Available Positions

Site Name and Location:

North Side Christian Health Center
816 Middle Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Organization Description and Mission:

The North Side Christian Health Center is a safety net medical home, not-for-profit, inner city, federally qualified primary health care center, NCQA Level 3 certified health center that began 18 years ago through the efforts of local churches and individuals who recognized a need for primary health care and whole person outreach to Pittsburgh’s North Side community.

The Health Center provides primary health care services to all persons regardless of age, finances, gender, religious belief, race, national origin or ability to pay. In addition to providing primary health care to men, women, and children, the center reaches out to the community through churches, home visitation, health wellness classes, and health fairs in the local community. The center also has a pharmacist who comes in twice a week to help uninsured patients secure medications, a smoking cessation specialist who conducts weekly classes, and a personal counselor from Mercy Behavior Health who is here daily. The Center has an affiliation with The Medicine Shoppe in East Commons, a 340B pharmacy. A volunteer ophthalmologist performs eye exams bimonthly at the Center as well as exams provided semi-annually by Mission Vision. The Center is the only health center in the city to have a branch in a public housing complex (Northview Heights). The Center also was chosen to participate in the Chronic Care Initiative sponsored by the state and the national Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative.

Site Information and Address:

Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force
5913 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Organization Description and Mission:

The Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force is dedicated to saving, sustaining, and empowering the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS and preventing the spread of infections.

Through compassionate and caring work we respond to the disease in all its diversity by:

• Providing seamless, integrated services to individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS, including direct services, housing, referrals, and advocacy;
• Delivering innovative, targeted outreach and education programs to those at risk of infection;
• Taking leadership in collaborating with other organizations to achieve mutual goals.

In the tradition of PATF’s caring founders, we will continue to employ these ethics and values: Compassion, Confidentiality, Dignity, Excellence, Integrity, Respect for Diversity.

PATF is the largest and oldest AIDS service organization in Southwestern PA. We provide case management, supportive services, legal advocacy, food bank, and housing to anyone who is HIV/AIDS positive. Our prevention department conducts HIV testing at our primary site as well as at community locations, including the Allegheny County Jail. Through contracts with the ACHD, the CDC, and SAMHSA we provide a variety of HIV prevention programs throughout the county.

Site Name and Location:

Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force
5913 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Organization Description and Mission:

The Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force is the oldest and largest AIDS service provider in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We are dedicated to supporting and empowering all individuals living with HIV/AIDS and preventing the spread of infection.

Critical Community Need(s) to be addressed through member service:

Currently there are over 3,000 people living with HIV in Southwestern PA. This does not include the large number of people that are in the region who don’t know their HIV status. HIV continues to spread in this region due to new infections.  Stigma and fear around HIV make the problem worse since people are too afraid to get tested or talk to their partners about HIV.

The member will be joining a very exciting, diverse and talented team of individuals dedicated to HIV prevention in the region.  The member will assist in coordinating outreach in diverse communities with a focus on gay and bisexual males in order to raise awareness, end stigma, encourage people to get tested for HIV and adopt healthier behavior.  The member will reach over 1000 people with information and education in the region.  The member will coordinate volunteer activities and recruit over 12 new volunteers and over 100 new clients for prevention initiatives.  The member will also become a certified HIV counselor and tester and administer HIV testing to over 60 people in the region.

Site Name and Location:

Health Care for the Homeless / Primary Care Health Services, Inc.
7227 Hamilton Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Organization Description and Mission:

Primary Care Health Services, Inc. (PCHS), a federally-qualified health center, provides comprehensive primary and preventive health care services to medically underserved and indigent populations residing in Allegheny County. Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) operates as part of PCHS, Inc. and serves homeless men, women, and children in the greater Pittsburgh area, providing primary care, mental health, substance abuse, and/or case management services. HCH co-locates primary care, mental health, and substance abuse services at several sites across Allegheny County where the homeless population frequently seeks services. We provide a "no wrong door" approach to service access for the homeless.

Site Name and Location:

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
1 North Linden Street
Duquesne, PA 15110

Organization Description and Mission:

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is a non-profit organization that collects and distributes food through a 380+ member network in 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Through food solicitation, fund raising, special events, and community partnerships, the Food Bank gathers food at our 94,000 square foot warehouse in Duquesne, PA. Our mission is to feed the hungry in southwestern Pennsylvania through a network of partners and to mobilize our region to end hunger.

Site Name and Location:

Global Links

4809 Penn Ave.
2^nd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

www.globallinks.org

Global Links is in the Bloomfield/Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh and is accessible by PAT bus lines from downtown or Oakland.

