Well the pandemic made clear how much

work remains to bridge gaps in health

care for vulnerable communities

especially as hospitals became quickly

overwhelmed during the covid health

crisis

east orange is trying a new approach

using interfaith leaders and a recently

opened

urgent care walk-in center to ensure

residents are being treated for mind

body

and soul Melissa Rose Cooper reports as

part of our ongoing series

chasing the dream reporting on poverty

justice and economic opportunity

should it be an insurance carrier

medicaid

medicare or commercial no matter who you

are

if you don't have any insurance this is

the place you come

rabbi abe friedman assuring residents in

east orange

help is available for anyone in need of

medical services

why is it so important now more than

ever we need to extend

services to the community in east orange

and beyond

this is a an event that's going to bring

out people the community

community of faith the community of

color the minority communities and the

underserved communities

that has been struggling to get out of

the pandemic

and get their life back to normal that's

why the urgent care walk-in medical

suite

teamed up with other local organizations

for this social service and health fair

the new jersey latino pastors and

minister understand bring

social service to the community and

thanks to rabbi freakman

the undercare and also in collaboration

with sunrise

the new jersey reentry corporation we're

putting together this health fair

to bring more the 65 different service

to the community from job from medicaid

for employment opportunity

identification

fushtan snap we understand the community

so we are here to assure them that we

are here

for them and we have their best

interests at heart organizers for this

event say it's important to have

services like this

in neighborhoods like east orange where

a lot of people don't have access to

proper health care

and that includes formerly incarcerated

residents new jersey reentry corporation

is about providing people with

opportunities with second chances

i mean a lot of people come out of

prison and they may not have not only

not have had health care

but they may not have medicaid and so

what new jersey re-entry corporation

will do

is will register them immediately for

medicaid if they have a job we'll

register them immediately for the

affordable care act

so we connect people to health insurance

so that they can have these services

we know how important it is in these

storms when we come to health

we know how important it is to make sure

that our young people

stay healthy you know how important it

is to make sure that our

teenagers stay healthy and young adults

but more so

our valuable seniors we know how

important it is for them to have health

care

this vendor attending the fair hoping to

help someone in the community looking

for a job

what we're doing is we're just sending

out passing out flyers

just to let people know that we are in

the area

as well we do staff for home health aid

we also give the classes

we staff for dsps which are the direct

support professionals

who works in the within a group homes

with mentally disabled adults

what we see in specific niche orange is

that a lot of people have

a lack information and don't receive the

service that they need

specifically for the re-entry community

people with criminal record people with

background

don't have the right information through

the new jersey reentry corporation

we only know provide job placement for

them but also training program

we believe in giving a credential to

the ex-offenders and that's the reason

we're here organizers are hoping the

fair will help

hundreds of residents in the community

they say they're always available in the

future for anyone who missed it

and needs assistance for nj spotlight

news

i'm Melissa Rose Cooper major funding

for chasing the dream

is provided by the jpb foundation

with additional funding from the peter g

peterson and joan ganz cooney fund