When Covid-19 closed the global economy in 2020, Berks did not have the local Ministry of Public Health to lead the accusation against tracking efforts, prevention or immunization efforts.
Society had to escalate. A coalition of medical professionals, non -profit organizations and community organizers joined the boycott commissioner to respond to the growing emergency.
Caroline Bazik, executive director of the organization, said that one of the non -profit center, a center of well -being, has worked to identify the injured people and contact everything they might be exposed to.
Bazik said that people were surprised that the boycott did not have a healthy department because everyone worked “smoothly.” But from that experience a familiar cry came.
“This repeated abstinence was over thirty years – why is there not in the Berks Province of the Public Health Administration, or why does the reading city not have a health office?”
As is currently the case, a loose network of non -profit organizations and community organizations is temporarily gathering to address urgent public health issues in Berx Province. The Pennsylvania State community was praised for its coordinated efforts during the epidemic, but non -profit leaders said that these efforts emphasize the need for a point of communication and the leadership of the boycott in future public health emergencies.
The Perx Provincial Empire prompted the National Health Administration Consulting companies $ 170,699 to explore the needs of public health services and gaps.
About half of the population of Pennsylvania lives nearly 13 million people in a province or a city covered by the local Ministry of Health. But in the rural parts of the Commonwealth – such as the Berx Province – the population depends only on the state for a limited number of public health resources and services, and the amenities strengthened by small community organizations and non -profit tense.
I think [nonprofits] “It will be ready to invest,” Bazik said. “The problem is that they are tired of being the solution and allowing the boycott government away from the hook all the time by repairing them,” Bazik said. “I think they want to buy a boycott and invest it in some way.”
Although the study commissioned did not recommend the establishment of a local department, it has made a plan if Berks County played a more active role in protecting public health during emergency situations.
The report found that Berks can improve the coordination of existing services by financing positions that track local health concerns and direct resources, in addition to forming a committee “Communication with partners and the public as a reliable voice on public health threats, emergency and risks.”
The Speaker of the Bergel Council, Christian Lenbach, said that the boycott was to stop temporarily to move forward in the recommendations due to other urgent expenses – such as a lack of juvenile detention beds – as well as concerns about additional costs.
In December, these new costs led to approval of a budget of $ 705.8 million, which carries an 8 % tax increase. The province also raised 9 % taxes in 2024 – the first time that Perks increased in six years. The resulting budget has not left any field for additional public health spending.
“Unless there is a very crucial thing [it’s] Off the table. All these recommendations will cost the money. And so on, it is suspended. “
Some non -profit leaders feared that Perix officials are sweeping recommendations under the carpet.
Anthony Tucci, CEO of Western Ambulance Society, said that he was part of the community -surveying groups in the report and was excited to collect “all pieces” when it comes to public health issues facing the residents of the province.
“I think it would have been … useful to us,” he said. “I fear, though, that he died on the vine.”
Pros against negatives
The lack of a coordinated and coordinated response to public health issues led to some real consequences.
A evaluation conducted by Pennsylvania and the Health Tower of Berks Province as part of the study of public health has set low rates of preventive care for all population and disparity in that care for ethnic and ethnic minorities.
The evaluation also highlighted dangerous gaps in mental health services, with a few service providers or skilled nursing facilities in the province.
According to the District Health Services Report, Berks had higher rates of deaths and mortality of strokes from the strokes of the state and the nation.
There had been talks and questions about the reason why Berks had no Berks for the province for decades.
The Berx Community Province has pushed a local department during those years, and in 2012, the Percks Community Center for Health became the first qualified health center in the province. The province’s health report found that the center provides a set of primary health care, including teeth and vision, for deprived societies – services that lack Berks.
Monica Reyes, Vice President of Programs and Initiatives at the Foundation, said that many residents believe that public health issues are the most prevalent in urban reading, but the report shows that there are problems in the rural parts of the province as well.
She said: “This study really highlighted some areas outside the city, where some of these general health needs are spread, and there is no way in fact accessing services in these areas.” “The study really showed that it is not only the city, but it is all over the province, and every region has high levels of a specific health issue.”
Within the total costs of creating systems to protect the public’s health, Berks Commissioners are specifically concerned about how a local ministry to inspect restaurants, salons and other facilities.
Jane Franklin, Director of Public Health in Chester Province, said the inspections bring management revenues, but it is usually not sufficient to cover the full budget.
She said that restaurant inspections are important for food safety, which she sees as part of a “chain of care” that it provides to residents.
“Delivery should occur at the local level,” she said. “What you really do is to expand access and benefits through a boycott system. For me, this is the benefit of the big image.”
Franklin said the salon and other inspections of the facilities are not required by the province’s health departments. The boycott can be added later.
In the neighboring Lancaster Province, Commissioners have canceled plans to establish a local health ministry on concerns about the costs and the state’s repetitive efforts. Officials there said that the state’s public health laws are not out of time and the provinces are not given sufficient flexibility to adapt the departments to meet their needs.
Franklin admitted that the laws of the Ministry of Health in the Commonwealth are old, but when it comes to organizational pieces, she said that these parts are still necessary.
The Health Department of Chester was established in 1967, which allowed the Southeast Pennsylvania community to form public health talks and build strong partnerships with local organizations and non -profit organizations.
“You should be creative in financing … the other piece is to build partnerships,” said Franklin. “You know, I always say that we do not have to do everything. We just have to make sure that everything has been done and did well.”
Forming a coalition
Last year, CO-COUNTY Wellness proposed a $ 22,250 contract, and a two-year contract with Berks to create and coordinate a consortium to lead public health services there, which is one of the recommendations in the report. But Bazik said that the officials told her that they would go in a different direction with the proposed health coalition. She said that about $ 50,000 could have been appointed health management partners to work with the coalition to prepare things.
The Executive Director of Non -profit organizations has calculated that the establishment of an alliance was an easy first step to obtain better treatment of the health needs of the boycott and to overcome the bureaucratic process to create a boycott health department.
“In my suggestion, in the absence of the Ministry of Public Health, let’s get to know where the holes, what is being done, and what another person pays,” Bazik said.
“Where are the holes in the network or the frame we have, then, how do we go into them? How do we cooperate better and do not compete with each other?”
Leinbach said that of all recommendations, the Berks Health Alliance as the most achieved. He even met with alliances in York and Adams provinces to get to know their programs. But the cost remained attached. Lenbach said that Perks also has competing health care systems that make coordination challenge.
Perx has a Reding Hospital, run by Tower Health, and the Pennsylvania State Center Health Saint Joseph Medical. Residents in the Perke suburbs may also use networks in neighboring provinces such as Montgomery, the home of the Lehay Valley -Gilbertville Hospital.
“This model is not simple,” he said. “The question becomes, how do you coordinate all of these people along with the audience [entities]? “
District Commissioners will try to implement some of the report’s recommendations during the 2025 budget discussions.
“Even the creation of an alliance is” something very expensive to follow up. “
Although the boycott has a healthy balance for boxes, Leinbach said it is not something to use in frequent operating expenses.
“If we pledge to one of these procedures in a health study, we are committed to a long -term operational commitment.”