Organization Description and Mission:

Global Links (GL) is a medical relief and development organization with a two-fold mission: promoting environmental stewardship in healthcare; and improving health and advancing healthcare equity in developing countries.  Rooted in Pittsburgh, but with a mission and impact that reaches out to the poorest countries and populations in Latin American and the Caribbean, GL has for over 20 years been redirecting still useful medical materials away from U.S. landfills to public health improvement efforts in Western PA and abroad.

In its 22^nd year, Global Links remains true to its roots of working towards health equity for poor and vulnerable populations, while protecting the environment from the burden of wasteful disposal of still-useful medical surplus. We are proud of our innovative and responsible approach to this task; however, we do much more than “send the right stuff” to our program countries. We actively support and advance the public health agendas in those countries, building relationships that allow us to both learn from and educate the physicians, nurses, administrators and health ministry officials in recipient communities so that we all can better understand how to best allocate and use donated materials. The GL mission goes well beyond simply providing material aid; we are actively engaged in initiating and collaborating in larger, systemic plans to improve public health.  This wider perspective has focused us on the importance of collaborative relationships and how impact is multiplied when strong partnerships are involved.

Site Name and Location:

Allegheny County Health Department
Chronic Disease Prevention
907 West Street, 2^nd floor
Wilkinsburg PA 15221

Organization Description and Mission:

ACHD is responsible for protecting the public health and environment for more than 1.2 million county residents.  Our missions is to “assure quality public health services by promoting individual and community wellness, prevention injury, illness and premature death or disability, and protecting the population from harmful effects of chemical, biological and physical hazard within the environment.”

The Chronic Disease Prevention Program works to improve the quality of life of county residents by enabling them to prevent, detect and/or manage heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.  This program addresses health inequities in the community.  To this end, ACHD engages in developing collaborations and partnerships necessary to implement policy, systems, and environmental changes within municipalities county wide.

Site Name and Location:

Health Care for the Homeless / Primary Care Health Services, Inc.
7227 Hamilton Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Organization Description and Mission:

Primary Care Health Services, Inc. (PCHS) provides comprehensive primary and preventive health care services to medically underserved and indigent populations residing in Allegheny County. Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) operates as part of PCHS, Inc. and serves homeless men, women, and children in the greater Pittsburgh area, providing primary care, mental health, substance abuse, and/or case management services. The Allegheny ONTRACK Initiative (AOI) also operates as part of both PCHS and HCH to improve patient and process of care outcomes for homeless persons experiencing alcohol and other drugs hazardous use and disorders, mental disorders, or co-occurring disorders in Allegheny County. HCH and AOI clinics provide co-located primary care, mental health, and substance abuse services at several sites across Allegheny County where the homeless population frequently seeks services. We provide a "no wrong door" approach to service access for the homeless.

Site Name and Location:

Healthy Start, Inc.
Lexington Technology Park
400 North Lexington Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Organization Description and Mission:

The mission of Healthy Start, Inc. is to focus primarily on the reduction of infant mortality and low birth weight babies in Southwestern Pennsylvania in such a way as to make valuable use of resources, preserve flexibility and continue to offer seamless services with the intent of improving the quality of life of infants, toddlers, youths, siblings, parents, and grandparents. Healthy Start focuses on the need to strengthen and enhance community systems of maternal and infant care. We encourage communities to fully address the medical, behavioral and psycho-social needs of women and infants by increasing awareness of infant mortality; streamlining and coordinating services between public and private agencies; and building partnerships of commitment among families, volunteers, businesses, and health care and social service providers.

Healthy Start has developed a comprehensive community-based approach that focuses on core interventions, including the following services: outreach and recruitment, case management, interconceptional care, health education, and perinatal depression screening and referral. Nearly 1,500 participants receive these supportive and direct care services throughout Allegheny and Fayette counties annually.

Site Name and Location:

Primary Care Health Services, Inc.
7227 Hamilton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa 15208

Organization Description and Mission:

PCHS is a federally qualified health center whose mission is to offer and provide comprehensive primary and preventative health care services to medically underserved and indigent populations residing in Allegheny County.  Services shall be provided without regard to an individual’s ability to pay. We are also committed to developing health delivery sites in health professional and medically underserved areas; ensuring that services are accessible and meet the needs of the populations served  and meets our users populations’ satisfaction.  Our mission extends to ensuring that continued care is rendered to an individual by the same physician/provider and that patients assume some responsibility for their care through ongoing health education and prevention.

