PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

Medina Community Clinic Provides Specialty Care to 48 Patients in 4 months

Medina Community Clinic, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit was launched in January 12, 2015 to provide low-income and underserved members of our community with quality specialty health care services.  These specialty care services are provided pro-bono by Mercer County physicians who volunteer their services.  Between the months of Dec 2015 to March 2016, 48 patients were served. 

The majority of Medina’s patients come from referrals from the Henry J. Austin Health Center – the largest non-hospital based ambulatory care provider in Mercer County.  Patients are also referred by St. Francis Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton.  Medina’s Patient Care Navigator links patients to one of more than twenty-five physicians who are currently on the Medina’s Panel of Volunteer Specialty Providers (see attachment for complete list of providers, the majority of whom are currently from the Muslim community).  All of the providers have agreed to provide high-quality health care in their office at no cost.  When patients need transportation to get to the Specialist it is coordinated by Medina’s small staff.

At Medina we strongly believe that access to quality healthcare is a basic right of every individual.  According to Arshe Ahmed, Medina’s Executive Director, Medina’s mission is to fill a void and serve those who currently have no place to turn to for quality specialty care either because they are uninsured or underinsured.  “Far too often those who don’t have adequate insurance don’t seek out preventative because they don’t have the ability o pay for these services.   All too often delayed preventative care has detrimental long-term health consequences as potentially life threatening diseases remain undetected and not treated in their nascent stages.” 

During the months of December 2015 to March 2016, 48 patients were provided specifically with specialty services.  Had a number of patients not seen a specialist, and had not been treated, they could have had serious medical consequences down-the-road.  In one case, a small mass was uncovered and removed, that could have morphed into cancer in the future.  In another case, a patient underwent a cardiac catheterization to diagnose and treat a heart condition with a stent.

Funding for the initial year of the Median Community Clinic was cobbled together from combination of donations from the community, the proceeds from a fundraising event and an initial start-up grant from First Choice Bank. 

On Sunday May 1^st from 1-3 pm Medina will hold its Second Annual Fundraising Event at the Windsor Athletic Club (99 Clarksville Road, West Windsor 08550). Tickets are just $50 per person and available by calling 609-270-5067 or online at medinahealthcare.org.

At the event, Linda Schwimmer, President and CEO, New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, and a member of Medina’s Board of Directors, will be have a conversation with Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker and Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli regarding upcoming health issues on the legislative docket.

Sajid Syed, who founded Medina Community Clinic and currently serves as chairman of the Board of Director, is extremely pleased at Medina’s positioning after one year: “We didn’t want to ‘recreate the wheel’ but rather work with existing assets on the ground.  We are doing just that and providing patients with desperately needed special care services. It is very gratifying.”