READING – The Reading Housing Authority has taken its first steps to open a federally qualified health center by the end of August near its main offices on Hancock Boulevard.
“The center will serve the more than 600 families of our Oakbrook and Sylvania homes, as well as the community,” authority Executive Director Daniel F. Luckey said Wednesday.
Solicitor Edwin L. Stock told the board that the authority had signed an agreement to buy the 10,000-square-foot Easter Seals Eastern Pennsylvania building at 1040 Liggett Ave.
“We should be owner of the building by the end of March,” he said, adding that the authority is paying $450,000 for the circa-1950 structure.
Easter Seals in turn is buying another building and will move out by April 15, he added.
“I’m proud the authority is giving back to the community,” board member Rebecca Acosta said
Deputy Executive Director Stacey J. Keppen said the initiative is being undertaken in partnership with the Berks Community Health Center in Reading, which is a nonprofit federally qualified health center that receives $650,000 a year in federal funding, much as the proposed center is likely to receive.
“The main focus of the center will be primary care,” she said. “However, to ensure the wellness of the whole person, behavioral, dental and other health services will be included.”
Among those the authority hopes to engage as a partner is Alvernia University, specifically its physical therapy program, Keppen added.
Architect Lee Olsen of Olsen Design Group Architects Inc., Reading, said floor plans for the building have been developed.
“It has good bones and has been well taken care of, but the insulating envelope is just shot so it will need to be taken care of,” he said.
In other business:
Architect Scott W. Webber, a partner at Olsen’s firm, presented plans for new mulch beds and garden areas behind 32 apartment units at Glenside and Oakbrook homes.
Keppen announced that the authority will receive $2.5 million to fund housing for about 40 homeless people, five of whom are military veterans.
Chairman Steven Belinski recognized Jose R. Coriano and Alfonso Albino, maintenance mechanics, for their 20 years of service.
