A weekly communication for BCHC employees

February 15 , 2023 

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Employee Retention

Our goal is to keep our employees here, serving our community, for a long time. We value our staff and know how hard you each work and how much you go above and beyond for our patients.

I am hearing some dissension amongst our staff in regard to a few things. First, Dr. Kelleher leaving. Please keep in mind that she is leaving on very good terms. This is a personal decision for her to relocate back to Pittsburgh where her husband is originally from. You can see the internal conflict she is dealing with in leaving BCHC as she tears up when she talks about it. Her heart is here, and probably always will be. Her leaving should not cast any doubt in your mind or have you thinking “maybe I should leave too”. She would not want that. We do not want that.

Secondly, as I do from time to time, I evaluate rates for various positions to make sure they are paid fairly. You may have heard that I adjusted frontline staff – PSR’s, MA’s, DA’s recently because they were less than market rate. In addition, I previously reported that we have hired a company to do a competitive salary analysis for all positions at BCHC. The results should be here in March at which time we will perform an evaluation and make appropriate decisions.  Those who were here 2 years ago will remember I did that at that time as well. It is important for us to remain competitive and compensate you fairly. 

Oakbrook Purchase

I am still working on purchasing Oakbrook as we are just waiting for some of the American Rescue Plan funding from the City of Reading as well as the County of Berks. All is proceeding well, and we hope to have possession soon.

Recruitment

We are working on hiring a physician for 838 Penn Street for this summer as well as a pediatrician for this fall. As you know, the insurance credentialing process takes a while but we are excited for them to join us.

I also wanted to thank Dr. Hallowell, who is leaving 2/24/23, for all the care you provided. We wish you all the best for your future. We are currently interviewing a dentist to replace her.

Thank you for all you do and for your support and commitment to our community.

Staff Development

For the February Staff Education Session on 2/24, we will have education from the Berks County DA’s office on the subject of human trafficking.

We are working on scheduling the next BLS course – for those who are due in March keep an eye on your email for dates.

PHARMACY

Eric, the Pharmacy Manager, and the technician team of Yerali and Lizette are doing great, and we have the capacity to serve more patients.

We are working on marketing materials so please continue to refer patients to check out the BCHC pharmacy. They can call the pharmacy at ​610-257-7151 or they can stop by and speak with a pharmacy staff member. 

All BCHC patients - both insured and uninsured - are eligible for the 340b program . We can also fill specialist prescriptions with 3 criteria:

• Patient must have a referral in EMR.
• Patient must have an office visit within the past year.
• Patient must have documentation in EMR that the covered entity provider (BCHC) acknowledges the patient is taking the medication that the specialist has prescribed

Click on the picture above for a PDF of the presentation.

You can access a PDF of the presentation by clicking here.

Berks Community Health Center to Present Civitias Award to Pat Giles (bctv).

Berks Community Health Center will honor community leader Pat Giles with the health center’s Civitas Award on March 20, 2023, at the fourth annual “Picture Berks Healthy,” its signature awareness and fundraising event.  Picture Berks Healthy is Monday, March 20, 2023, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Reading. Light, healthy fare will be served.

Pat Giles has provided volunteer and professional leadership to community nonprofit organizations that improve the quality of life for Berks County residents for the past 45 years. Her involvement with Berks Community Health Center extends back to its founding as she was an original member of the community coalition that first identified the need for a Federally Qualified Health Center in Reading. She participated in the planning and implementation needed to officially establish BCHC in 2012 and served as an Advisory Council and Governance Committee member in its early years. In 2017 she was elected to the Board of Directors, served as Board Chair for four years (2018-2021), and a member of Finance, Governance, Strategic Planning committees and Chair of the Community Development committee. She rotated off the Board at the end of 2022 but continues as a member of the Governance and Strategic Planning committees. “Pat has been an incredible friend to Berks Community Health Center since its inception. We are incredibly proud to be honoring her after her many years of service”, says BCHC CEO Mary Kargbo.

Explaining the Picture Berks Healthy event, Kargbo said, “This event combines health and art. Art can contribute to good health, whether physical or mental, and we believe it is a compelling way to share Berks Community Health Center’s vision of a healthy Berks County.”  Glass art creations made by participating sponsor organizations at the GoggleWorks will be on display at the event. Several organizations sponsored “You Create We Make” (YCWM) workshops for children or intellectually disabled adults from Berks County charities. Picture Berks Healthy attendees will be able to bid on replicas of some of these artworks during a silent auction at Monday’s event.

New to this year’s event, students from 13th and Union Elementary school are participating in an art contest as they illustrate what a healthy community looks like to them. These pieces will also be on display that evening and the contest winners will be announced.

For tickets to the event, please visit www.berkschc.net/events/picture-berks-healthy/

Speaking of Picture Berks Healthy, as much as we would love to have all staff attend our event, it is not feasible to do so in terms of cost and room. But we would like to provide the opportunity for some to attend and the fairest way to do it is a drawing. We will be pulling 3 names from each group (PSR, Provider, MA, Nurse, Clinical Support and Admin) to attend. In case you are not familiar, the event will include healthy (delicious!) food!

