Chandler Health Center Opens Satellite Office at New Brunswick High School

Representatives from the city public school system, mayor's office and health care agencies cut the ribbon Tuesday morning on the newest Eric B. Chandler Health Center location in New Brunswick.

Located in New Brunswick High School, the 2,100 sq. foot satellite office will serve both students and the general public for both medical and dental needs. It will be open during school hours and after, and is accessible via an entrance located in the high school courtyard.

It is slated to open on Nov. 19.

According to a press release from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the office will accept most insurance plans, and bill on a sliding scale, depending on each patient's situation.

According to New Brunswick Schools Superintendent Richard Kaplan, New Brunswick High School was built by the state as a "demonstration project," meant to serve as a community hub as well as a school. The office was constructed along with the school, Kaplan said, intended from construction to be used for that purpose.

New Brunswick Public Schools money is not involved in the project, which is described as "A collaborative effort between Johnson & Johnson, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Eric B. Chandler Health Center Community Board, Inc., New Brunswick Board of Education, Office of the Mayor of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Development Corporation and the Foundation of UMDNJ," according to the event program.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Kaplan said the idea for a the office started being discussed in 1998 between the medical school, the district and the mayor's office.

Mayor James Cahill said that one of the most underserved populations in New Brunswick in terms of health care is young people.

"What an opportunity to have a captive audience," Cahill said, of the office located within the school.

Those students will relay the accessibility of health care to their families, which will in turn increase the reach of the center, he said.

Dr. Denise Rodgers, Interim President of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School said the opening of the office does not just provide more services, but is a component of "meaningful additions to access to (health care) for those here in New Brunswick."

The office contains two exam rooms and two dental care rooms, a waiting area and reception desk, and offices for other services, including social services, according to the release.

It is staffed by a full-time physician, a full-time nurse, a dentist, a full-time dental assistant and a clinical services representative, according to Dr. Eric G. Jahn, Senior Associate Dean of Community Health for UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Jahn said that a medical office on school-owned property is not new in New Brunswick. The health center's original location was 225 Comstock St., property that is owned by the New Brunswick public school district. 

At the time, the medical office consisted of three double-wide trailers that were pushed together, he said. The health center moved to its primary location at 277 George St. in 1995, he said.

The Eric. B. Chandler Health Center operates an an additional satellite office, located at 123 Church St.

For more information on the Eric B. Chandler Health Center, visit http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/patient_care/chandler/index.html.