CAMcare Health Corporation

Camden leads the nation in statistics that determine the likelihood of failure of its children who live in poverty; nearly one out of three babies is born to a teenager, and 90% of the teenage mothers are unmarried. Substance abuse, especially due to "crack" cocaine and heroin, is a persistent problem in the city. Camden County must deal with the AIDS epidemic while it faces prevalence rates for syphilis and gonorrhea that are nearly seven times that of the state in general. In the face of these overwhelming problems, CAMcare continues to provide high quality primary care to the residents of Camden County.

CAMcare has made recent strides in the expansion of its perinatal and dental services. It has developed an on-site perinatal program, while collaboration with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) will provide accessibility to indigent users of dental services.

CAMcare Pediatrics has been asked to assume the role of medical provider to Camden's School-Based Clinic, which will allow an opportunity to effect counseling, education and STD screening, as well as providing general medical care in the high school.

For more than ten years CAMcare has been a popular six month clinical experience for University of Pennsylvania nurse practitioner students in both adult medicine and pediatrics. Third and fourth year medical students from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School also have chosen to do their clinical preceptorships in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at CAMcare.

CAMcare, in conjunction with the Camden County Health Department, recently opened two new centers in the City of Camden: the North Camden site is located at 6th and Erie Street in the heart of the city's Latino community; the East Camden site is located at Westfield and Federal Street in a mixed neighborhood of African-Americans, Latinos and a growing population of Asian-Americans. The center is currently preparing to enter into its first real estate venture: the purchase of a bank building to be converted into a medical facility.

CAMcare received a small grant out of the Department of Health & Human Services' Healthy Start Initiatives Program this year to begin a full service perinatal program. These funds have afforded the center an opportunity to bring on board a full-time OB/GYN, nurse practitioner, nutritionist and social worker to begin the program. It is hoped with increased year two funding, CAMcare will be able to expand its staff to fully handle the inpatient as well as outpatient portion of the perinatal service.