York County Medicine Winter 2019 - 26

YO R K C O M E D S O C . O R G

IN THE COMMUNITY:

KATALLASSO FAMILY
HEALTH CENTER

K

atallasso Family Health Center is a
faith-based, non-profit healthcare
clinic, dedicated to providing free,
quality healthcare to the uninsured and
underinsured living in York County. Our
services include both primary care and
specialty services. Katallasso offers women's
healthcare, orthopedics, pediatrics,
infectious disease, endocrinology, physical
therapy, gastroenterology, counseling, life
coaching services, dental surgery, and vision
care. Our approach is comprehensive. Our
goal is to reach beyond healthcare with a
commitment to holistically seeing people
healed physically, mentally, emotionally,
and spiritually.
Imagine the heartbreak, year-afteryear, of desperately wanting to conceive a
child and, year-after-year, the experience
was the same: an empty womb. In her
late 30s and losing hope, a patient came
to see Katallasso's nurse practitioner who
specializes in women's healthcare and issues
of infertility. After months of therapy, she
finally realized her dream of becoming a
mother to her own child. She gave birth to
a healthy baby girl!
Imagine the helplessness and depression
of dealing with the suicide death of your
only son. An army veteran came to
Katallasso because he was falling down and
blacking out. Depression had grabbed hold
of him, to the point where he had lost his
will to live, and had no desire to manage
his diabetes-and his blood sugar levels
were dangerously high. Our physician
and Clinical Nurse Coordinator arranged
for him to be seen at an emergency
room. Afterwards, the patient continued
to receive care at Katallasso, including
counseling for his emotional pain. Through
his dedication to his own healing and his

26

York County Medicine | WINTER 2019

relationship with Katallasso staff, his blood
sugars were back to normal after just four
months!
Imagine being homeless and sick,
needing emergency care after not getting
needed health care. After being seen in an
emergency room for a fall, one patient met
with Katallasso physician Dr. Ed Nelson.
During her appointment, she mentioned
she had swelling in her mouth and asked
if Dr. Nelson would take a look. As they
discussed her health, Dr. Nelson learned
that the patient was homeless, and had
been off of her antiviral HIV medications
for nearly 10 months. The Katallasso team
was able to connect her to local resources
that provide housing, food, transportation,
and HIV care and medication.
Katallasso exists to love people the
way that God loves people: sacrificially
and unconditionally. We are dedicated
to serving people in need regardless of
a patient's ability to pay, their personal
beliefs, their gender, or sexual orientation.
Katallasso does not receive funding
from local or federal agencies, nor do we
accept insurance. Though our services
are completely free, we are dedicated to
clinical excellence, from our waiting room
to our exam rooms, medication room, and
treatment areas. And because we are not
government-funded, nor insurance-driven,
we have the freedom to spend 45 minutes
with each new patient and 30 minutes with
each follow-up visit. Katallasso is not in
the healthcare business but we have made
it our business is to provide quality care for
people in need.
In addition to our six paid staff, we
have 35 licensed volunteer providers
committed to caring for people in need.

We have doctors, nurse practitioners,
physicians' assistants, R.N.s, and a highly
qualified administrative staff, many of
whom have been on the team since its
inception nearly seven years ago. Our
volunteers derive great satisfaction from
knowing that the services they provide are
transformative for so many people living in
their own community.
We value collaboration and are
currently in partnership with various
organizations throughout York County.
We are the grateful recipients of the
generosity of WellSpan Health and their
Community Partnership, which covers
the cost of labs, imaging, and most
emergency care. And without the financial
commitment from various churches, local
businesses, grants, individuals, and the
faith-based community, Katallasso would
simply not exist.
Since opening our doors in 2013, we
have seen over 2000 new patients and have
logged over 8400 patient visits. While
it is important to track numbers, we
understand that behind every number is a
person, in need of being heard, "seen," and
cared for with dignity and respect.
For more information regarding the
clinic please see our website at www.
katimpact.org, or contact the office
to request a tour. If you would like to
financially contribute to the health-care
services we provide to York County
residents, please feel free to give on line or
contact Victoria Grant, President, directly
at 717-885-5637. Katallasso Family Health
Center is located at 38 S. Belvidere Avenue,
York.
http://www.YORKCOMEDSOC.ORG http://www.katimpact.org
York County Medicine Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of York County Medicine Winter 2019
