Health Center kicks off new Radnor facility

Approximately 2,500 people turned out for last weekend's grand opening of Penn Medicine at Radnor -- the University's latest attempt to adapt to the region's changing health care market. Although doctors have been seeing patients at the community-based center since November, Radnor administrators decided to host a grand opening and family health fair in the spring to inform suburban residents about the Penn Health System. "We got to open our doors to the community and to say that we're here and we want to meet everyone's health care needs," Radnor spokesperson Paula Yudenfriend explained. The open house featured events for children as well as parents, including face painting and balloon sculpting. People of all ages were offered "screenings [for] skin cancer, blood pressure, vision and hearing, sleep disorder and general health assessment," according to a Health System press release. In addition, 25 University physicians spoke on topics ranging from "A Pocket Guide to High Blood Pressure" to "New Approaches to Epilepsy." "[Radnor] will hopefully serve as a model for other academic institutions across the nation," according to Ophthamology Department Attending Retinal Surgeon Allen Ho, who spoke at the event. Ho noted that Radnor "ties into the whole concept of a university-based academic health system that has strong ties into the community." And Ho stressed the changing nature of the health care market, explaining that "traditionally, academic health centers have been the Mecca in a downtown urban health system, but nowadays, because of increased competition and the need for specialty care, we go out into the community." Yudenfriend emphasized that such forces have driven the University's expansion from the city into the suburbs. "Through research, we found that there were a lot of patients who were coming downtown to the hospital and many who really wanted to see Penn doctors but felt that it was a big commute to come to the city," she said. This led to the Health System's decision to open up the Radnor facility as a state-of-the-art site dedicated to both general patient care and specialty treatment. The facility includes a rehabilitation center, a fully-equipped gymnasium, a "nutrition kitchen," 36 specialty divisions and the nationally recognized Penn Health for Women center. "You can't fully appreciate [Radnor] until you see it," Yudenfriend said. "It's just beautiful --Eand it has all the amenities." In an effort to make the Health System more convenient for suburban patients, Radnor was designed to allow community members to complete all pre-surgery registration and evaluation before being admitted to the University or Presbyterian hospitals.