Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation is proud to partner with CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health, a local nonprofit committed to offering mental and behavioral health services to youth, regardless of insurance or income. The Patchwork Quilt Project will target three area school districts — Lampeter-Strasburg, Penn Manor and Pequea Valley — and with area families.
In 2014, Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation partnered with the Nonprofit Resource Network of Millersville University and coLAB, Inc. with funding received in part by the Lancaster County Community Foundation. The focus of this partnership and health study was to gain a comprehensive understanding of youth behavioral and mental health needs in Lancaster County.
The results of the study pointed to five critical themes including access and availability; transitional ages; lack of specialists; communication and collaboration, and funding, affordability and insurance.
“Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation is pleased to partner with CHI St. Joseph Health. We are committed to helping families receive access to mental health services in Lancaster County,” says Executive Director, Anna Brendle Kennedy. “Nationally, we have a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. Here, families can sometimes wait months for psychiatric evaluation. We are seeing some improvement, and this project will help a lot. If we can recruit two more psychiatrists, then we reduce those wait times. LOHF is helping in the recruitment by offering student loan repayment for qualified applicants.”
To learn more about the program or read the full article in LancasterOnline, please click here.
