KITCHEN: PROGRAM BRINGS PRACTITIONER TO GERMANTOWN AGENCY

            PHILADELPHIA, June 27 – A practitioner was recently accepted into practice at a Germantown health agency thanks to the Pennsylvania Primary Health Care Practitioner Loan Repayment Program, according to state Sen. Shirley Kitchen. 

            Gerda Augustin will practice at Covenant House Health Services, a private non-profit health agency located at 251 E. Bringhurst St.

            The Pennsylvania Primary Health Care Practitioner Loan Repayment Program permits the Department of Health to provide educational loan repayment to recruit and retain practitioners in urban underserved communities that have made federal requirements for designation as a Health Professional Shortage Area.

            “Covenant House Health Services provides a critical service to the Germantown community, so I’m pleased that they are getting a practitioner,” Kitchen said. “It is also reassuring to know that the Loan Repayment Program exists to benefit health care professionals and, more importantly, supply underserved areas with much-needed help.”

            Practitioners in the Loan Repayment Program must agree to serve a minimum of three years in a designated Primary Care or Dental HPSA. Loans are repaid directly to the institution that provided the student loan, up to a maximum of $64,000 for primary care physicians and dentists, and $40,000 for physicians assistants, certified registered nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives who complete four years of the program.