On a rainy morning in June, a smiling preteen girl dressed in blue emerged from the white and blue Star Community Heath dental van parked behind Trexler Middle School, Allentown. She received a\u00a0dental exam, x-ray, cleaning and a fluoride application, procedures often neglected due to their high cost.\u00a0Patients of Star are charged on a sliding scale depending on their income or insurance coverage; a visit can cost as little as $10.<\/p>\n
Asked through an interpreter if she was pleased with her experience, the girl replied, \u201cSi, gracias!\u201d and flashed her pearly whites at her two siblings and father who were awaiting their turns.<\/p>\n
Star Community Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (\u201cFQHC\u201d) affiliated with St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network, has been providing mobile oral health services to the underserved communities throughout its service area for 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe create healthy smiles,\u201d said a beaming Marilyn Santiago, operations manager for Star\u2019s mobile health program. She added that the mobile health vans alone\u00a0treat about 2,200 patients per year throughout six counties and 14 School Districts in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The caregivers in the fleet of four, 38-foot vehicles will soon expand their clinical offerings to include primary medical and mental health services as well as vaccinations. Over the course of a year, they visit a total of 46 schools, along with health fairs, parades and other community events, providing free screenings, health education and hard-to-access, reduced-cost care to kids and adults, who are uninsured or underinsured.<\/p>\n
Some of the Star vans have been generously funded by grants from U.S. Senators and Northampton County.\u00a0Star\u2019s operational costs also are supported through generous grants from St. Luke\u2019s and other public and private sources.\u00a0St. Luke’s University Health Network earned an \u201cA\u201d grade on the 2026-27 Lown Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility, placing it among the top health systems nationally for overall commitment to health equity, value and outcomes.<\/p>\n
Star Community Health delivers primary care health services to more than 53,170 patients yearly at 16 locations in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Lansford, Ringtown, Tamaqua and Phillipsburg (NJ). In addition to dental care, services include primary\/family medicine, women\u2019s health, pediatrics, mental health\u00a0and specialty care, including chiropractic care.\u00a0Patients also can be referred to food banks, helped find transportation and access other community services that address the social determinants of health.<\/p>\n
In addition to the preventive and protective oral care, the vans\u2019 dental teams\u2014dental hygienist, dental assistant and dentist\u2014many of whom are bilingual, fill cavities, extract baby teeth and patch chipped teeth in the rolling dental suite, each treating about 20 patients a day, explained Santiago. Appointments are made through schools where they park, and the van\u2019s driver registers each patient before their treatment and schedules follow-ups if needed.\u00a0Each van is outfitted with two treatment areas, an x-ray unit, and all the necessary instruments and supplies found in a typical dental office. If more extensive care is needed, the patient is referred to one of the Star centers in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton or Tamaqua.<\/p>\n
Starting in August, in preparation for the upcoming school year, a physician, nurse and nurse assistant on the vans will offer school and sports physicals. Mental health professionals will screen for anxiety, depression and other childhood conditions, and vaccines will be\u00a0scheduled by appointment, announced Santiago. \u00a0(See below for details of free back-to- school events.)<\/p>\n
\u201cStar Community Health, in collaboration with St. Luke\u2019s, is proud of our decades-long history of providing access to vital and affordable dental and medical care to people who otherwise would struggle to obtain them,\u201d added Santiago.<\/p>\n
Upcoming clinics:<\/strong><\/p>\n Back-to-School Bash<\/strong><\/p>\n Bethlehem Area School District<\/p>\n August 4: 2\u20137 pm<\/p>\n Location: 520 E. Broad St., Bethlehem<\/p>\n FREE:<\/strong><\/p>\n Vision Checks<\/p>\n Hearing Checks<\/p>\n Dental Screenings<\/p>\n Sports Physicals (bring appropriate paperwork)<\/p>\n Community Resources: Developmental Peds, Vaccine appointments, Insurance<\/p>\n Back-to-School Bash<\/strong><\/p>\n Tamaqua Area School District<\/p>\n August 6: 12 noon \u2013 3 pm<\/p>\n Location: Star Community Health – Hometown<\/p>\n 34 S. Railroad Street, Tamaqua PA<\/p>\n FREE School Supplies (while supplies last!)<\/p>\n FREE\u2014<\/p>\n Vision Checks<\/p>\n Hearing Checks<\/p>\n Dental Screenings<\/p>\n Sports Physicals (bring appropriate paperwork)<\/p>\n Connection to Vaccines Appointments (Call to schedule your appointment 484-822-7827(STAR)<\/p>\n Care Navigation Resources<\/p>\n Community Resources: Developmental Peds, Insurance Information and more<\/p>\n Back-to-School Bash<\/strong><\/p>\n August 12: 1-6 pm<\/p>\n Cedar Beach, Allentown<\/p>\n Free health screenings and care navigation<\/p>\n For more information visit:\u00a0www.starcommunityhealth.org<\/a><\/p>\n About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1872, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley\u2019s biggest employer.<\/p>\n The Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.<\/p>\n Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke\u2019s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.<\/p>\n In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke\u2019s achieved the highest quality score of the nation\u2019s recognized top three high performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke\u2019s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.<\/p>\n St. Luke\u2019s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World\u2019s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network\u2019s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare\u2019s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A\u2019s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: On a rainy morning in June, a smiling preteen girl dressed in blue emerged from the white and blue Star Community Heath dental van parked behind Trexler Middle School, Allentown. She received a\u00a0dental exam, x-ray, cleaning and a fluoride application, procedures often neglected due to their high cost.\u00a0Patients of Star are charged on a sliding … Continue reading Star Community Health Vans Deliver Reduced-Cost Care to People in Need<\/span>
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"