Newark Community Health Center CEO on NJ's Health Issues

Steve Adubato sits down with Dr. Pamela Clarke, President & CEO, Newark Community Health Center, Inc., to discuss health issues in New Jersey and ways to live a healthier lifestyle.

5/19/18 #213

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"State of Affairs is pleased to welcome Dr. Pamela Clarke, President and Chief Executive Officer of Newark Community Health Centers, Inc. Good to see you doctor. Well thank you for having me Steve. We we're at a meeting just a couple weeks ago, the Newark Community Advisory Board meeting in Newark. Yes. Tell folks what your organization is and who you serve. Okay, I work with Newark Community Health Centers. Just talk to me right here. Fantastic. I work with Newark Community Health Centers. We are Federally Qualified Health Center in Essex. So we're found at 741 Broadway, 101 Ludlow, and we're at 92 Ferry Street in Newark. We're also found in East Orange at 444 William Street and also 1150 Springfield Avenue in Irvington and 37 North Day in Orange. Describe your clientele. I was struck by the number... how many people do you serve every year? We serve four to six thousand patients across those sites Steve. Four to six. Describe the kinds of issues they're dealing with - health issues? No the people who come to our health center are people who work and live in the community. The majority of them are women. actually 65% of the people who come to the health center are women, a lot of them are unemployed or underemployed, and living in the community in public housing. Hmm. You find that the people who live in this public housing are very much concerned about how they live, can they pay their rent? Will they be evicted tomorrow? And also they're concerned about the violence and will their children come home? So what happens with our people who come to our health center is that they're more concerned about those social issues than their healthcare. Interesting the... by the way, when Dr. Clarke gave this presentation at the Newark Community Advisory Board, which was convened by the folks at RWJBarnabas Health, and I was moderating this, this was what I was struck by, you can... by the way, go on their website, Pam's website, you can find this out. Mm hmm. Determinants of health. I was blown away by this. These are the determinants of health: education, social support networks, culture, genetics, health services, gender, income, and social status, occupation, physical environment, social and economic environment, these and other determinants of health? Mm hmm. Complicated? Very complicated Steve. And because it's so complicated and research hasn't been done about this, and it's all clearly defined. Hmm. But we still are not able to overcome them, and I think it's because of the intricacies of the people who live in the community, and so we know the determinants of health, we know what poverty does, poverty makes people live and work a certain way, and because of that..."