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Family First Health

A community health care center

York Dispatch: York celebrates the new holiday – Juneteenth

By Bill Kalina, The York Dispatch.

York Dispatch publishes highlights from the first federal Juneteenth celebration in York – showing Family First Health’s Dr. Asceline Go near our table, where we administered HIV tests and COVID-19 vaccinations.

See the photos here.

WHYY: Gov. Tom Wolf gets his first COVID-19 vaccine dose

By Sam Dunklau, WITF.

Gov. Tom Wolf received a first dose of the Moderna vaccine at a community health center in York Monday morning. He joins more than four million Pennsylvanians who have gotten a first dose since the state began vaccinating people against the coronavirus in December.

Wolf said he made the appointment last Tuesday, the day the commonwealth opened vaccine eligibility to all adults. For months, health workers had only been allowed to vaccinate people over the age of 65, those with certain underlying health conditions, and essential workers most at-risk of catching the disease.

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“I wanted to wait in line,” Wolf said after his 15-minute observation period was up. “I made my appointment and this was the appointment.” When asked how he was feeling in the first minutes after his vaccine, Wolf responded, “Great.”

All states were to have opened vaccine appointments to all adults this week, if they hadn’t already. So far, children under 16 are not eligible for a shot in Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, the nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters there could be enough child safety data from clinical trial by the end of the year. That means kids may be able to get shots by then, if the vaccination doses are considered safe for them.

Wolf said outside of child eligibility, the next big hurdle his administration plans to tackle is vaccine hesitancy.

“Until this past week, the issue was inadequate supply. Now, we’re just starting to get to the point where we have open appointments in a lot of places all around the commonwealth. So, it’s time to really start focusing on the [the] hesitancy issue,” Wolf said.

Dr. Asceline S. Go administered Wolf’s vaccine and serves as the Vice President of Medical Services at the York City clinic. She said fears about rare blood clots caused by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have already led some to cancel their vaccine appointments at the facility in the last week.

Regulators are set to determine whether the J&J jab can continue with new guidance this week. Only six patients reported such clotting out of nearly 7 million people in the U.S. who received that vaccine.

Go said workplace incentives and more mobile vaccination drives could help reduce access barriers and get those who are holding out more comfortable with rolling up their sleeves.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and it has to be a cooperation among the leaders of the community,” Go said. “If there’s no reason for them not to get the vaccine, then the chance of them getting it would exponentially be higher.”

Wolf said the commonwealth is ramping up its own plans to target hesitant communities with public service ads. The New York Times reports counties where a majority voted for former President Donald Trump in the last election are seeing lower vaccination rates on average.

CBS 21: Plans underway to get homeless shelters, frontline workers and guests vaccinated

By Samantha York, CBS 21-WHP-TV .

As Pennsylvania enters the 1C phase of its vaccination rollout and prepares for all adults to become eligible to get vaccinated next week, it’s also prioritizing getting equal access to homeless communities.

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“Our staff, they need to be on the frontlines helping people,” says Bethesda Mission Executive Director Scott Dunwoody. “Vaccines have been made available to our staff and we’re soon hoping vaccines will be made available to guests as well. That will be a game changer.”

The initiative to vaccinate homeless communities is underway as eligibility expands and vaccine supply stabilizes.

“We haven’t been hindered by supply, it’s really been a significant coordination effort,” says President and CEO of Family First Health Jenny Englerth, explaining her staff’s planning to match supply with people who need the vaccine most.

With frontline workers at homeless shelters and their guests falling under the 1B phase within the state, the vaccine is another layer of protection. Providers specifically recommending Johnson & Johnson doses be allotted to them.

“Being able to reconnect in 21-28 days could be a challenge,” Englerth explains. “These folks are going to leave these events in the coming week fully vaccinated.”

It’s protection for those among the most vulnerable, who travel often and are in group settings frequently.

“They may have instability in other areas of their health or wellbeing as well,” says Englerth. “They may be in a situation where they’re accessing multiple services, working multiple jobs.”

It’s a shot of relief for homeless shelters, after a year of turning some away to meet capacity limitations due to pandemic mitigations.

“That’s against our DNA,” says Dunwoody. “Our DNA at Bethesda says if you are in need of help, we’ll provide the help for you. But we had to think of the safety of our guests and staff.”

Community health centers are helping to get vaccines to people who need it most | Opinion

By Jenny Englerth

In early February the Biden administration announced an important Community Health Center Vaccination Program to guarantee greater access to vaccines for underserved communities through Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

This plan affirms the importance of FQHCs, also known as Community Health Centers, often located in underserved regions of our state providing accessible care to populations most affected by COVID-19. A recognized leader in comprehensive primary and preventive care to patients of all ages in urban and rural areas, we accept every patient, regardless of their ability to pay.

As the President and CEO of Family First Health, serving 25,000 patients every year, I believe the federal government’s decision to focus vaccine distribution though the FQHC network recognizes the important role our health centers play in helping to solve the massive divide in access to quality care, even beyond the vaccine.

Bridging the expansive levels of disparity in care in our country requires intentional focus on how healthcare should be reflective of our changing communities in order to provide care through the lens of the unique needs of our growing diverse populations. We must meet our patients where they are in their health journey in order to build trust to motivate patients to put themselves first with routine care.

