The Upper Darby office incorporates many challenging aspects of Family Medicine in today’s urban environment by serving an extremely diverse international and medically underserved population.
The Upper Darby Office was created to meet the growing medical needs of the community and enhance our residents’ training in Global Health. At the Upper Darby Office, residents are exposed to a variety of cultural norms and clinical challenges not common to suburban office settings. It is not unusual to see patients from Asia, Europe, South and Central America and Africa in a single office session. Our international patients come to us with challenging pathologies, unknown vaccination histories, various levels of English fluency and questions about our healthcare system as it differs from the systems in their home countries.
The Upper Darby Office performs a wide variety of primary care services including minor surgical procedures and injections. Additionally, this office sees a significant proportion of obstetrical patients. This in turn has led to a growing pediatric population since the majority of women we deliver choose us as their children’s physicians.
One of the characteristics residents like most about the Upper Darby Office is its more intimate learning environment. We have a resident to faculty ratio of two to one which provides great opportunities for case discussion and teaching.
Considering all of the qualities the Upper Darby Office has to offer, we started a “tracker” option for residents desiring to spend more time there. Trackers spend slightly less than half of their office sessions at the Upper Darby Office and have a continuity panel there.
The Upper Darby Office recently evolved into a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), with help from economic stimulus package funds and the continued support of the Crozer Keystone Health System. We are now part of the ChesPenn system which operates two other FQHCs in Delaware County. As a FQHC we have a registered nurse, a social worker and a health educator on site to help meet the needs of our patients. We will also have a pharmacy technician and an on-site dispensary to help our patients receive the medications they need. Our office allows patients to pay according to a sliding scale which makes health care more affordable for many without insurance. We are excited to become the “ChesPenn Center for Family Health of Upper Darby”.