Since its founding in 1990, Crozer-Keystone Health System has committed itself to addressing the health-related issues and concerns faced by Delaware County’s 550,000 residents. Guided by the results of biannual community health needs assessments, CKHS identifies high-priority issues to focus on—such as domestic violence, fitness, infant mortality prevention, immunization, nutrition, prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and smoking cessation.

For seniors, CKHS offers Senior Health Services to help individuals and families cope with the new health and lifestyle changes that come with aging. CKHS professionals assist seniors, their physicians, family, and caregivers in accessing programs and services offered throughout the health system and the community. More information is available through a dedicated phone line for seniors, at 1-800-CKHS-KEY (1-800-254-7539). For younger residents, the health system conducts school-based substance-abuse prevention and outreach programs that touch 15,000 students each year. The CKHS Community Health Education department provides community outreach and health screenings through health fairs and instructional classes at CKHS hospitals, churches, schools, malls, and other locations throughout the community.

Additional examples of CKHS’s commitment to community health are its involvement in efforts such as:

·         The Wellness Center, a school-based primary care center for middle school children in partnership with the Chester Upland School District.

·         ChesPenn Health Services, federally funded community health centers that provide adult and pediatric primary care and dentistry services at Community Hospital and other locations in Chester.

·         The “One Stop Shop” at Community Hospital, home to more than 20 interconnected health and human services and the Crozer-Keystone Healthy Start program for underserved pregnant women and their families.

·         The Crozer-Keystone Nurse Family Partnership, a free nurse home visiting program designed to help first-time, low-income parents navigate through pregnancy, infancy, and toddlerhood.

·         A partnership with Widener University, the State of Pennsylvania, and the CJ Foundation for SIDS to reduce infant deaths related to family bed sharing by educating families and providing them with infant cribs.

·         The Smedley High School for Health Careers, a partnership with the Chester Upland School District.

·         An award-winning Pre-Medical Careers Program that brings talented high school students to Taylor Hospital and Crozer-Chester Medical Center to explore career opportunities in the medical field.

The health system also supports national health priorities, including the federal government’s Healthy People 2010 goals, and has undertaken programs to reduce health disparities in the community and address the issue of low health literacy among patients.