A federal grant will help expand access to dental services for low-income patients of the Dr. Barry D. Elbaum Dental Center, an affiliate of Monmouth Family Health Center on lower Broadway in Long Branch.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the $240,000 operational grant, according to Marta Silverberg, executive director of Monmouth Family Health Center. Half of the funding will be used to hire an additional full-time dentist for the center’s new dental facility, which opened in June. “That will basically help us increase access for dental services,” she said. “This new grant is to expand dental services.”
Silverberg said the health center, which is affiliated with Monmouth Medical Center, will receive $240,000 per year for two years. After two years, HHS might continue to fund the health center on an annual basis, she said.
The other half of the grant will be used to expand the internal medicine program at Monmouth Family Health Center, 270 Broadway.
In total, HHS has allocated $15.6 million in grant funding for 20 health centers in New Jersey to expand primary care services through the Affordable Care Act.
The dental facility currently employs one full-time dentist and one part-time dentist, whose services are augmented by eight residents to provide dental services to the community.
Silverberg said the dental center will provide services to approximately 4,000 patients this year. It is open to low-income patients with or without insurance.
Since the dental facility opened in June, the reaction has been positive, she said. “It has been fantastic — the patients love it and, really, it has been unbelievable,” Silverberg said. “Everybody is very happy, and there is plenty of space so that the doctors love it.
“At this point, basically, if you don’t have any dental insurance, you can come here and we give you a discount.”
With the program in its infancy, the staff is working to get the word out to the community, Silverberg said.
“It is never enough, because the need is always going to outweigh the supply,” she said. “It is always difficult to get the word out, but we do health fairs and we do public service announcements. And in this case, we had a big opening.”
To help build awareness of the dental services, an open house meeting will be held Jan. 29 for community organizations around the county, Silverberg said. Invitations are being extended to 55 organizations that serve low-income people, she said.
The open house will include tours of the facility and discussion of some of the services provided.
The clinic is funded by a $3.47 million federal grant. The Monmouth Family Health Center was awarded the grant through the Affordable Care Act in 2012 to construct a 6,000-square-foot dental clinic with 10 new dental chairs and state-of-theart equipment.
Silverberg estimated that the expanded dental facility would serve about 12,000 patients each year, with many coming from Long Branch, Red Bank, Neptune and Keansburg.
A major benefit to the new dental center is its location adjacent to a bus stop on Broadway, Silverberg said.
“Anybody who comes in and out of the bus sees us, so they can’t miss us,” she said.
Monmouth Family Health Center serves low-income clients — a large portion of whom do not have health insurance — in Long Branch and other towns in Monmouth County.
Silverberg said the health center has receptionists who speak more than one language, which helps the facility offer services to a diverse population. She said the majority of non-English speaking patients speak either Spanish or Portuguese, and the language barrier is not an issue for 99.5 percent of patients.
Monmouth Family Health Center’s staff of doctors, nurses and other professionals provide a wide range of services in pediatrics, adolescent and adult medicine, podiatry, HIV care, nutrition counseling, health education, social services, prenatal and gynecological care, and dental services.
For more information, visit its website at www.mfhcnj.org.