A Time of Renewal, from the CEO

Bethany Blackburn, Chief Executive Officer

As we look forward to Spring and its promised renewal, we are pleased to share that North Side Christian Health Center (NSCHC) continues to provide medical, dental, and behavioral health care to those with or without insurance.  We also can help you with your Medicaid enrollment:  The federal government is declaring an end to the COVID-19 health emergency next month and consequently, those on Medicaid will need to reapply -- NSCHC is here to help you and care for you.  We accept new pediatric and adult patients for all services. 

To support and improve patient care, I am pleased to share the following:

  • There is now have a full-time scheduler who will be answering the phones to schedule medical appointments from 8:30 - 5 Monday through Friday.  (Outside of those hours front desk reception will continue to answer or call you back.)

  • Dr. Cathy Sigmund, PhD and the therapists in the behavioral health department, are taking new patients.  They support individuals of all ages struggling with depression, anxiety, grief and trauma and are also available if you continually find yourself struggling to get through your day and need someone to talk to.

  • The one elevator at NSCHC has been malfunctioning for several years now.  Bobbi Wilson, our elected City Councilman, helped connect us to grant-funding through the City of Pittsburgh so we could modernize the elevator.  The bid process recently closed and we expect to have the elevator repaired later this year.  However, this may mean it could be temporarily out-of-service.  Please be patient while we improve our aging infrastructure and be sure communicate with the scheduler and/or your provider on any of your mobility concerns you have.

  • Our dental department is currently short-staffed, so beginning April 10th, appointment times will be Monday – Thursday, 9 – 4pm.  We are temporarily closed on Fridays until further notice; our apologies for the inconvenience.

  • Patient Satisfaction Survey!  We are pleased to share that consistently over 93% of patients completing our patient satisfaction survey would recommend North Side Christian Health Center for health care services.  Every patient who completes a survey, receives a raffle ticket to be entered for a monthly prize.  To date we’ve given away Thanksgiving dinners, a gift card tree, a “snuggle” basket and much more.  In April, all the NSCHC staff came together to build three Easter dinners which were given away to three families.  We so appreciate the feedback from our patients and the generosity of the staff. 

Since the winter holidays, we continue to spotlight the critical issues facing our patients, from Women’s Heart Health Month and focus on colorectal screening to National Children’ Dental Health Month and Nutrition Tips for Health Eating (see accompanying highlight). 

In May we will join our North Side Community for a Highmark-sponsored Walk for a Healthy Community on May 13th.  We hope you will join us! Walk with North Side Christina Health Center

We are very pleased to share that three new individuals have joined our Board of Directors:  William “Bill” Holman, Mountaga Ly, and Chante Faulk.  They bring expertise in marketing, finance, and behavioral health; NSCHC could not be as successful without the time commitment and passion for the NSCHC mission that our volunteer board members bring to the organization.  To all those who donate their time, their gifts, and financial support, we cannot thank you enough for your generosity in helping us bring compassionate care to the North Side community.

 

Our prayer for this season of resurrection:

Dear Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope.

Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal.

Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, and the strength to complete it.

May we ever live to praise you!   Amen.

Cyndy Tabor