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Irvington Opening
June 23, 2004
Irvington, NJ - A new community health center
is now seeing patients in Irvington General Hospital as
part of a $10 million state initiative to improve the health
of New Jersey’s
uninsured residents by increasing access to comprehensive
primary and preventive care.
The new facility, located at
Irvington General Hospital, is one of 9 new health centers
opened and 14 expanded using $10 million in state funds.
The 66 existing sites receive $12 million a year from the
Department of Health and Senior Services for providing medical
care to the uninsured.
Community health centers, also called
Federally Qualified Health Centers, are one of the state’s
best medical safety nets for the uninsured, underinsured,
the medically underserved and the recently unemployed. More
than 155,400 uninsured visits will be provided by the facilities
this year, a 34 percent increase over last year.
“Primary care health centers have a proven track record in improving
prenatal and infant health outcomes, increasing childhood immunizations, decreasing
health disparities and reducing reliance on costly emergency rooms for non-emergent
conditions,’’ said Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner
Clifton R. Lacy, M.D.
“The reason for expanding access to
community health centers is evident in the 1.3 million state
residents who lack health insurance. We can and must do better
to link the uninsured with primary and preventive health
care services in the community,’’ said Commissioner
Lacy.NCHC’s centers. The Irvington facility is using
$400,000 in state funds to hire staff, purchase equipment
and renovate an existing health clinic in the hospital, which
is part of the St. Barnabas Healthcare System. The facility
has served more than 300 patients since it opened on May
6. The Irvington health center expects to treat 6,000 patients
generating nearly 20,000 visits over the next two years.
Services include family practice and internal medicine, obstetrics
and gynecology, a full-time pediatrician, social services,
HIV counseling and testing and laboratory services. Dental
services will begin next month.
The new Irvington site is
part of a network of four health centers operated by Newark
Community Health Centers in Newark and East Orange. The
center managed more than 43,000 patient visits last year
for primary care, social services and behavioral health.
Facilities were expanded in Atlantic,
Camden, Cumberland, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic, Monmouth
and Union counties. The expansions included adding medical
and dental staff in Hammonton, opening dental centers in
Bridgeton and Atlantic City, expanding women’s health
services in Newark and expanding outreach and marketing efforts
at the Jewish Renaissance Medical Center in Perth Amboy.
A five-year federal effort to double the number of Federal
Qualified Health Centers nationwide is ongoing through next
year. Nationwide, community health centers provide services
to 15 million patients at more than 850 centers with more
than 4,600 locations.
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