St. Mary Medical Center Foundation

Community Ministries

Impacting the Lives of the Underserved

The mission of the St. Mary Community Ministries is to deliver the highest standards of healthcare to underserved community members while supporting their social and educational needs, and general wellbeing. Taking a holistic approach to caring for at-risk families, we are able to do more than put a band-aid on immediate health issues that confront low-income and homeless community members; we have been able to create an environment that cultivates healthier standards of living and ultimately the ability to move from poverty to self-sufficiency.

The St. Mary Community Ministries provide care for the poor through a store-front location in Bensalem, one of the poorest areas of southeast Pennsylvania. Our programs include the Mother Bachmann Maternity Center, the St. Mary Children's Health Center, and the St. Mary Family Resource Center. Our programs provide health and social welfare programs for those who are most in need in the Lower Bucks County community. Clients are racially and ethnically diverse and include Latinos, Russians, Turks, Pakistani, Koreans, and Bosnians. Forty percent speak a primary language other than English. They are generally the working poor and families living below the poverty level.

Mother Bachman Maternity Center

Established in 1991, the Mother Bachman Maternity Center provides prenatal care and delivery services to uninsured and underinsured women in our community. In addition to obstetrical and newborn care, our program includes case management, nutrition education, smoking cessation, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) services, prenatal and parenting classes, genetic counseling, postpartum depression screening and follow-up care, and transportation assistance. The Mother Bachmann Maternity Center also assists pregnant homeless women in securing emergency housing, ensuring a safe environment where expectant and new mothers can care for themselves and their baby. It is the only facility of its kind in Lower Bucks County that accepts pregnant women regardless of their ability to pay. Every Mother Bachmann patient is provided with financial counseling and assistance in accessing any resources for which they may be qualified.

St. Mary Children's Health Center

The St. Mary Children's Health Center was established in 1993, in response to the need for medical care for children from low-income families. Pediatric primary care services include well and sick child care, immunizations, hearing and vision screening, growth and developmental assessments, physical exams, laboratory tests, social services, specialty referrals, lactation education and support, and behavioral counseling. St. Mary provides space on site for the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC), which includes nutritional counseling for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, infants and children up to age five. Supplemental food and infant formula are also distributed to financially-eligible families. More than 2,400 children from birth to age 18 who receive medical assistance, CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) or free care are treated at the Children's Health Center annually. Each year, over 400 families are provided case management services to address social service needs and are guided to additional resources that they do not know are available to them.

St. Mary Family Resource Center

The St. Mary Family Resource Center, established in 1998, strengthens vulnerable families and children to ensure independence through empowerment, education, and self-direction — which in turn fosters an understanding of the need to develop a healthier way of life. Our services help people from all walks of life become self-sufficient, productive members of our community. Services include GED preparation, English as a second language instruction, citizenship preparation classes, case management and counseling for individuals with substance abuse and behavioral health problems, parenting education, nutrition education, employment services, and CHIP enrollment. Each year, nearly 20 Bucks County families in crisis are provided emergency housing in the transitional residences supported by St. Mary Community Health Ministries in partnership with the Bucks County Housing Group. These families are comprised primarily of homeless women and their children. The St. Mary Family Resource Center offers all services free of charge to low-income community members.