Community Programs

This free program for middle and high school students and their parents highlights the various drugs and peer pressure to use them that students face. Live role-playing demonstrations help parents initiate conversations with their children, and representatives from county offices detail the realities of living with addiction.

Penn State Health’s Community Health Department leads a high-energy, multidisciplinary team that offers health information and free health screenings at seven different food pantries in central Pennsylvania. Called PAWS (Pantries and Wellness Support), the team provides blood pressure tests, flu shots and cardiovascular disease screenings to families that visit the pantries for food assistance.

The Penn State Children’s Hospital Pediatric Trauma and Injury Prevention program brings pediatric surgeons, doctors, nurses and others together to deliver expert, cross-collaborative care for injured and traumatized children. The program is the only Level I pediatric trauma center serving 10 counties in south central Pennsylvania.

Penn State PRO Wellness Center educates and inspires youth and their families to become champions for healthy life choices. The center provides program development and implementation, assessment and evaluation, technical assistance, access to proven wellness-interventions, and more.

When Penn State Health says it’s committed to bettering the community, there’s muscle behind the words. More than 50 volunteers from Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine participated in the United Way’s 27th Annual Day of Caring in the Harrisburg area.