On Monday, nearly five years after UPMC shut down their Braddock hospital, competitor Allegheny Health Network and Highmark opened an urgent care clinic in the community.
“We believe everyone in our region should have the opportunity to live healthier, happier lives,” said Patricia Lieberman, chief operating officer of the Allegheny Health Network.
The 12-patient room facility is in a space that was once a surface parking lot for the hospital.
Mitch McCandlish, the medical director at Braddock Urgent Care, said they will start with basic health care services, and after assessing how the first few months play out, they may expand to other services such as mental health care and drug treatment.
Braddock Mayor John Fetterman lauded the new facility on Monday.
“There isn’t a single community in Western Pennsylvania that would have finer access to urgent care than right here, and that is a profoundly decent thing that Highmark and Allegheny County have done today,” he said.
Phyllis Brown, a lifelong resident of Braddock, said since UPMC Braddock closed, residents of the borough have had to travel for health care.
“People had to find other alternatives which would have been McKeesport or Shadyside and getting there was a problem,” said Brown.
In some cases she said, they went without.