Please let Dave Hershey ([email protected]) know if you are interested in attending and to add your name in the appropriate drawing.  We need your name and what group you belong to (PSR, Provider, MA, Nurse, Clinical Support or Admin). Please respond by Monday, February 27th and the drawing will take place later that week.

Good Afternoon All



Hope you are enjoying your day so far!! I am receiving calls from staff members regarding Benefits for 2023 being canceled. The Open Enrollment deadline was on 12/28/2022. All employees that want to enroll in coverage through BCHC needs to complete Open Enrollment annually even if there are no changes to the benefit options. Please make sure you are enrolled if you wanted to participate in the BCHC benefit plans. Late enrollment will result in back payments as the coverage effective date was 1/1/2023. Please reach out to HR with any issues, thanks. 

Hello all!

Welcome to the Compliance Corner, where each week we learn about what compliance is, what it means at BCHC, and how we can build a strong culture of compliance. Remember – compliance is EVERYONE’S responsibility.

Let’s kick things off with the definition of Healthcare Compliance.

Healthcare compliance can be defined as the ongoing process of meeting or exceeding the legal, ethical, and professional standards applicable to a particular healthcare organization or provider. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has helped to define healthcare compliance through their compliance guidance documents. This guidance calls for efforts to establish a compliance culture within organizations.

A culture of compliance promotes prevention, detection, and resolution of instances of conduct that do not conform to government laws, public and private payor healthcare program requirements, and ethical and business policies.

Next week we will cover the 7 elements needed to build a successful Compliance Program, and how this is implemented here at BCHC. See you then!

Janice

Director of Compliance

& Executive Assistant Manager

Perhaps I need to be a little more direct. DO NOT DIRECTLY SCHEDULE NEW OB PATIENTS FOR MYSELF OR LYDIA. PLEASE SEND A PHONE TO JENNIFER GRANDSTROM, OUR COVERING PRENATAL NURSE. IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS, YOU CAN SEND THE PHONE NOTE TO MYSELF OR LYDIA.  YOU ARE DELAYING PRENATAL CARE!!! when you schedule a prenatal patient weeks out while the provider is on PTO but has the good sense to check their inbox because they feel like people aren't reading their emails. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions via email, phone note, or text 717-515-3032. Thank you!

Sincerely

Chelsea Marks DO 

Good Morning Everyone,

For any patient calls or voicemails needed to be transfer to the Call Center, please use ext. 2990.

Everyone in the Call Center has access to ext.2990, and in case of anyone of use not being here the 

others would be able to assit the patients.

For Internal Communications ONLY you can use the following extensions:

2994 - Johannie Rodriguez, LPN

2992 - Janeslly Rodriguez 

2993 - Natalie Leon

2991 - Janellys Rodriguez 

Just want to let everyone know, you can find Diane Fisher and Jasmine Mencia's schedule under SMBP Schedules as seen below. Any appointments that need to be made regarding SMBP, can be found there. Please be mindful of the location, as Diane and I rotate through the 4 sites throughout the week and are never at the same site on the same day. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Diane or myself. Thank you!

Dr. Jasmine Mencia, PharmD

Apovia Clinical Pharmacist

There is now a schedule for New Patient Orientation in Athena. New patients can be added so that we can keep track of interested participants and do reminder calls for them. You will have to go to the schedule and the specific date to add someone. We appreciate you sharing this flyer with our new patients and encouraging them to come to the new patient orientation to receive valuable information.  

Reading Hospital's Mobile Mammography Coach makes getting a mammogram easy, quick, and convenient - with the same state-of-the-art technology and expert staff found at any of our breast imaging centers. We are hosting the Mobile Mammography Coach on the first Wednesday of the month rotating at our locations. The schedule is as follows:

March 1st – Penn Street

April 5th – Oakbrook

May 3rd – Rockland

June 7th – Penn Street

July 5th – Oakbrook

August 2nd – Rockland

September 6th – Penn Street

October 4th – Oakbrook

November 1st – Rockland

December 6th – Penn Street

Appointments are required to receive a screening mammogram at our Mobile Mammography Coach. To schedule an appointment, call 484-628-8611 and have the health insurance policy number and primary care physician's contact information handy.

Iralim Silva - Medical Interpreter- 2/8

Dr. Amber Hallowell - Dentist - 2/24

Maria Collazo - NCC at Rockland - 2/24

Lori Buck - NCC Rockland - 3/3

Perla Plasencia - BH Consultant - 3/3

Joy Platchek - Clinical Nurse Manager - 3/3

Selena Barton - MAT NCC - 3/3

10 Years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Denise LaRosa Medical Assistant - 2/26/2013

How long have you been with BCHC?

Five years.

Why is being on the JEDI Committee important to you?

Change needs to happen to prevent changeover. Staff is very unhappy.

Why are the efforts of the JEDI Committee important to BCHC?

We need people that will speak up on our employees' behalf, people who are on the floor who see what is going on.

What message do you want to convey to BCHC staff about JEDI?

That we are here to help and we are approachable. JEDI wants to make BCHC a wonderful place for patients, staff, community and partners.

What's a fun fact about you?

