The Center for Healing at Cooper University Health Care has unveiled a mobile health care van to help those suffering from substance abuse in Camden.
According to an Oct. 23 announcement, a team of doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers will staff the mobile unit. Rowan University Cooper Medical School medical students, residents and fellows serve as volunteer support staff.
The van contains:
- A private examination room, toilet, waiting and registration area;
- Wound care and damage control supplies;
- Medicines that the team will administer on a limited basis.
The Center for Healing will work with community agencies across Camden. It will operate on a rotational basis and will establish a regular schedule for mobile healthcare services.
The agency’s first partner is Seeds of Hope Ministries. The faith-based organization provides outreach services to incarcerated individuals, ex-offenders and out-of-home residents, as well as those suffering from substance use disorders.
Funded through opioid scheme
The new unit was purchased through a $341,000 grant from Camden County as part of a countywide opioid settlement.
In March 2022, Governor Phil Murphy and now Attorney General Matt Platkin announced New Jersey would receive $641 million from settlements with New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson and with the country’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors: McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen.
The settlement will fund state and local programs aimed at treatment, prevention and other strategies to combat the opioid epidemic in the state, according to the governor’s office.
In May 2023, Camden County officials announced they had received an initial round of $1.2 million as part of the settlement. In the next twenty years almost $32 million will disappear toward Camden County to support community agencies, officials said.
“We are incredibly grateful to Camden County for providing the funding that allows us to expand our services in the community and meet people where they are in their health care journey,” said Dr. Rachel Haroz, director of Cooper University Health Care’s Center for Healing. in a statement.
Gratitude and congratulations
“We are incredibly grateful to be working with the Center for Healing, the new mobile unit and the dedicated addiction care team led by Dr. Rachel Haroz,” said Brenda Antinore, director of Seeds of Hope Ministries. “This partnership meets real needs and brings hope to those who need to know that change is possible – one day at a time, one life at a time.”
“This project will have an incredible impact on those who struggle with substance abuse and do not have easy access to medical care,” said Louis Cappelli Jr., director of the Camden County Commission. and we bring these services directly to the people who urgently need them.”
“I commend Cooper University Health Care for taking this innovative step forward in expanding services to individuals struggling with substance use disorders,” Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen said at the unveiling. “The mobile unit will now be able to meet people where they are and provide vital mental health and substance abuse services across the Camden community.”
“I have made it a priority to combat this disease by ensuring proven treatments like methadone are more accessible to our neighbors struggling with substance abuse. This van and Cooper’s team of professionals on it will save lives and that is certainly something to celebrate,” said U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J.
On the road
Cooper joins several other healthcare networks taking to the road to meet residents and patients wherever they are. Other recent efforts include:
