Our story begins in 1942 with the opening of the Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital, a facility built in the southeastern quadrant of Lancaster City. By 1974 the hospital, then known as Community Hospital, served as a trusted teaching facility for osteopathic medical residents in numerous specialties, and many of them remained in Lancaster County and practiced here for the remainder of their careers. The bonds these medical professionals formed reflect a rich tradition of delivering compassionate, patient-centered care to people of all walks of life.
In 1999, Community Hospital was sold to Health Management Associates and the former hospital foundation was reborn as the Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation (LOHF)- a public charity committed to funding practical solutions that improve care coordination and access to children’s behavioral health services. Since its inception, LOHF has invested $2,491,680 in the people and programs that improve the health of Lancaster County’s children.
Today, LOHF continues to play a vital role in the life of our community. We remain steadfast in our desire to help children and families get the help they need to live healthy, successful lives.
“It is clear that at the state and local level, children’s behavioral health is at a critical juncture. Parents and caregivers as well as primary care practitioners frequently lack the tools to locate and connect with appropriate mental health providers and services. We are an underserved community as far as the number of people with mental health problems compared to the number of mental health practitioners,” explains Scott D. Silverstein, D.O., M.S.P.H., and a member of the LOHF Board of Directors.
According to Dr. Silverstein, “The children’s behavioral health program will look at how we can prevent or intervene early to reduce the severity of mental health problems for children. We want to find ways to define, improve, or reduce the factors that predispose some children to greater risk for developing mental health problems and increase the factors that promote child well-being. This can be achieved by broadening prevention services, early intervention services, and treatment of the child within the context of family needs.”
