IF it seems odd for a health care provider to focus on putting books in the hands of children, Dr. George Garrow begs to differ.
Garrow, CEO of Primary Health Network, takes a holistic view of health care.
“Health is much more than what happens in the doctor’s office,” he said last January in an interview with The Herald. “Health is what happens when you leave the doctor’s office.”
In Garrow’s vision, “health care” includes encouraging children to read and learn. That was the impetus behind the education hub Primary Health Network unveiled Wednesday at its organization headquarters in Sharon.
In a prelude to Wednesday’s grand opening, Primary Health Network Charitable Foundation, the organization’s charity funding arm, solicited book donations. The foundation now has approximately 5,000 books that will be distributed to 18 of its centers.
The education hubs is the latest in a series of Primary Health Network initiatives that may not seem to directly involve health care. At the same time, those programs promote wellness.
In August, Primary Health, collaborated with Buhl Park to install a “Buddy Bench” along the shore of Lake Julia to encourage interaction and combat loneliness. Plaques emblazoned with unusual questions are mounted on rocks near the bench to encourage conversation.
The Buddy Bench’s point is to promote emotional wellness, which is associated with physical wellness. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a call warning about loneliness as a public health crisis,
“Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health,” Murthy wrote in 2023. “Given the significant health consequences of loneliness and isolation, we must prioritize building social connection the same way we have prioritized other critical public health issues such as tobacco, obesity, and substance use disorders.”
In response to the opioid crisis, Primary Health Network established a mobile clinic to provide drug and alcohol treatment throughout Mercer County.
Primary Health Network is a Federally Qualified Health Center, which means it serves people who may not have health insurance, or the ability to pay for health care — the agency accepts payments on a sliding scale based on the clients’ income.
The organization serves 16 Pennsylvania counties — including Mercer, Crawford, Lawrence and Northumberland counties — and Ashtabula County in Ohio.
Primary Health Network’s clients often come from society’s most vulnerable populations, the people most likely to be impacted by opioid addiction, loneliness, and birth and postnatal complications in what Garrow has called “the fourth trimester.”
Under Garrow’s leadership, Primary Health Network has focused on an expansive view of health care that involves more than writing prescriptions and giving shots.
While programs like the “Buddy Bench,” the mobile drug treatment clinic and the educational hub program might not fall strictly under a traditional health care framework, they promote improved health-care outcomes, which makes the community more healthy.
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