Camden high-rise's health clinic to open doors to neighbors

Less than a year after more than 300 residents of Northgate II, a large subsidized-housing high-rise in North Camden, were given an on-site health-care clinic, their neighbors have been promised access to the same medical staff.

Local health-care officials and community leaders met with residents of Northgate I on Thursday and vowed to provide them preventive services and coordinate their hospital aftercare.

The first step, authorities said, would be to give residents access to the Reliance Medical Group clinic across the street at Northgate II.

Since its summer opening, the facility - which is open Monday through Friday and has a physician who treats patients two days a week - has only seen about 100 residents.

Many of the building's elderly and disabled call an ambulance for any discomfort, Jon M. Regis, owner of Reliance Medical Group, has said. The hospital meals also entice some residents.

By opening the facility to those in Northgate I - which is inhabited mostly by young families - officials hope Northgate II's elderly and disabled population will take notice and start using the clinic, said Derek Gatling, a health-care community organizer with Camden Churches Organized for People.

"We hope it will motivate them," Gatling said Thursday.

Camden Churches Organized for People, the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers, and Reliance are working to reduce the number of emergency room visits at Camden's three hospitals - Cooper, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Virtua.

According to a study by the coalition released last year, about $660 million - most of it public funds - was spent on emergency room services for Camden residents between 2002 and 2008.

The residents of Northgate I, Northgate II, and nearby Abigail House, a nursing home, were the most frequent visitors to the emergency room. In each building, residents accessed between $1 million to $3 million annually in emergency room services, said Andrew Katz, a program assistant with the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.

Most visits were for colds, fevers, and ear infections, ailments that should be treated in clinics and the offices of primary-care physicians, Katz said.

"We want to help direct them through the [health-care] system," Katz said.

If the Camden coalition's clinic model is successful in providing more accessible treatment to residents and reducing ER visits, it could be replicated throughout the country, said Jaime Torres, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' regional director for New York and New Jersey.

Torres, who was among those who met with residents Thursday, was also on hand to promote the Affordable Care Act. The legislation - whose requirement that citizens carry health insurance was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this week - allocated $10 billion over 10 years for research on ways to lower the cost of government health programs while preserving or improving the level of care.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will be "looking at what is working . . . and identifying programs that we could study," Torres said.

He commended the Camden coalition for addressing one of the biggest challenges facing the health system: coordinating among hospitals, medical providers, and others involved.

The Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey delivered another piece of good news to Northgate I residents Thursday.

The center will send its teams of asthma-prevention specialists to the building and work with those experiencing respiratory problems, especially children. Sometimes cleaning carpets or getting rid of stuffed animals or upholstered furniture will reduce symptoms, said Elsa Candelario, the center's executive director.

"We want to alleviate the issues and connect [residents] with doctors," Candelario said.

Mary Parker, who has lived in Northgate I for eight years, was diagnosed with asthma five years ago. Though she said she has it under control with medication, she was happy to hear that the center would be sending its specialists.

Others also have developed respiratory issues since moving to the building, which overlooks the Ben Franklin Bridge, Parker said.

But she was more excited about gaining access to the Northgate II clinic. She already has an appointment for Tuesday.

"It's so convenient. I just have to walk across the street," Parker said.