Empower The Medically Underserved Residents Of Ocean County

Written by: Theresa Berger, M.D., Chief Executive Officer

Here we are in the New Year, looking forward to a prosperous and healthy year; but we already have all of our holiday debt on top of the monthly bills AND we’re worried about our healthcare costs . . .

What do we do?

As CEO of Ocean Health Initiatives, I can help reduce your primary healthcare stress. Ocean Health Initiatives (OHI) is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Ocean County. OHI is continually evolving. Six years ago many of our patients had no means of providing their families or themselves with health care. Doctors in the area couldn’t handle the huge uninsured population. We, however, were able to satisfy the need then; and we continue to do so today.

We have been able to model our services to our ever-changing population by increasing hours and adding qualified professionals as our volume grows. Currently, we have a mixed patient population.

OHI addresses the needs of every patient and provides primary health care for the county’s uninsured, underinsured, and privately insured patients.

So now you ask, why OHI?

Well, I will tell you. If you need health care due to a loss of a job, or healthcare benefits, OHI can help you. OHI provides quality professional health care while offering a deeply discounted rate if you have no insurance. Our bilingual social workers can advise you about other excellent Ocean County programs that you may qualify for, and they will assist you in navigating the sometimes complicated system.

I would like to describe our medical staff. We have seven OB/ GYN doctors, four pediatricians, four adult medical providers, three dentists, and a podiatrist. They are all board certified in their field; many come from private practice because they wanted to join a group practice. They want to provide medical care to people who cannot get it elsewhere, and they want to be able to give back to their communities who have supported them for so many years.

Our OB/GYN doctors work together in providing your care. These are the same doctors who are also delivering your baby at the hospital. We have 6,345 OB/ GYN patients. One of our greatest accomplishments is that OHI delivered more than 1,050 babies in 2009. In 2010 we anticipate 1,100 deliveries. Ninety percent of our newborns become pediatric patients -- a testament to our pediatricians.

Our immunization rate is in the high 90th percentile in keeping the entire community healthy. To date, our OHI Mobile Medical unit (MMU) team was able to give over 1,400 vaccines by visiting local schools directly and by helping Ocean Health Initiatives provide over 7,200 H1N1 vaccines.

Our adult medical practice is a hybrid model because we provide services from our current facilities in Lakewood and Toms River, and from our state-of-the-art Mobile Medical Unit (MMU), which services rural areas of the county, such as Manchester, Stafford, Long Beach Island, and the outer areas of Toms River and Lakewood. Our MMU schedule is posted on our Web site , and you can always call OHI for information.

So, have I helped? If you pick up the phone and call for an appointment, I would say, “Yes”; but if you need health care, do not know how you are going to pay for it, and have not called OHI, maybe you need more information.

Our patient population has grown exponentially in 2009 due to the local financial climate and the effect that is has had on communities throughout Ocean County. We have many families who own their own homes and cars but cannot afford traditional healthcare benefits, so they are joining our family. We are proud to say that many who have been fortunate to reinstate their private benefits have decided to stay with our providers.

OHI participates on a national level in a best practice medical delivery system with the best medical organizations in the country. We participate in collaborative models that allow us to share our medical outcomes with similar organizations, private practices and hospitals, and work collectively to choose the best model for asthma, diabetes, childhood obesity, and pharmaceutical usage. This gives our patients the opportunity to learn more about their illnesses, and improve their health and over all well being. We have also successfully decreased the usage of emergency rooms as well as missed work days or school days. In essence, our patients live healthier lives; and, in many cases, with decreased medication usage.

We have two convenient locations in Lakewood and Toms River. We will be adding additional services areas by the summer of 2010, allowing us to reach further into the Ocean County community. As I mentioned, we are constantly changing to meet the needs of our patients because you are who matter most.