Cornerstone Care looks ahead, adds eye centers
Courtesy of Metro Creative
Dr. Cathleen Lizza will now be offering optometry services out of Cornerstone Care Vision Center offices in Waynesburg, Hopwood and Connellsville.
Campbell- Golden
Rinehart
With an eye on expanding services, Cornerstone Care has added optometry to its lengthy list.
Dr. Cathleen Lizza, an optometrist, is running the new Cornerstone Care Vision Center out of her three offices – in Waynesburg, Hopwood and Connellsville. Her work under the Cornerstone Care umbrella began 13 days ago.
“I’d been in private practice for 37 years at these three offices,” she said during a recent telephone interview. Lizza has had a Waynesburg office for 33 years.
Vision care is a new dynamic for Cornerstone Care, a nonprofit network of Federally Qualified Community Health Centers and practices. The expansion in services raises the network’s number of facilities from 10 to 13.
“Optometry was one service we didn’t offer,” said Donna Simpson, director of Communication, Outreach and Mobile Services.
Eye care had been on Cornerstone Care’s radar, though.
“Vision has been on the discussion boards for awhile,” said Richard Rinehart, the chief executive officer. “Dr. Lizza coming on board with us is a good transition, a win-win for us, as lot of her patients were already part of Community Care.”
Sarah DeCarlo, director of clinical operations, said the vision centers “are offering a full spectrum of services.” They include – but are not limited to – glasses, frames, contact lenses and cataract referrals.
Retinal eye examinations is another service, and a key one, according to Rinehart.
“We have around 1,000 patients with diabetes in the region,” he said. “One of the standards of care for people with diabetes is they need a retinal eye exam every year.”
Cornerstone Care takes all insurances and – Rinehart is proud to say – provides much-needed services in under-served rural areas.
“Community health centers have to make sure there is primary health care available to everybody, regardless of their ability to pay, the type of insurance and other characteristics,” Rinehart said.
Cornerstone Care, according to Rinehart, is an independent, nonprofit corporation “with a board of directors, the majority of whom are our patients. We’re patient-operated.”
It has facilities in four Southwestern Pennsylvania counties: Washington, Greene, Fayette and Allegheny. The system most recently expanded its footprint to Clairton and West Mifflin in Allegheny. Rinehart said three locations provide all of the system’s services.
The system tends to about 22,000 patients per year, entailing 80,000 visits, and employs between 185 and 290, Rinehart said.
The network was founded in 1978 in Greensboro, Greene County. Cornerstone Care’s headquarters are there, although some administrative offices are in Mt. Morris, which provides all services and has a teaching health center in partnership with Mon Health System of West Virginia.
W&J hires VP
Carolyn Campbell-Golden, Ph.D., will be the new vice president of Development and Alumni Engagement at Washington & Jefferson College.
She was selected following a nationwide search and will join the senior administration this summer.
Campbell-Golden has been an administrator for higher education and nonprofits for three decades, and comes to W&J following a lengthy tenure at Auburn University.
“I look forward to working collaboratively with W&J’s outstanding alumni, community of scholars and staff to advance the mission and aspirations of this historic and premier liberal arts institution,” she said in a statement.
W&J president John C. Knapp said: “Dr. Campbell rose to the top of an exceptionally strong pool of applicants based on her exceptional track record, broad understanding of higher education, and fit with the college’s priorities.”
Waynesburg honors
Colleges of Distinction has named Waynesburg University a College of Distinction for 2020-2021. This is the fifth year in a row the university has been so designated.
The organization also selected Waynesburg as a Pennsylvania College of Distinction and a Christian College of Distinction.
Waynesburg’s business, education and nursing fields of study received specialized recognition as well.