Community Impact
About Sadler Health Center
Sadler Health Center is a federally qualified health center serving Cumberland and Perry counties, providing comprehensive community-based primary care, dental care and behavioral health services with a team of qualified professionals who can help you reach your healthiest life.
Serving patients like you, we put the health of our community at the center of everything we do. As your center for care, our team is here to help you connect with resources and support, even beyond our facility.
We strive to provide affordable, accessible health care. This means we serve everyone, including patients who are uninsured, underinsured or have government-sponsored insurance like Medicaid or CHIP.
We believe that a healthier tomorrow starts with better care and support today.
Our History
The story of Sadler Health Center is a story of a community coming together to address the disparities in health experienced by the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our community. In 1921, the Welfare Committee of the Carlisle Civic Club identified a need for a clinic to serve “all children who are ill-nourished or listless or in any way in need of advice or care of a physician.” The opening of that clinic was the beginning of an ongoing collaborative movement to improve the health of the Carlisle community.
After 30 years under the supervision of the Carlisle Civic Club, the health program, which now included a Visiting Nurse Association as well as the Child Health Center, were transferred to Carlisle Hospital and funded through a trust created by Dr. Horace T. Sadler.
The Sadler Caring Center opened in downtown Carlisle at the old J.C. Penney’s building, 117 N. Hanover St., on January 31, 1984. Building on its history of collaboration, the facility also provided space for the clinic, offices of home care nurses, the Child Health Center, and Life Wise. Family and Children’s Services; the American Cancer Society; United Way of the Greater Carlisle Area; and American Home Health Care were also co-located in the building.
When Carlisle Hospital was sold in 2001, it was agreed that the Caring Center would continue as a health clinic for the uninsured in downtown Carlisle for two years. At that time, the Carlisle Area Health and Wellness Foundation, now known as Partnership for Better Health, created a task force to explore the future of Sadler Caring Center. The Task Force recommended a new non-profit corporation be formed to assume the operations of the Sadler Caring Center.
A community-based Board of Directors assumed responsibility for Sadler Health Center, officially incorporated on October 25, 2002, and commenced operations on June 19, 2003. In February 2004, the center moved to a newly renovated facility at 100 N. Hanover St. in Carlisle. Sadler Health Center became designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike in 2005 and a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2015.
The Carlisle Civic Club Welfare Committee’s mission in 1921 is still as relevant today as it was then. Sadler Health Center has never lost track of its purpose or humble beginnings. We continue to be committed to working collaboratively to address the disparities of health in our community, and everyone is welcome at Sadler Health Center.
Achievements
Sadler Health Center is a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Quality Improvement Award recipient, awarded to HRSA-funded health centers that have met or exceeded quality improvement measures.
The center is also recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a Patient-Centered Medical Home at Level 3, for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long‐term, participative relationships.