Now is the time to have serious conversations about how access to quality care affects every corner of every community. According to a Columbia University study, the number of Americans living in poverty grew by eight million in a six-month span in 2020 amid the pandemic. That means the care FQHCs deliver is in even greater demand than just 12 months ago.

Throughout COVID, national headlines have continued to draw our attention to the disparities in health outcomes within communities of color. National data shows that Black and Hispanic populations represent the highest at-risk individuals with the greatest challenges to accessing health care services.

I’m proud to say that Family First Health, like many FQHCs, has assumed an essential frontline role in establishing care models designed around the realities of our communities. And we’re making a felt difference at a time when the need is growing at rapid pace. Our goal is to build trust as a fundamental aspect of our relationship.

We understand that for decades minority communities have struggled to build relationships with health care organizations who fail to understand their needs. FQHCs are the exception to this history of mistrust.

We are truly a health center that looks and sounds like the community we serve. From Spanish-speaking providers, to accessible and diverse health care professionals and health care facilities actually located in their local neighborhoods, we are the quality health care home of the community.
Our team has taken on the necessity to be innovative in how we deliver care – most recently expanding the reach of our health center at Hannah Penn K-8 School in York City.

Through a $2 million multi-year grant from the United Health Foundation, we are taking care into the school to reach students while deploying community health workers into the school community and surrounding neighborhoods to build trusting relationships with the families living in the Hannah Penn area.

By establishing a true school-based health care model, we’re tearing down barriers and building healthier futures for our children. Our organization was not willing to accept the declining health of our community’s youth and we rose to the occasion.

The Hannah Penn Center is now the county’s only school-based health center with medical services also available to community residents. This facility which already provides access to health care, preventative care and mental health services, will now help those living within that community to seek out and receive more accessible care, including COVID vaccinations, from a trusted facility, where patients and local residents feel most at ease.

This level of familiarity is important to how we care, and we must absolutely continue to evaluate how we continue to innovate with a constant lens of our changing patient. This will be especially important as we take on the post COVID care environment. Patients, of very diverse backgrounds, are able to manage their health due to constant fear of infection and numerous other pressures. How we develop care models in the midst of this massive shift in consistent care will require a level of understanding like we’ve never faced before.

Community Health Centers will meet this need and play a more vital role than ever before. Our knowledge of our community will be a key factor in how we foster community health.

Family First Health and the other FQHCs throughout Pennsylvania will be the difference in supporting the advancement of the health of our broader community through our established roots within the most vulnerable communities. Our ability to provide primary and integrated healthcare services is essential to our communities and our economies recovering from this pandemic.

We look forward to caring for you and your community.
Jenny Englerth is President/CEO for Family First Health.

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Governor Wolf says criticism of vaccine rollout ‘deserved’ as he states PA needs to do better

Providers and doctors agree: The demand for vaccine is greater than supply. Gov. Wolf says the state needs to get vaccine out more quickly and fairly.

YORK, Pa. — After a tour of Family First Health in York, Governor Tom Wolf told FOX43 he is not satisfied with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. 

“If you want me to acknowledge that need to do a better job. I’m there. We need to do a better job,” said Gov. Wolf.

Vaccine providers and doctors agree: The demand for vaccine is greater than supply.

“The greatest challenge we continue to see is vaccine supply,” said Dr. Michael Ripchinski, Chief Clinical Officer for Lancaster General Health.

“Access, absolutely access,” said Jenny Englerth, CEO of Family First Health.

It has resulted in thousands of Pennsylvanians who wait their turn for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It’s clear: We are receiving a lot fewer vaccines than we need. This week, this week, the number of vaccines applied for, first doses, is double than what we actually received. We requested about 400,000 doses, and we have about 200,000,” stated Gov. Wolf. “We need to do a better job at getting it out quickly and getting it out fairly. I think we’re around the national average when it comes to the percentage of the population that has been inoculated. I want to be above average.”

According to data from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, Pennsylvania is among the worst states when it comes to the % of population fully vaccinated. However, it is among the top 10 states when it comes to how many people have been fully vaccinated: 1,160,000 people and counting, according to the data and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

“The burden is falling on you guys to get it out faster. You get a lot of criticism. How do you respond to that?” asked FOX43’s Grace Griffaton.

“I think it’s deserved. In any system, if all you do is hear what you want to hear so I appreciate the criticism,” responded Gov. Wolf.

The governor says the state continues to learn and is taking notes from providers.

“WellSpan, Family First, places like this are doing a good job, and we need to learn what they’re doing,” stated Wolf.

Family First is starting its own version of ‘March Madness’ except, for them, it’s shots into arms not baskets that will make the difference.

“We’re turning all three floors of this building into a vaccination site every Friday for the foreseeable future. All of our primary care will be taken virtually during those days,” explained Englerth. “It really will become a hub that people will be able to recognize as a place to get a vaccine and information about the vaccine, and we’ll be here as long as it takes.”

Englerth says anywhere between 200 and 300 people will be vaccinated at Family First Health each Friday.

Find the full article here