MILFORD, PA — This year’s municipal elections come at a “critical time” for Pike County, according to its board of commissioners. Efforts to bring about the first urgent care facilities and hospital, find housing solutions for the quickly growing (and aging) population, and produce better-paying employment opportunities in an area saturated with hospitality and retail jobs top the officials’ list of priorities. 

With a challenger on the Democratic side—Christa Caceres, who was profiled in last week’s edition of the River Reporter—incumbent commissioners Matthew Osterberg (Republican), Ronald Schmalzle (Republican) and Tony Waldron (Democrat) said that they make an effective team to take on these challenges, a team they hope will be maintained through Election Day on Tuesday, November 7.

Medical services

Made only more noticeable since the COVID-19 pandemic, Pike County’s lack of a hospital or urgent care facility has been a defining challenge for years—one Schmalzle called a “number one priority.” 

A working relationship with Northwell Health—the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State—and a medical foundation formed last June to help raise necessary funds are positive steps, the commissioners said, in turning around the county’s status as a “medical desert.”

An approximately 4,000-square-foot urgent care facility is currently getting fit out in Delaware Township along the Route 739 corridor. Waldron said he’s hopeful that it will be ready to go by the end of the year. From there, a building in the Lake Wallenpaupack—Hawley area is slated to become the county’s second urgent care site sometime within the next year and a half, Waldron said.

Northwell has also partnered with a PA-based medical provider to create the county’s own “community hospital” in Blooming Grove. Waldron said this location was chosen because of existing infrastructure, as well as its strategic location.

“It happens to be just about dead center in the county,” he said. “So it serves not just the Milford area, but Greene Township and Lackawaxen Township—pretty much all of the areas within a relatively shorter distance.” 

In an optimistic estimate, the commissioners said they’re expecting to see the endeavor come to fruition within the next three years.

“The primary purpose of the [medical foundation] is to raise funds to assist the provider in coming in here and to make sure they have success,” Schmalzle said. “A community hospital would have been here a long time ago if it were a viable business venture. It has not been. Our thinking was that we could help them. That’s what we’ve come to the table with, and that has proved to be a successful mission.”

Schmalzle also responded to a recent comment from Caceres, in which she called for a health center dedicated to women’s health in the county. He pointed out that one opened in Dingmans Ferry through the Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers in 2021.

“I see our opponent is saying we need to have these services, but we do,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of services, but one of the things we do have is women’s health center… It’s a significant facility and has been very successful.”

Employment opportunities

Directly tied to the conversation about bringing more medical services to residents is the topic of employment opportunities. The hospitality and retail industries are significant employers in Pike; however, they don’t tend to offer much in the way of sustainable, high-paying jobs. Urgent cares and a hospital can fill those gaps, Osterberg said.

“Our largest industry is tourism,” he said. “Expanding medical [services] creates much more job opportunities for people than just tourism. Tourism is important, but we need to have these other jobs available to us.”

Providing job-training and employment opportunities to residents with mental and physical disabilities is a specific mission of Osterberg’s as well, he said.

“Whatever we’re doing is not enough,” he said. “Far too many times, people with disabilities of many different types go to high school, they graduate; when they come out, there’s nothing here for them.”

Looking to reverse that trend, Osterberg said the county is partnering with the Human Resources Center and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to create a training program for people with disabilities. The program will run out of a former PennDOT building on Bennet Avenue, which the county has acquired and is refurbishing.That property, among other uses, will also house the county transportation department’s fleet of about 100 vehicles. Residents who have completed the vocational training will have job opportunities waiting for them at that same facility, detailing and doing maintenance on the county’s vehicles.

Housing and infrastructure

A recent housing study found that it’s “nearly impossible” for many Pike County residents to afford housing without some sort of government subsidy. The commissioners said to address this issue, they need to first look at their infrastructure.

“We are really handcuffed by the lack of central sewer,” Schmalzle said, he noted that this isn’t just an obstacle to housing, but also to bringing in businesses to the county. "Almost every day, we get requests from businesses to move into Pike County. The stopping zone is when they are looking to put up a facility, and we don't have central sewer. That leads them away from Pike County."

Waldron said he and the other commissioners are in talks with a local hospitality business that has enough land to possibly hold between 30 and 50 "drip irrigation sewage alternative" units.

"That's being looked at as a way of trying to develop affordable housing sooner than later," Waldron said. "If we wait until sewage systems are developed and in place, there's going to be a several year gap."

Addiction services

Pike County was one of the first to file litigation against the opioid manufacturing companies, which "100 percent are responsible" for the opioid epidemic, Osterberg said. As a result of that litigation, Pike has been awarded $250,000 so far, which must be put toward prevention, treatment and recovery efforts.

Most recently, the county is using some of that money to create a new position known as the "justice opioid resource coordinator." The person in this new role will head up the Overdose Death Review Team, a multidisciplinary group that will examine overdose-related deaths in the county, and provide recommendations on how to mitigate future losses of life.

Osterberg said it's part of a growing effort to address addiction issues in the county through prevention and treatment, hopefully before punitive measures.

"This is a good way to let people know that we're here to help them. It's not always about just looking to put people in jail when they have an addiction like this," he said. "Let's see if we can't divert them and get them into where they can get some treatment."

Election Day

Election Day is taking place on Tuesday, November 7 this year.  To learn more about registering, casting mail ballots, and in-person voting in Pennsylvania, click here.