Medical
Facilities and Services - Nursing Homes - Fire Protection - Law Enforcement - Social Services and Day Care - Churches - Community
Groups - Media - Important/Emergency Numbers
The Huntingdon Area
has a rich array of community services available to residents. These include health care
and public safety services as well as both private and public social services. Services
are also provided through the many churches and community groups in the Huntingdon Area.
Questions concerning social services should be addressed to Huntingdon County Information
and Referral at (814)643-4202.
The county's largest health care facility is J.C.
Blair Memorial Hospital, a gift to the community from the widow
of a local industrialist. Ever since the first patient was admitted
in 1911, the hospital has continually expanded its physical plant, improved
its equipment, and modified its services to provide personal, professional
care to local residents.The 104 bed hospital’s most recent renovation project added a more welcoming lobby
with centralized administrative services, a modern high-tech surgical wing, and a new
obstetrics/gynecology unit. J.C. Blair has kept pace with technological advances, offering
laser surgery and laparoscopy; body scans with ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); and an accredited mammography department. The emergency
room is staffed by physicians and nurses around the clock. The hospital's maternity unit
provides private, homelike rooms where patients can stay for all stages of their visit:
labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum.The active medical staff at the hospital includes approximately 60 local physicians,
whose specialties include family practice, orthopedics, internal medicine, radiology,
urology, emergency medicine, pediatrics, oral-maxillofacial surgery, general surgery,
podiatry, anesthesiology, psychiatry, obstetrics/gynecology, cardiology, neurology,
gastroenterology, cardiology, and pathology. More than 30 other doctors are on the
hospital's consulting and courtesy staffs.The hospital directs the on-going recruitment of top physicians to Huntingdon County
and publishes a Medical Staff Directory, their specialties, and their educational
backgrounds. Ninety percent of the hospital's medical staff are board certified in their
respective specialties.J.C. Blair is a non-profit charitable institution, which provided over $1 million in
uncompensated care in 1992. The hospital regularly schedules free health fairs and
educational programs for the public.
The county has five regional medical centers that provide primary care for many local
residents:
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Juniata Valley Medical Center, Alexandria.
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Mount Union Area Medical Center, Mount Union.
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Southern Huntingdon County Medical Center, Orbisonia.
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Broad Top Medical Center, Broad Top City.
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Trough Creek Medical Center, Cassville.
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Sick or injured people unable to reach a medical facility can rely on swift,
professional care and transport from any of the county's seven volunteer ambulance
services, based in Huntingdon, Orbisonia, Alexandria, Marklesburg, Mount Union, Three
Springs, and Robertsdale. Paramedics, working under the guidance of a hospital physician,
supplement the ambulance crews at Alexandria, Huntingdon, and Robertsdale.
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There are 305 nursing home beds in Huntingdon County: 157 at two private facilities in
Huntingdon Borough and 148 at a private, non-profit facility in Orbisonia. Each of the
nursing homes participates in governmental financial assistance programs, each provides
all levels of nursing care, and each has 24-hour staffing by registered nurses. There are
also two personal care homes in the county, which serve residents needing a lesser degree
of care than those in nursing homes.
Two local agencies provide nursing services in the homes of sick and infirm clients,
and hospice services are available for those who are terminally ill but want to stay at
home.
Among the hardest-working groups of volunteers in the county are the 18 community fire
departments. The fire fighters are continually training and holding fund-raisers on their
own time so that their equipment and actions are equal to those of paid professionals. All the departments and ambulance services use a central dispatching center that can be
reached through 911.
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Huntingdon Borough has a full-time police force offering 24 hour patrols, while the
majority of the county's townships and boroughs rely on the Huntingdon Barracks of the
Pennsylvania State Police to provide law enforcement. Mount Union also has a full-time
police department, while Petersburg and Alexandria Boroughs and Porter Township are served
on a part-time basis by the Juniata Valley Regional Police.As should be expected in a rural area, Huntingdon County has had a crime rate much
lower than the state average for almost all classifications of criminal activity. The
County's crime rate for the manufacture, sale, and possession of narcotics is less than
one-fifth the state's rate, due in part to the vigilance of the Huntingdon County Drug
Task Force, a joint organization of all county law enforcement agencies and the state
Attorney General's Office.Officers from the state police, borough police, and sheriff's departments regularly
serve as guest speakers before school and other groups to talk about personal safety and
crime prevention.
