St. Elizabeth's Wellness Center
The St. Elizabeth's Wellness Center is committed to addressing the health and wellness needs of people living in our community, including residents of Project HOME-sponsored housing, people living in North Philadelphia, and people who are currently homeless. These health services, located within the St. Elizabeth's Community Center in North Philadelphia, include primary medical care, behavioral health care, and care coordination services. We also work with many partners to promote health to our patients and the wider community, especially around better nutrition, increased physical activity, smoking cessation and healthy stress reduction.
Overview of Health Services @ St. E's
Services are offered regardless of health insurance status, and include:
- Primary medical care for adults.
- Behavioral health services for children and adults, including individual, couple and family therapy, adult support groups, play therapy groups known as the House of Hope and Peace, peer support for people struggling with addiction, and linkage to psychiatry.
- Care coordination services including assistance with applying for medical assistance, obtaining transportation to medical appointments, applying for free or low-cost medications, and scheduling appointments with specialists.
- Support services for a healthy lifestyle, including one-on-one nutrition teaching with our RN, diabetes self-management classes through Jefferson's Center for Urban Health, and therapeutic healing touch for stress reduction by Sr. Catherine Ginther, a Franciscan sister.
Our Medical Team:
Project HOME employs three full-time staff at the St. Elizabeth's Wellness Center:
- VP of Healthcare: Monica Medina McCurdy (physician assistant)
- Clinic Coordinator: Joanne Whitaker
- Clinical Director: (Open Position)
We also work in close collaboration with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and students from Thomas Jefferson University Department of Family and Community Medicine:
- Registered Nurse: Lisa Greenspan
- Faculty Physicians: Lara Carson Weinstein , James Plumb and Kevin Scott
- Resident Physicians: Elizabeth Daly, Mudit Gilotra, Ken Hemba
- Pharmacist: Rohit Moghe
Our Behavioral Health Team:
In 2011, St. Elizabeth's Wellness Center formed a coalition with other behavioral health providers to increase access to trauma-informed counseling services for patients of St. E's and members of the wider community. The coalition, led by a therapist from Women Against Abuse, received a grant from the City's Dept. of Behavioral Health. Through this grant, the following agencies and their staff are able to provide on-site services at St. E's:
- Women Against Abuse: Hannah Jones-Lewis, LCSW (project coordination of the coalition and therapist for children and adults)
- House of Hope and Peace: Phyllis Strock (volunteer director of support groups for children experiencing grief and loss)
- Council for Relationships: Michael Keene and Dorothy Thomas (staff therapists for children and adults and supervision of several graduate student interns from Jefferson's Masters Program in Couples and Family Therapy).
- PRO-ACT: Lester Deloatch (peer recovery specialist and coach)
- Jefferson Outreach Program, Dept. of Psychiatry (the coalition links to various psychiatrists off-site)
Contact Info:
To schedule an appointment to see a medical provider, please contact Sr. Joanne Whitaker at 215-235-3110 ext. 5633.
To access our behavioral health services, please contact Hannah Jones-Lewis at 215-235-3110 ext. 5634.
For general inquiries about the St. Elizabeth's Wellness Center, please contact Monica Medina McCurdy at 215-235-3110 ext. 5614.
Our address: 1845 N. 23 rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121 (between Montgomery and Berks Streets, near the 61, 3, and 33 Septa bus routes)