In July, Keystone Rural Health Consortia, which operates the Mountaintop Area Medical Center, announced it would close the Centre County location at the end of August.
“Unfortunately, due to the steady decline of patients seen in this office and the opening of larger health centers in the area, we have found it necessary to close this location for the continued sustainability of our company,” said the Cameron County based provider in an announcement.
“At this point, Ms. Patricia Butler plans to transfer to our Cameron County Health Center in Emporium, PA. She or Dr. Victor Lahnovych will be more than happy to see patients in person at this site or via telehealth, and will continue to provide home visits to the patients in Snow Shoe that are homebound,” the announcement continued.
Township Supervisor Rodney Preslovich said it’s terrible news for the roughly 1,700 residents, especially senior citizens. The senior center closed indefinitely because of COVID-19 and the pharmacy in town closed recently too.
“No matter where you go, that’s the topic for the last two weeks -- about the medical center closing,” Preslovich said. The closure means residents will be at least a 15-mile drive from the nearest medical care.
“I don’t know why people are going to want to come when you’re losing everything,” he said. “A year and a half ago, we lost our hardware and our grocery store.”
Preslovich said the township is working with nearby municipalities like Bellefonte and with state Senator Jake Corman to find ways to absorb the impact.
Keystone Rural Health Consortia said through the end of the year, case managers will be working with patients to transfer to other providers or its Emporium location, which is about 50 miles away.
