Officials break ground for new UPMC St. Margaret New Kensington Family Health Center

A groundbreaking ceremony Friday marked a new home for UPMC St. Margaret New Kensington Family Health Center.

The new facility should open in the spring, said Mary Lee Gannon, president of the St. Margaret Foundation. It will expand from a 4,700-square-foot building to 8,000 square feet.

The health center will offer primary care, obstetrics, pediatrics, opioid use disorder intervention, psychiatry, social work and behavioral health support.

UPMC St. Margaret President Dave Patton said UPMC has been working toward this new health center for years.

“When we embarked on this journey, we saw an opportunity to make sure New Kensington is well-positioned for health care,” Patton said.

The new family health center, which plans to improve access to health care for vulnerable populations, is an investment in New Kensington, said state Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont.

“They’re investing in our community,” Dermody said. “They’re investing in our children.”

The $4.6 million project will place the new building two blocks from the existing facility, at 1080 Fifth Ave.

“It’s the initiatives to improve health care — like we’re doing here — that give people in these communities hope. It’s moments like this that give us hope and we want to build on that hope,” said Dr. Jonathan Han, New Kensington Family Health Center’s medical director.

State Sen. James R. Brewster, D-McKeesport, New Kensington Mayor Thomas Guzzo, Staunton Farm Foundation Executive Director Joni S. Schwager and New Kensington Family Health Center Practice Manager Mary Popovich also participated in the groundbreaking ceremony.