PRESS RELEASE

PHC Granted State License to Provide Oraquick HIV Testing
Patients Obtain Test Results in 20 Minutes vs. Two Weeks

For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 3, 2004-PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY- The Plainfield Health Center (PHC), one of eighteen Federally Qualified Health Centers in New Jersey, dedicated to providing cost effective primary health care services for the residents of Plainfield and surrounding communities, announced today that it has received a license from the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services to provide Oraquick HIV testing. The license is effective and patients are already receiving the new test in PHC’s ancillary services department.

The Plainfield Health Center has been the leading provider of HIV counseling and testing services in the greater Plainfield community for over ten years. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Department of Pathology, acting as contractor for the implementation of the project for the State of New Jersey, has long recognized PHC’s capabilities in the area of HIV counseling and testing, and was fully supportive of the State’s award of one of the first Oraquick testing licenses to the Center. Previously, patients were given oral tests and waited two weeks for results. With the new Oraquick test, patients learn their HIV status in approximately 20 minutes. Oraquick, the first and only rapid HIV test to be approved in the United States by the FDA, is a product of OraSure Technologies, Inc., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

“We are pleased to be one of the first HIV testing sites in New Jersey to offer the latest in testing for our patients,” said Dr. Cecil Mathews, Infectious Disease Specialist at PHC. “Not only does this help lessen the anxiety for patients by shortening the wait time for test results, but it also eliminates the need for a second appointment, which is better for patients, and more efficient for the Center,” said Dr. Mathews.

To learn more about Oraquick HIV testing or to make an appointment for HIV counseling and/or testing, please call 908.753.6401, extension 138.

About The Plainfield Health Center

The Plainfield Health Center, incorporated as the Plainfield Neighborhood Health Services Corporation, was born in 1969 under the auspices of the 1960's Model Cities Neighborhood Program. Led by a dedicated group of community activists, the Center was initially created to provide accessible health care to the residents of the West End of Plainfield.

Since then, the Center has grown, added more services, increased the number of specialties of professional health staff, and expanded its reach to the entire City of Plainfield and neighboring communities, and to the City of Elizabeth. Today, the Plainfield Health Center serves more than 21,000 patients annually. Its total care program provides adult medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, adolescent medicine, school-based services, dentistry and ancillary support services.

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