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Our New Leadership Team: Jaclyn Gleber, Karen Breitmayer, Tamara Fox,
Mike Lucas, Candy Harkins, Susan Harris, Susan Sullivan, Regina Lewis
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We’re excited to announce that effective July 1, 2014 Chester County Community Dental will become a part of ChesPenn Health Services. This further strengthens an existing partnership and puts us at the forefront of an important development in health care. For years, dental and medical health care have been addressed separately. Current thinking regarding healthcare delivery advocates for a highly integrated system in which medical, dental and behavioral healthcare providers work closely together in a patient-centered team approach.
This highly integrated model can be especially helpful to low income, un- and underinsured patients, who often face complex medical and dental health challenges as these conditions often influence one another. For example, diabetic patients are more prone to gum disease while gum infections make it harder to regulate their blood sugar. Since we serve many of the same patients and are co-located in the Brandywine Center, this is a natural fit for both organizations. Our missions are similar, consequently our patients will benefit from the synergy created by our complementary strengths.
Our patients can look forward to maintaining their relationships with the dental care professionals they’ve come to trust. They’ll receive the same outstanding quality of care. And they will benefit from a sliding fee scale that makes our dental services even more affordable and will better accommodate those financially challenged. ChesPenn is committed to providing care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. This merger will make quality dental care for underserved Chester County residents more accessible and sustainable and will complement their medical health, enhancing their well-being for a lifetime.
Community Dental Executive Director Regina Horton Lewis hailed the partnership as a venture into the leading edge of community health care, "For too long, dentists and doctors have often worked independently of one another. Now we know how critical dental health is to general health and it just makes sense to have our medical and dental health providers working together as a team to improve our patients' health." Michael G. Lucas, President and CEO of ChesPenn, added, "The Board of Directors and staff of ChesPenn are delighted to form this new partnership with Community Dental. We welcome Community Dental's staff to our team and look forward to working with them to provide highly coordinated, patient-centered care to the residents of Coatesville and Chester County."
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| ChesPenn CEO Mike Lucas, Dental Director Dr. Nancy Koshetar & Staff Dentist Dr. Sofia Barroso |
Frances Sheehan, President and CEO of Brandywine Health Foundation, which provides funding for both organizations, expressed her enthusiasm for the move. "As a principal funder of both entities, the Brandywine Health Foundation is enthusiastic about Community Dental and ChesPenn's efforts to consolidate operations in Coatesville. In their shared facility in the Brandywine Center, integration will enable them to survive and thrive in the increasingly competitive healthcare marketplace, and to better meet their similar missions."
