Neighborhood Health Center Plainfield

As a community health center, PHC has consistently worked to respond to the changing health care environment. It has historically been proactive in addressing, on a local level, many of the issues facing the state and nation today, such as cost containment, enhancing access to a broader base population, and forging health networks and collaborations. One such collaboration was the 1988 affiliation agreement with Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center (MRMC), a community teaching hospital relocated its core primary care services to the PHC site. MRMC provides teaching attendings and internal medicine residents for the combined program. PHC, in turn, administers the program and clinical operations and provides physician and support staff.

The affiliation has resulted in the two organizations recently initiating a closer relationship to form an integrated continuum of care network that will enhance access to healthcare.

Services provided by PHC include internal medicine; obstetrics; gynecology; family planning; pediatrics; dentistry; podiatry; pharmacy; x-ray; laboratory, and social work services. Additional services include: HIV/AIDS treatment therapy; nutritional counseling, and on-site WIC srvices. PHC's clinical programs have been further enhanced through the comprehensive Perinatal Care Program which provides a full scope of on-site prenatal and support services, including case management to a population which increased by 20% this year.

In 1996, PHC established the Cardinal Health Center on the campus of Plainfield High School. The CHC provides on site services to PHS students. In July 1997, PHC began to provide athletic and working paper physical exams to students of the Plainfield School system, in addition to Medical Examiner/School Physician services to the Plainfield Board of Education.

Significant proposed projects include expansion of specialty care services on site at PHC, and expansion of after hours care.