In honor of Community Health Improvement Week, I'd like to recognize the outstanding work our Community Wellness team and Reading Hospital volunteers are doing. Community care has always been a core component of who we are at Reading Hospital; it's in our DNA and something we are passionate about providing.
We post weekly schedules to inform anyone who may benefit from our traveling state-of-the-art Mobile Mammography Coach, generously sponsored by the Reading Hospital Foundation. Meanwhile, our Street Medicine team collaborates with community partners to plan and provide primary and preventative care clinics for unsheltered homeless, shelter-residing, and housing-insecure individuals.
Throughout the week, the Community OutReach & Engagement Program (CORE) offers staff opportunities to volunteer in various outreach initiatives such as Speakers Bureau events, health fairs, and other community-based activities focused on boosting engagement.
These are just a few areas where our Community Wellness team and numerous hospital volunteers invest their time and talent to help our neighbors. Although Community Health Improvement Week is just one week, these programs positively impact the health and well-being of our community all year long.
Investing in our community wellness programs supports the four pillars of public health, which include a person’s physical, emotional, cognitive, and social health.
We strive to achieve health equity, which means that each person has access to healthcare and can achieve optimal health. Our Health Equity Community Collaborative was formed to identify and eliminate health disparities. While our Mobile Mammography Coach helps make life-saving screening mammograms more convenient and accessible, our Street Medicine team brings healthcare to more people and collaborates with community partners.
Many of the Community Wellness team’s initiatives are located on BeWellBerks.org, which provides information on those mentioned above, as well as the Berks Trail Challenge, Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence and Soft Landing Program, and Pathways Programs, designed to provide career exploration opportunities for students.
I am pleased to say that when CORE Program volunteer opportunities are announced by the Community Wellness team at Reading Hospital, the slots fill up quickly. Our employees have contributed almost two thousand volunteer hours to the Street Medicine Program. Without their overwhelming support, the program could not exist. I am proud of our team, but not surprised. Supporting this community is engrained in all of us.
This year's Community Health Improvement Week presents a golden opportunity to engage our community through CORE Programs. In collaboration with local non-profit organizations, businesses, faith groups, and social organizations, Reading Hospital's CORE volunteers provide preventative health education, health screenings, and service projects to improve and contribute to the health of our community.
Working together, we can achieve wellness as a community, but it is not a goal that can be attained overnight. It takes deep dedication from teams of employees, volunteers, and community partners who continue to show up daily and collaboratively work to advance health equity while improving overall community health.
As a community member, I want to thank all who work with such enthusiasm to embrace the many impactful and invaluable volunteer opportunities available to you. We honor those who are devoted to improving the health and well-being of all, and by doing so, encourage each of us to contribute and lend a hand.
I hope you find inspiration during Community Health Improvement Week to join me in volunteering. It is beneficial to remember that we all need help at some point, and in turn, we have the power and responsibility to assist those around us. After all, it is through volunteering that we create the world we want to live in.
To learn more about Reading Hospital’s Community Wellness initiatives, please email us at CommunityWellness@towerhealth.org.