://bphc.hrsa.gov/chc/
Information About Keystone Health Center: Keystone Health Center provides high-quality family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric, obstetric, gynecological, cardiac, behavioral, and dental health care and, when needed, social services to anyone in the community including the underserved and vulnerable populations. Keystone now operates six full-time primary care practices—Keystone Family Medicine, Keystone Internal Medicine, Keystone Behavioral Health, Keystone Dental Care, Keystone Women's Care, and Franklin County Pediatrics—and a specialty practice, the Franklin County Heart Center with offices in Chambersburg and Waynesboro. Keystone also operates one year-round migrant and seasonal farmworker site in Berks County and one seasonal farmworker site in Adams County. Services to migrant farmworkers are also provided through outreach workers and contracted providers across the Commonwealth. For more information regarding Keystone Health Center, please visit the website at www.keystonehealth.org. For more information regarding this news release, please contact Dawn Stinson at (717) 217-6002. ### |
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