Bloomsburg Area YMCA opens Community Resource Hub with Geisinger Health Plan
Bloomsburg, Pa. – The Bloomsburg Area YMCA officially opened the new Community Resource Hub on Friday, May 31, with help from Geisinger Health Plan. The hub will help connect residents with local resources. Located inside the Bloomsburg YMCA, this innovative model provides a community-centered resource while reducing stigma and barriers to accessing care, especially for vulnerable populations.
“We’re honored to bring this innovative Community Resource Hub to the Bloomsburg Area YMCA,” said Allison Hess, vice president of health services at Geisinger. “This hub will provide an additional pathway to services in the community by using Neighborly to help connect people with the social resources they’re looking for, close to home.”
The hub will host an on-site certified community health worker to help people find local services and resources. By building relationships, the health worker will support community-based organizations that offer services to address residents’ social needs, such as food access, housing resources, and many more.
Developed in partnership with Geisinger Health Plan, the Community Resource Hub will leverage technology through Neighborly to securely connect people with strong community partners and social services. Geisinger and the Bloomsburg Area YMCA have collaborated previously to offer the Adaptive Recreation program for youth with special needs. This free program introduces participants to a range of physical activity ventures.
“We appreciate, support and share Geisinger’s commitment to collaborate with other organizations to best serve the communities where we live, work and play,” said Wayne Stump, chief executive officer of the Bloomsburg YMCA. “The Community Resource Hub will serve as an essential link, guiding and supporting individuals and families through and around social barriers. We’ve already seen the impact our Adaptive Recreation program has had by opening the doors to serving many more families than we anticipated. It fills a need in the community and builds on additional opportunities to serve children with physical disabilities and limitations.”
The Adaptive Recreation program offers recreational opportunities like obstacle courses, soccer, football, mini golf and volleyball, to children ages 3 to 13 who have special needs such as autism, Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and deafness.
Participants and their families will receive a free family membership to the Bloomsburg Area YMCA for the duration of the program. “In their everyday lives, these kids rarely have the same amount of fun opportunities for physical activity as their peers,” said Collin Benfield, YMCA health & wellness director. “We attempt to fill that gap in a safe, adaptive and inclusive manner.”
For assistance with searching for resources such as access to food, housing assistance, transportation, utility assistance, and other needs in the Bloomsburg area, please call the Bloomsburg Area YMCA at 570-784-0188 and ask for the Community Resource Coordinator. To find resources local to your community, go to www.NeighborlyPA.com and search using your zip code.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
