Trenton Seeks Health Professional Volunteers Willing to Staff Free Health Clinic
by TRENTON – The city is looking for physicians, nurses and other health professionals who would be willing to volunteer their time to staff a pediatric and adolescent free health clinic in the downtown.
The city’s free clinic has been closed since 2008, when budget concerns shuttered the operation. Last year, Director of Health and Human Services James Brownlee said he wanted to reopen the clinic.
On April 8 the clinic received the federal designation of a free clinic, allowing the city to begin to solicit volunteer medical professionals to staff the office, offering them medical malpractice insurance at no cost.
“We are trying to recruit volunteers who may be retired doctors or nurses,” Brownlee said. “They probably are not, actually I know that they are not maintaining their medical malpractice insurance. So in order for them to volunteer this was essential.”
Brownlee wants to find enough medical professionals to reopen the Trenton Pediatric and Adolescent Treatment Center, which will provide care for newborns through children age 17, at 218 N. Broad Street.
The clinic would be open five days a week.
The city, which will operate the clinic with the help of the Trenton Health Team, also is seeking donations of medicines and medical supplies from pharmaceutical companies.
Brownlee said he hopes to open the clinic as soon as possible, so that school-age children can receive vaccinations that are necessary for them to attend school.
“That population that will come to our clinics to receive primary care, are our uninsured population,” Brownlee said. “It is critical to have a treatment center for those individuals to go to to receive that essential care.”
In the future, Brownlee said he would like to see the city’s adult clinic reopen as well under similar circumstances. The adult clinic would provide primary care services to residents.
Brownlee said the city also is looking into expanding the clinic’s scope to include specialty care for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Capital Health, St. Francis Medical Center and Henry J. Austin Health Center – members of the Trenton Health Team – all operate health clinics open to Trenton residents.
Interested doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, health aides and clerical workers who would like to volunteer are asked to contact Brownlee and his team at the city health department at (609) 989-3242 ext 109.
About the Trenton Health Team
Trenton Health Team (THT) is an alliance of the city’s major providers of healthcare services including Capital Health, St. Francis Medical Center, Henry J. Austin Health Center and the city’s Health Department. In collaboration with residents and the city’s active social services network, THT is developing an integrated healthcare delivery system to transform the city’s fragmented primary care system and restore health to the city. THT aims to make Trenton the healthiest city in the state. Support for the Trenton Health Team was provided in part by a grant from The Nicholson Foundation. For more information, visit www.trentonhealthteam.org.
