To mark National Health Center Week, officials gathered in Newark Thursday to cut the ribbon on the Saint James Health Center at East Side High School.

The new health clinic is a Saint James Health Federally Qualified Health Center. It launched in partnership with RWJBarnabas Health and includes a collaboration with the City of Newark and Newark Public School.

The effort aims to bring high-quality health care right into the center of the community.

“Health care is incredibly important,” said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. “The partnership between RWJBarnabas Health and Saint James Health, along with other private and public relationships, is so important. It’s not competition – it’s collaboration. Affordable health care that is accessible to our residents is exactly what we need.”

Located at 69 Pulaski St. in the Ironbound section of Newark, the facility has a dedicated, separate public entrance. The center offers primary care services, including:

• Pediatrics
• Adult medicine
• Vaccines
• Physicals
• Access to trained social workers
• Assistance with insurance enrollment, and more.

“We would not be here today without our partnership with RWJBarnabas Health,” said Nicole Fields, Saint James Health president and CEO. “For the past two years, this partnership has grown to serve the community. For example, we are able to send our patients to RWJBarnabas Health doctors, and vice versa, and have their electronic medical records close at hand. This provides better quality care.”

Working together

Mark Manigan, president and CEO, RWJBarnabas Health, said he was incredibly proud to be at the ribbon cutting on behalf of the health system’s 41,000 colleagues.

“When people look back on what we have been doing for the last couple of years, they will judge us by how we treated the most vulnerable,” said Manigan, who applauded Baraka for his commitment to the project. “This facility and partnership will provide not only vital access to care but coordination and access to other social services that tie it all together. We are proud to partner with Saint James Health and the Newark School System to support students, families, and the Ironbound Community at large.”

“We are tremendously grateful to our partners at Saint James Health and RWJBarnabas Health,” said Newark Schools Superintendent Roger Leon. “Our community is better because of you.”

The ceremony featured a slew of government and business leaders and key stakeholders.

As part of the event, RWJBarnabas Health sponsored a backpack giveaway – providing over 1,000 backpacks filled with essential school supplies for area children.

Advancing health equity

This effort is part of a broader initiative by the health system, funded through the “Our Healthy Newark” appropriation, to address health equity in vulnerable, historically underserved communities and the social determinants that impact health outcomes.

It also marks another partnership between RWJBarnabas and Saint James. In February, the partners opened a retail pharmacy and “Food Farmacy” in Newark.

National Health Center Week, which runs from Aug. 4 to 10, has a theme this year of “Powering Communities Through Caring Connections.”

“We are extremely lucky with the timing of this ribbon cutting at East Side High School in the Ironbound,” said Fields. “It falls during National Health Center Week. Here in New Jersey, the Federally Qualified Health Centers serve over 574,000 patients annually. This number continues to grow, along with the demand for affordable health care.”

“The Biden-Harris administration is proud to fund and support Federally Qualified Health Centers to provide medically underserved communities or populations with the high-quality health care they need and deserve, regardless of their insurance coverage or financial means,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region II Director Joseph Palm. “It’s through partnerships like this, between Saint James and RWJBarnabas Health, that Community Health Centers are able to make a lasting impact in the communities they serve.”