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About the Brandywine Center
The new Brandywine Center, the first major development in
the City of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, in over thirty years,
serves as a center for primary health care services, dental
care, and behavioral health for residents throughout the
county and beyond, and houses 24 affordable apartments for
senior citizens. The Center opened in April 2008, and is
a four-story, 48,000+ square foot building on the main street
of Coatesville (Chester County), Pennsylvania.
With leadership from elected officials and government leaders
from the county, city, and commonwealth, a variety of financing
entities, foundations, and generous individuals provided support
for the Brandywine Health Foundation’s efforts to bring
this important development to fruition. The foundation has
made over $7.2 million in grants to non-profits improving the
health of the community since its formation in 2001, but the
Brandywine Center represents its most significant effort to
help those living in the Greater Coatesville Area who need
access to affordable medical, dental, and behavioral health
services. For more information about the Brandywine Health
Foundation, click here: www.brandywinefoundation.org.
To address the health needs of the thousands of uninsured
and underinsured residents of the City of Coatesville, neighboring
municipalities such as South Coatesville and Modena, and low
income residents throughout Chester County, in December of
2004 the foundation provided a three-year $1 million grant
to enable the establishment of a Federally Qualified Health
Center (FQHC) in the heart of Coatesville. Because the business
of health care is so complex, the foundation brought an experienced
FQHC to Coatesville, rather than starting from scratch.
That provider, ChesPenn Health Services, has operated in the
City of Chester for over thirty years and is a well regarded
provider of health services for the poor. The foundation also
selected the FQHC model because so many people in this area
are on either Medical Assistance, the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), or go in and out of different health
insurance arrangements depending on their employment status.
ChesPenn can serve everyone at any time, and thus can become
the Medical Home so many need and deserve.
In July of 2005, ChesPenn opened a temporary satellite site
in Coatesville with the additional support of a variety of
foundations including the Claneil Foundation and the Philadelphia
Foundation, area businesses such as Independence Blue Cross
and Communications Test Design, Inc., several generous individuals,
and the United Way of Chester County. ChesPenn serves as the
only primary care provider for low income men, women and children
in western Chester County, providing a range of adult and pediatric
services including prenatal care and the management of chronic
diseases such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes - prevalent
in the area’s minority populations. The management of
these diseases in particular can help low income residents
live healthier, longer lives, and can reduce expensive emergency
room visits that are straining our community’s health
care system.
The Brandywine Health Foundation was so pleased with ChesPenn’s
progress in ramping up operations in the first three years,
in hiring qualified staff, and reaching out to the larger community,
that the foundation’s Board of Directors voted to award
an additional $2 million to ChesPenn so that it may continue
to operate in Chester County for the next five years, through
June of 2013.
At the same time, the foundation has helped to launch a new
dental center for the poor in Coatesville, the Chester County
Community Dental Center, and has partnered with the Chester
County Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to
bring an experienced behavioral health provider to each of
the Coatesville Area School District’s public schools,
the Child Guidance Resource Centers (CGRC). CGRC is now the
principal provider of behavioral health services for children
and adolescents in Chester County.
We know that there is a need for these agencies because they
have provided services to more than 4,000 local residents since
they opened their doors just three years ago, and the number
of people walking through their doors has increased markedly
since the Brandywine Center opened. Building a permanent home
for these agencies in a visible location on the main street
through Coatesville will not only help to ensure these agencies’ long-term
viability, but also increase access to their services, as well
as the behavioral health services located on the fourth floor,
Human Services, Inc. and Child Guidance Resource Centers.
The Brandywine Center represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity
to positively impact the health of those living in this struggling
but promising community in a very concrete way. We know already
that there are many generous individuals, foundations, and
businesses eager to accomplish the goals of this project:
- Increase
the availability of affordable housing for Chester County’s
low income seniors,
- Aid in the economic development of the
City of Coatesville; and
- Improve the health of the residents
of the Greater Coatesville Area.
To make a gift in support of the Brandywine Center, click
here: http://www.brandywinefoundation.org/giving.asp |