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Detailed information concerning social services should be addressed to Huntingdon
County Information and Referral at (814)643-4202. Social services are provided by both
private and public agencies. Public social services include: The Pennsylvania Department
of Public Welfare and Job Service, Huntingdon County Children's Services Huntingdon County
Housing Authority, Juniata Valley MH/MR and Bedford, Fulton, Huntingdon Area Agency on
Aging. The Huntingdon Area United Way and other private community agencies support a large number of social
services These
include: Alcoholics Anonymous, Boy Scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Child and Adult
Development, Girl Scouts, Huntingdon House, Huntingdon Employment and Training, Literacy
Council, Pride, Inc., Salvation Army and Red Cross.The majority of day care services in the county are provided by individual day care
providers attending children at their own or their clients' homes. Huntingdon County Child
and Adult Development Inc. (HCCAD) operates a non-profit day care center in Huntingdon
that accepts subsidized and private-pay children from 18 months through kindergarten.
HCCAD also operates a summer day care program for elementary school-aged children. The
organization runs Head Start programs for low-income families at sites in Huntingdon,
Mount Union, Orbisonia, Alexandria, and Broad Top City. HCCAD administers a program that
provides financial assistance for day care services in either group centers or private
homes. For current information about HCCAD's sites and programs, call (814) 643-5199. Juniata College (643-4310) manages a half-day pre-school program on campus as part of
its academic program. A private, for-profit organization operates the Broad Top Area Day
Care in Saxton (635-2000). The Abbey Reformed Church in Huntingdon sponsors the Jack and
Jill Nursery School (643-1340), which provides a half-day pre-school program for children
aged 3 through 6. The program runs September through May, and it also has an 8-week summer
session.
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Huntingdon Area churches offer a variety of opportunities for worship and study as well
as support for community services such as the Huntingdon Food Bank. The Huntingdon Area is
home to more than 34 churches, including: Assembly of God, Baha'I., Baptist, Church of the
Brethern, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of Christ, Eastern Orthodox,
Episcopal, Free Methodist, Independent Fundamental, Jehovah’s Witness, Jewish,
Lutheran, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Quaker, Salvation Army, United Church of Christ, United
Methodist, and Roman Catholic. Other opportunities for worship exist in nearby
communities.
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A large segment of the county's population participates in community
organizations—civic, fraternal, veterans, professional, social, cultural, and
recreational. Huntingdon County has chapters of the American Legion, Elks, Boy and Girl Scouts,
Business and Professional Women, Grange, Jaycees, 4-H, Habitat for Humanity, Humane
Society, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Lions, Masons, Moose, Eastern Star, Optimists,
Rotary, Soroptimists, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as senior citizens' groups,
sororities, hiking clubs, riding clubs, sportsmen's clubs, and many others.
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Two newspapers are based in the county: The Daily News (Monday-Saturday) and The Valley
Log (weekly). The former's circulation is approximately 12,000, and the latter, 3,550.
Regional, state, and national newspapers are available at numerous outlets throughout the
county.Five radio stations—four FM and one AM—broadcast from the county. One station
has a country format, and the others feature pop music. Several cable companies provide
television service to most of the communities in the county. Network-affiliated television
stations in Altoona (WTAJ) and Johnstown (WJAC) provide regional news
coverage.
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Important
Numbers:
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County Emergency Management: Adam Miller
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(814) 643-6613
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Huntingdon County Chapter of Red Cross
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(814) 643- 2610
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Salvation Army: Majors Ron and Pamela Freiert
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(814) 643-1430
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Huntingdon House (abuse shelter):
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(814) 643-1190
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Emergency Numbers:
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Huntingdon Borough
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Police: 643-3960
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Huntingdon Fire Co. #1: 643-1300
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Huntingdon Hook & Ladder: 643-1290
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Huntingdon Ambulance: 643-6551
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County Sheriff: 643-0880
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PA State Highway Patrol: 627-3161
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Township Fire Companies
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Smithfield: 643-4440
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Oneida: 643-1583
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Walker/McConnellstown: 627-4479
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Porter/Alexandria: 669-9107
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Henderson/Mill Creek: 643-5555
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