I guess I’d expect that if the new Delaware County Health Department wasn’t going to be in headquartered in Media, it certainly would be in Chester City. Chester is the only city in the county. By far, Chester has the largest health disparities. All the county’s trash and sewage is burned in Chester along with being host to other toxic industries. Thousands of diesel trucks come through our residential streets and speed by on I-95 everyday. All roads in the county lead to Chester. Chester has tons of available real estate.
Yet, I read today that in September, county council approved signing a $185,000 yearly lease for a 11,235-square-feet facility at 125 Chester Ave in Yeadon that will serve as a community health center until the transition into a county health office occurs. Maybe there’s still a chance the county health office will land in Chester. Yeadon just seems like the most unlikely place for a county health office, if for no other reason, there’s no easy way to get into Yeadon.
The local papers says there will be listening sessions to hear from coalitions, community organizations and other sectors of government, including municipal representatives to hear what they would want in a county health department, so I wonder who will represent Chester City. We just lost our Health Bureau Director. There doesn’t appear to have been a public health presence in Chester for quite some time as no one appears to speak on behalf of Chester’s myriad of health issues. Apparently, the county crew is still figuring out what programs are needed to expand that works best for Delaware County.
Councilwoman Christine Reuther said, “the pandemic underscores the need for a director of public health nursing while a county health department will help determine issues such as any correlation of poor air quality days with more visits to emergency departments.” If there’s ever a place to monitor poor air quality, it’s Chester. Setting up a county health department in Chester, the staff will be reminded everyday what their purpose is with every breath of air they inhale.
Councilman Zidek says, ‘There’s more hope coming for Delaware County in the form of health department that will both help us deal with this pandemic and also situate ourselves for other issues that might arise and for every day making our community a healthier place.”
Show me a more unhealthy place in the county than Chester. It only makes perfectly logical sense to situate the county health department right at the core of the county’s largest causes for bad health outcomes. Being home to the county’s largest hospital and university has to count for something, too.
We’ll see in the next few months who’s really fighting for a healthy Chester.
Chester Matters Blog 
Excellent article as usual I’m wondering if Keystone First THE LARGEST HEALTHCARE COMPANY ON THE EAST COAST THAT SERVES MORE COUNTY RESIDENTS ON A DAILY BASIS THAN ANY OTHER ENTITY IN DELAWARE COUNTY WAS CALLED?? Keystone First also has a brand new State of the art building in GUESS WHERE CHESTER!! Hmmm looks like 185,000 dollars might could be saved by a phone call 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Somebody’s getting $15,400/month rent. God forbid it goes to a Chester landlord.
Outstanding article. Yesss.
Really? Seem like simple common sense to me.
This is an outstanding article.
SE Roots: Well stated.
Good article, I was at the traffic light on 4th and Booth St., Dec.19@10:22am. The smoke that was coming from the incinerator, I took a picture of it.
There is a typo in the sq footage you used for the health department lease. It is 11,235 not 1235.
Yeadon was also one of the hardest hit communities and is close to other municipalities that have high number of COVID cases and deaths. It also had a former supermarket of an appropriate size with built in refrigeration available for immediate lease. Since Covid is the immediate concern and the one the current facility was designed to address first, the location makes sense.
In a perfect world with more time to do a needs assessment, Chester might have been selected but that is not a certainty. Chester is hugely important and has experienced a disproportionate amount of ecological injustice but it is not alone in suffering ill effects. Communities like Marcus Hook and Eddystone also suffer from air quality issues. The County Health Department will have to serve the entire county.
Oh. I wasn’t aware Covid was the primary issue deciding location. Chester has 1000 more cases than Yeadon. Combined with all the other long term health issues that have been piling up over the years, I’d be surprised if a needs assessment would find another community with worse health issues than Chester. We look forward to see how Chester is prioritized as the County Health Department serves the entire county. The 1235 sq ft number came from the local paper. I hope you contacted them to make a correction. I’ve updated my post. Thanks.
Really well
CHester has more COVID CASES; TRASH TO
STEAM PLANT; OLD HOUSES FULL
OF LEAD; MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OUT THE GAZOO and is probably the most studied city in the state of Pennsylvania so I’m not quite feeling your explanation for this
Just for folks’ edification, the center of population in Delco is almost exactly on top of Springfield Hospital. The land area center is just west of Media. Convenience and expediency are generally not the best guides for long term decisions like this. While I can support a temporary siting of the HD in Yeadon, with satellites to other key locations (like Chester), to suggest this as a the long term solution is flatly improper.
If there is a desire to locate the HD nearest the centers of general need, which unfortunately happen to also be the centers of relative poverty, a location along MacDade Blvd (probably in or near Ridley Township) would probably make sense. Sadly, we have a racist set of communities that would love to push out any support for Delco residents that are not of their own race. This is systemic racism all over again, and it stinks. We’re better than this.
Chester has serious health issues. Have you look at the data for Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, Infant Mortality, Obesity and Amputations due to Diabetes. At one time, Chester had the highest amputation rate in a seven state radius.
People must have access to heath care resources in order to be healthy. Chester has many health disparities which must be addressed in order to have an healthy communities which leads to an healthy economy. Therefore, I believe we should have an Wellness Center in Chester. If you wish to speak about these health disparities, please contact me at the city of Chester.
No. I haven’t looked at the data for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infant mortality, obesity, and amputations due to diabetes. If there’s Chester data on those morbidities, NO ONE claims to know it exists. Everybody says no one has data on Chester that they are willing or legally able to share. It’s not on the Chester Bureau’s website. Point us to where to find this data. Everyone is looking for it.
Consider this my contact to you. Show me the data and I know we can get things done.
Thank you for your input; however when you get right down to the facts and the statistics you are referring to; does the information include the following information;
1) Lack of quality health care services,
2) Lack of Supermarkets,
3) Too many local Mom & Pop Shops throughout the City of Chester THAT SALE AND DISTRIBUTE SUGARY AND SALTY FOOD PRODUCTS THAT ARE UNHEALTHY FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES.
4) The lack of knowledge and empowerment within our communities to properly implement and educate lifestyle changes in order for folks to SUSTAIN A HEALTHY DIET AND NUTRITIONAL FACTS.
What we consume is what we become. It we don’t eat the right things we don’t think right: therefore we have a lot of work to do in this particular area.
My question to everyone; WOULD YOU PURCHASE LOW-GRADE GAS FOR YOUR JAGUAR, BMW, OR ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM?
Our bodies are our TEMPLES: therefore we should VALUE IT AS SUCH.
Chester has a Health Department as well as a Health Board and I would to like to invite you to the get know the Chester City Health Board and Chester’s Health Department. Thanks you, Rosetta Carter, Community Health Director since 2012.
I’m aware of the health bureau. Not aware of the health board. No one believes Chester collects data on health disparities. If they do, where can we view them? Do you issue an annual report on them? This is exactly what Delaware county claims they can’t find and need to do assessments to get this data. If the health board or health bureau will share verified current data, send me an invitation to come see those numbers. Ccityblogger@gmail.com
That should be Automatic it’s standard across America. To have a City and County Health Dept the Government of Delaware County witch should to it be Reform or Defunded .