Photo Courtesy of CDC This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, depicts coronavirus. The spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion when viewed electron microscopically, which gives the virus its name.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — U.S. Reps. Mikie Sherrill, NJ-11, and Tom Malinowski, NJ-07, announced that Zufall Health Center, which has a West Orange location, will receive an additional $118,000 in funding to help address the COVID-19 outbreak in New Jersey from the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020. Sherrill and Malinowski supported a provision in the legislation to support community health centers across the country. Zufall will be able to use this funding to address screening and testing needs, acquire medical supplies, and boost telehealth capacity in response to COVID-19.
“Our community health centers are on the front lines of providing care in New Jersey,” Sherrill said. “During my visit to Zufall’s Morristown location last year, I saw the critical role they play as a provider for the most vulnerable members of our community. With the COVID-19 outbreak, they are going to be providing services well above and beyond what we normally ask them to do. While this additional funding Congress provided is a great start, I know that more needs to be done to support our local community health centers that are the first point of contact for so many of our residents. I am currently on the phone every day with Zufall, along with other health care providers in our district, and am here to support their incredible work in any way I can.”
“We are extremely grateful that the federal government has recognized the role that community health centers are playing in our current crisis and for the distribution of these additional funds,” said Eva Turbiner, president and CEO of Zufall Health Center. “Clearly the critical health and financial circumstances we see now will be ongoing and we remain committed to serving the needs of our community. We are already hearing from people who have lost benefits due to job layoffs. As we saw during the financial crisis in 2008, the demand for high quality affordable health services will increase after the initial phase of this public health crisis. Community health centers will need long-term funding to be able to meet the increased demand for our services.”
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