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Community Relieved By Opening Of Urgent Care In Braddock

BRADDOCK (KDKA) – There was a lot of excitement Monday over a new Allegheny Health Network urgent care center in Braddock.

It houses 12 patient exam rooms and facilities for X-ray imaging and blood work.

It's just a block away from the place where the original 123-bed Braddock Hospital and later UPMC Braddock stood.

Back in 2010, moving vans began taking what was left of the hospital away. Declining admissions were blamed for the closure.

This much smaller facility, though, will handle everything from the flue to minor fractures. Anything beyond that would be handled at another facility. But the new center was not characterized in financial terms by Highmark Health CEO David Holmberg though.

"So what's the economic cause for being here?" said Holmberg. "And the economic case for being here, as far as Highmark Health is concerned, is it's the right thing to do."

"For a minute there I thought I was in church," said Braddock resident Phyllis Brown, "'cause I said 'amen.' But it just gives hope back to the community and we have a lot of senior citizens. I just celebrated my mom's 95th birthday at our church. When the hospital closed, naturally the seniors were really concerned."

"It's just profoundly decent to come to a community where you're not going to make money, but you're going to be providing medical care to a community that has been largely without it for the last five years," said Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.

The urgent care center in Braddock is open 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.

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