I love to read. I have two granddaughters. I am afraid of heights and the dark!

Thank you again to Jose Rodriguez and Lydia Anderson for their very informative presentation on “The Fundamentals of the LGBTQ+ Communities and Health Equity.”

Two weeks ago, we highlighted some of the content and are continuing with that today:

Gender Terminology

A socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people. Gender characteristics can change over time and are different between cultures. One's sense of self as being male, female, etc.

Gender binary - The idea that there are only two genders, male and female, and that everyone must be one or the other.

Intersex - A general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy or genetics that do not fit the typical definitions of female or male. This can be through variations in hormones, chromosomes, internal or external genitalia, or any combination of any or all primary and/or secondary sex characteristics.

Transgender - An umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth.

Cisgender - Refers to an individual whose gender identity aligns with the sex assigned to them at birth.

Agender - Refers to a person who does not identify with or experience any gender Often, agender individuals are not concerned with their physical sex, but some may seek to look androgynous.

Nonbinary - A fluid term for people whose gender identity doesn't fit comfortably with "man" or "woman". They might exist between or beyond the man-woman binary.

Transgender Woman (Trans Woman) - An individual who identifies as a woman and who was assigned another gender at birth.

Transgender Man (Trans Man) - An individual who identifies as a man and who was assigned another gender at birth.

Deadnaming - The act of referring to a transgender or nonbinary person by their non-chosen/birth name.

To view the LGBTQ+ Glossary, Click here.

Free Passes to the Reading Science Center are HERE!

Through our Employee Giving Campaign, we earned free passes to the Reading Science Center. We have one pass for each of our locations and each pass is good for four people and includes parking validation.

The Reading Science Center is located on the lower level of 645 Penn St and features more than 45+ STEM-themed interactive exhibits in a creative and fun space that is perfect for children to learn, explore and experiment. RSC’s mission is to foster the love of science through exciting and experiential STEM education for the Greater Reading community. Children will enjoy learning about electricity, light and sound, mechanics and much more. You can learn more on their website: www.readingsciencecenter.org

Reading Science Center hours are Tuesday 11-3 (last entry 1:45) and Saturday 11-5 (last entry 3:45). Dave Hershey will be coordinating with the Center. Click here to reserve the passes  



The deadline for reserving the pass is noon Monday (to visit center on Tuesday) and noon Friday (to visit center on Saturday). Passes are available for staff or patients on a first come, first serve basis. You will be contacted within 24 hours to confirm your reservation.

FREE YOGA happens every Thursday January 12 in the Rockland Community room:

Thank you to everyone who gave to the 2022 Employee Giving campaign that helped us be able to extend yoga classes for almost a year! 

The current 8-week session began on Thursday, January 12 and run thru March 2 at 6:30 pm at our Rockland location. 

If you would like to attend our FREE yoga classes, please call Adriana at ext. 4074.  

February is Black History Month.

This week in Black History:

February 17 - Marian Anderson was born on this day in 1902. Who is Marian Anderson? She was one of the most gifted singers of her time. From Black History today: "On April 9,1939 Marian Anderson opened the doors for many African American artists against racial discrimination by singing at the Lincoln Memorial when she was prevented from singing to an integrated audience at Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped with Anderson being able to sing instead at the Lincoln Memorial in front of over 75,000 people and with millions more listening on the radio."

February 19, 1932 - The Tuskegee Airmen were activated to fight during WWII.

February 20, 1895 - Frederick Douglass, who was born on 2/14/1818, died at the age of 77.

February 21, 1936 is the birthday of Barbara Jordan, the first African-American woman from the south to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

National Cabbage Day - February 17

Whether you prefer kimchi or sauerkraut or some other dish, cabbage is healthy and versatile. Further, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, kohlrabi, and kale are considered part of the cabbage family. Do yourself a favor and eat some cabbage today!

President's Day - February 20

Mardi Gras - Fasnacht Day - Fat Tuesday - February 21

The day prior to Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lenten fasting in many Christian traditions, is a day to eat donuts! Fasnachts are a type of donut, though a bit less sweet than regular donuts, popular among the Pennsylvania Dutch, with the tradition going back to Germany. "Fasnacht" is German for "the day before Lent begins."

"Mardi Gras" is French for Fat Tuesday, reflecting the day of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. It's also known for those colorful beads and masks.

Whatever your preference, enjoy a tasty treat on Tuesday (Besides, you ate Cabbage on the 17th, so you ought to reward yourself!)

The Super Bowl Poll - Results

90% of you who responded to last week's poll thought the Eagles would win the Super Bowl, and thus were quite depressed Monday morning. Congrats to the 10% of you who correctly predicted the Chiefs would get the victory.

Mobile Pantry Schedule

BCHC Mission

To improve access and the health of our community through the delivery of coordinated comprehensive services for all residents of Berks County regardless of their economic status.

BCHC Vision

To have all residents of Reading and Berks County lead healthy lives through the delivery and coordination of affordable, comprehensive and culturally-sensitive patient- and family-centered healthcare.

BCHC Values

To achieve our mission and realize our vision, we embrace the following values:

• Respect for People
• Quality
• Integrity
• Community Focus