Health centers are local, non-profit, community-owned health care providers serving low-income and medically underserved communities.  For 40 years, health centers have provided high-quality, affordable primary care and preventive services to the nation’s most vulnerable populations – people who even if insured would nonetheless remain isolated from traditional forms of medical care because of where they live, who they are, the language they speak, and their higher levels of complex health care needs. Health centers improve access to care for millions of Americans regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. They offer services that many other providers do not, such as transportation, translation, and culturally sensitive health care that can overcome common barriers.

Site Name and Location:

The Program for Health Care to Underserved Populations (PHCUP)

Administrative Offices:

S345 & S349 UPMC Montefiore Hospital, Oakland

Mailing Address:

Suite 933W, UPMC Montefiore Hospital,
200 Lothrop Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Community service also partially performed at the PHCUP’s Birmingham Free Clinic:

44 South 9^th Street; Pittsburgh, PA 15203 (South Side)

Organization Description and Mission:

The Program for Health Care to Underserved Populations is committed to improving the lives of individuals needing health care but lacking appropriate access to quality service as a result of being under- or uninsured, socioeconomic circumstances, homelessness or risk of homelessness and other vulnerabilities. We achieve this mission through innovative partnership with community agencies, fostering the spirit of service and volunteerism within the health professions, and advocating for the individual, health system, and societal benefits of our unique model of care and service.

 Site Name and Location:

East Liberty Family Health Care Center (East Liberty and Lincoln-Lemington Offices)

Organization Description and Mission:

The East Liberty Family Health Care Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of ”showing God’s love, known in Jesus Christ, by providing quality, whole-person health care to all, especially the poor.” The Center was founded in 1982 in a three-room basement office of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, and in nearly 30 years has grown into a full-service Federally-Qualified Health Center with three locations and 88 staff members. The Center is distinctively faith-based, offering prayer at every visit, but never discriminating on the basis of religion or engaging in proselytization of its patients.

Critical Community Need(s) to be addressed through member service:

The Center has approximately 8,500 patients and 39,000 visits annually. About 45% of patients are uninsured or underinsured. Our service area is the East End of Pittsburgh, in which large neighborhoods are federally designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). There are significant economic, demographic and cultural barriers to health care resulting in serious disparities in health outcomes. We are requesting one Pittsburgh Health Corps member to serve East Liberty Family Health Care Center as the Health Care Access Specialist to proactively identify and resolve barriers to care at the point of contact between patients and our system. The Center does not currently have an individual serving in this role and our goal would not be effectively accomplished without the member’s support.

Site Name and Location:

Operation Safety Net
1518 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Organization Description and Mission:

Operation Safety Net (OSN)'s mission is to provide direct care and to advocate for those living on the streets, as well as to provide pathways to healthier lives for those living on the streets. OSN strives, through its work with the street homeless population, to be a unique public example of a transforming, healing community, thereby exemplifying the Mission and Values of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

Critical Community Need(s) to be addressed through member service:

This program is dedicated to the hardcore, street homeless population. It is an award winning program with national recognition and a training site for hundreds of further clinicians. This homeless population is transient by nature with numerous health problems compounded by the alienation of a support system. OSN roots are on the streets in a mission oriented health care system. OSN’s primary goal is access to care, mainly health care and as research reflects, improving their physical environment. Members are able to increase the knowledge base of these vulnerable clients, provide referrals to a large network of providers and enhance their knowledge of the health care system. This experience, for Americorps Members, will provide them an opportunity to explore various professionals in action, i.e. physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, public health, administrators, lawyers as it pertains to disabilities. Professional staffs at OSN hold Masters Degrees and are licensed- Americorps Members cannot function in their roles and would not be permitted by this employer. With OSN being the largest provider for this population, there is a need for clients to have a connection to additional resources. Americoprs Members provide these services:

• Encouraging clients to receive care for a healthier lifestyle.
• Creating an environment for the exchange of information between clinicians, staff and patients.
• Organizing cases, requests for documentation; and
• Assisting clients in moving from the streets to primary care clinics and to homes.

Site Name and Location

East Liberty Family Health Care Center
Lincoln-Lemington Office

Organization Description and Mission:

The East Liberty Family Health Care Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of ”showing God’s love, known in Jesus Christ, by providing quality, whole-person health care to all, especially the poor.” The Center was founded in 1982 in a three-room basement office of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, and in nearly 30 years has grown into a full-service Federally-Qualified Health Center with three locations and 88 staff members. The Center is distinctively faith-based, offering prayer at every visit, but never discriminating on the basis of religion or engaging in proselytization of its patients.

The Health Education & Outreach Specialist will seek to put into practice the Mission of the Center.