Rally tries to reverse pending closure of United Physicians office in New Kensington

Ed Freeman has been going to the United Physicians clinic in New Kensington “for what seems like forever.”

“My father came here, and he lived to be 85,” said Freeman, who lives in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of New Kensington. “And that’s how I ended up going here.”

But come next year, Freeman is one of the 3,000 patients at the Seventh Street primary care office who will need to get medical care elsewhere.

The Allegheny Health Network announced last month that the facility will close at the end of the year because the practicing physician is leaving the organization.

“I don’t know where I’m going to go,” Freeman said.

Representatives from the Teamsters Local 30 held a rally outside of the facility Wednesday in an effort to keep the practice open.

A primary care office has been in downtown New Kensington for more than 40 years, according to the Teamsters, although it’s changed hands numerous times.

In 2019, AHN moved its Express Care clinic into the United Physicians office, just across from the former Citizens General Hospital.

Partially staffed by United Physicians staff, the clinic provided care for minor ailments and injuries, including allergies and asthma, coughs and colds, minor burns, cuts, sprains and strains.

The Express Care was relocated in 2022 to Kensington Square on Eighth Street and remains open.

“It’s been devastating,” said Jennifer Boyd, who’s worked as a certified medical assistant at United Physicians for the past 2 1/2 years. “None of us want to be displaced. We’re all like family.

“This is devastating to the community. Where are you going to put 3,000 patients?”

That’s Mayor Thomas Guzzo’s primary concern.

“There are people who rely on this facility,” Guzzo said. “It may be difficult for those who have transportation issues to get to the other remaining open AHN facilities.

“The priority should always be the patients and being able to provide the care they need. I would certainly be interested in helping to find a way to having this facility remain open.”

Boyd said many patients walk to the facility.

Teamsters’ representatives claim the decision to close the facility is a result of employees’ voting to join a union just days before AHN announced the closure.

William Toland, AHN spokesman, said it’s the other way around: the sole doctor at United announced he is leaving the practice, necessitating the closure. The physician told AHN he was leaving prior to the unionization vote by employees, Toland said.

United Physicians has had one physician for years, Toland said.

“The vote, therefore, had nothing to do with AHN’s decision to close the office location,” he said.

That explanation didn’t sit well with speakers at the rally, who questioned AHN’s motives and accused them of being anti-union. The facility’s closure would be detrimental to New Kensington, they said, as many of its patients wouldn’t be able to travel to get care elsewhere.

But Toland said AHN has a long history of working with unions. AHN has 19 separate bargaining units, he said, representing more than 5,000 nurses, technical, service and maintenance workers, EMTs, and paramedics, he said. AHN also collaborates with union labor on all of its construction projects, Toland said.

“Over three decades of contract bargaining, the organization has never experienced a work stoppage,” Toland said.

AHN will communicate with United Physician patients directly to coordinate transitions to other AHN primary care practices, Toland said. They are also talking with employees and the union for their next steps once the facility closes, he said.

AHN has primary care locations in Harrison, Cheswick and Vandergrift.

UPMC St. Margaret hospital, located near Aspinwall, operates a family health center along Fifth Avenue in downtown New Kensington. That facility offers primary care, family medicine, check-ups and preventive care, according to UPMC’s website.

But for Judith Barber, of New Kensington, it’s not that easy. United Physicians is her primary care provider and it’s easy for her to get to the facility.

“We’re fully doomed, for the transportation as far as getting around to Fox Chapel to St. Margaret’s or Allegheny Valley Hospital,” she said.

Boyd, of North Apollo, said she was grateful for the support from the Teamsters and community at Wednesday’s rally.

“This community needs this facility,” she said.

“It’s sad that they want to do this to us.”