READING, PA | WRITTEN BY MATTHEW NOJIRI | TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 11:30 PM
Original article can be found at: http://www.readingeagle.com/
The money will help as the center opens its fourth location in Reading at the former Giant supermarket on Rockland Street.
The Berks Community Health Center has scored a $500,000 state grant as it pursues its biggest expansion to date.
The money will help as the federally qualified health center opens a new location in northeast Reading at the former Giant supermarket on Rockland Street.
Gov. Tom Wolf approved the funding from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, or RACP, state Sen. Judy Schwank and state Reps. Thomas R. Caltagirone and Mark Rozzi announced Tuesday.
Health center officials are looking to open the new location before the end of October. They first announced the new 37,500-square-foot health center during a fundraiser in March.
The building will open for family medicine and pediatrics first. The rest of the center’s services – including integrated behavioral health, dental, chiropractic care, podiatry, optometry and medication-assisted treatment of substance abuse disorder – will open by year’s end.
“This state funding represents an important investment in the health and well-being of the residents of Reading and Berks County,” Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat, said in a statement.
The center opened in 2012 with its first location in the 800 block of Penn Street. The new location will be triple the size of the Penn Street headquarters.
After opening its first site, the center added two other locations. One is in the 1000 block of Liggett Avenue, the other in the 400 block of North Second Street.
As a federally qualified health center, the center must take care of all patients, regardless of ability to pay.
The center has been adding about 200 new patients every month, Mary Kargbo, CEO of the Berks Community Health Center, said in August.
“The RACP funding for this new project at Rockland Plaza will not only positively impact Reading, but Berks County with 85 new full-time, permanent jobs and real estate tax revenues,” Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat, said in a statement.
RACP is a state grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects.
“The Berks Community Health Center has served thousands of patients in Reading,” Caltagirone, a Reading Democrat, said in a statement. “This new location will allow more patients access to coordinated, comprehensive medical care for additional underserved and under-insured, low-income populations of Reading.”
Contact Matthew Nojiri: 610-371-5062 or mnojiri@readingeagle.com.
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