PRESS RELEASE

Plainfield Health Center Awarded Medical Capacity Expansion Grant
HRSA Grant Enables Access to Health Care for Over 5,000 New Patients

For Immediate Release: Friday, August 16, 2002-PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY- The Plainfield Health Center, one of fourteen 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 the receipt of a $1.1million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration in support of an application for expanded medical capacity over the next two years. The award is part of a total award of $55.8 million, which is being distributed to 131 health centers.

The Plainfield Health Center has committed to participate in President Bush’s Initiative to Expand Health Centers. This national plan will add new centers or increase capacity at existing centers, for a total of 1,000 new or expanded sites. Government funding is being made available to those existing centers that can expand access capacity and enable more patients to receive primary health care. As a model health facility, the Plainfield Health Center serves over 17,000 patients today, up over 1,000 from the previous year. To qualify for this grant, Plainfield Health Center has committed to increasing the amount of patients it serves by over 5,000 new patients over the next two years.

“The need for public, primary health care is rising faster than our population growth,” said Julane Miller-Armbrister, President and CEO. “The costs associated with increasing capacity, or the number of patients we can care for, continues to outpace the resources that are available for the underserved and uninsured populations. One crucial way of breaking down access barriers for more of our citizens, is with increased resources allocated to improving access to basic health care services. We are extremely grateful for the enhanced capacity that this grant provides for the Plainfield Health Center to serve almost thirty percent additional patients,” said Miller-Armbrister.

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. Today, the Plainfield Health Center serves more than 17,000 patients annually. Its total care program provides adult medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, adolescent medicine, school based services, dentistry and ancillary support services.

copyright © PHC 2002