The Pennsylvania Department of Health will soon be able to reopen closed health centers throughout the state, including one in Carbon County.

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed a decision that allowed the Corbett administration to close 26 of the state's public health centers and eliminate 73 department positions, including 26 nurse consultants.According to the opinion, written by Justice Max Baer, the court concluded that SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania "satisfied the stringent criteria for the grant of a preliminary injunction and can identify no reasonable ground for the denial of interim relief."The court issued preliminary injunction to re-establish closed centers in counties and restore the level of public health services to that which existed on July 1, 1995.Justice Michael Eakin filed a dissenting opinion on the matter, saying that the 1996 law, which was the basis for the suit, did not preclude closing centers with demographic shifts or lease expirations."Times change, and it cannot be that the legislature meant to lock the state into a series of locations in perpetuity," Eakin wrote. "There will always be demographic shifts, lease expirations, building closures, employee furloughs and transfers, and the advances of technology and treatment options that make change inevitable."Melanie Zeigler, a community health nurse for the Carbon County Health Center, was forced to relocate to Lehigh County after the Carbon center was shut down last year.She was thrilled by the ruling."I decided to become a plaintiff in this lawsuit for the same reason I became a public health nurse in the first place to protect the public health and safety of Carbon County citizens," Zeigler said."Each day community health nurses are working hard behind the scenes to provide services that protect public health. I am thrilled that this decision will put us back in our communities where we belong."Joanne Namey, another plaintiff and a tobacco nurse consultant in the Northeast District Office whose position was eliminated, said, "For too long, Pennsylvania's public health infrastructure has been underfunded."Rather than deplete our ability to respond to public health issues, we need to renew and expand services. We hope this court ruling and a new administration will set a new standard for public health services across the commonwealth."SEIU Vice President Kevin Hefty told The Associated Press that the closures provided gaps in health services in some of the counties in the state.The suit against Gov. Tom Corbett's decision to decrease the number of health centers in the state began in April 2013, shortly after his plan was revealed.At the time SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, as well as state Sens. Tim Solobay and John Wozniak, and state Reps. Michael Hanna, Ted Harhai and Pam Snyder filed a lawsuit against the administration because they believed the plans to close approximately 26 public state health centers and eliminate 73 positions violated 1996's Act 87 as well as the state constitution.Act 87 requires the Department of Health to operate public state health centers and provide at a minimum those public health services in effect as of July 1, 1995.Later that month, Commonwealth Court denied the request to stop the closures and plans moved forward.As a result, the state closed 15 centers where community health nurses were stationed in 2013, and consolidated their operations with centers in neighboring counties. The department furloughed nurses, eliminated positions and planned to close more centers.Closures that occurred included the Pike County center, which merged with the Monroe County center and the Carbon County center, which merged with the Lehigh County Center.The date for Carbon County's center to reopen has yet to be determined.The Department of Health is currently reviewing the decision to determine the plan.Under the ruling, the state can begin returning employees to their old jobs.