RHC: Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center

Contact: Owen McNally
Telephone: (609)757-3858

The Neighborhood Living Rooms (NLR) will provide comfortable user friendly environments to offer essential health, wellness, education and social service programs. Each NLR will be accountable to a Neighborhood Learning Collaborative and benefit from contributed services by all collaborative members. Neighborhood Learning Collaboratives will work with the Camden City Learning Collaborative. Specific objectives are to provide: the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Health Start Program in each of the five sites; a weekly neighborhood free clinic for those neighborhood residents without insurance (will serve estimated 500 at each site the first year); information and referral of residents to health, social and economic services already in existence (1,200 first year); training of neighborhood residents to be community leaders and health advocates (3 leaders and 20 health advocates per neighborhood per year); drug and alcohol support groups to residents who need ongoing care and follow-up, bodywork therapy (massage therapy, therapeutic touch, healing touch, reflexology), and wholistic health education to neighborhood residents on a weekly basis (bodywork-250 first year, wholistic health education-1,000 first year); OB/GYN and cardiac services on an as needed basis to those who are in need. The NLRs will also be open to other needs identified by the local communities e.g. access to mentoring and computer classes.

Implementation
The Neighborhood Living Room is unique in the fact that it is neighborhood based and is planned collaboratively in a forum not seen elsewhere. It is a focused melding of hospitals, human services, government, schools, law enforcement and a variety of other sectors with neighborhood residents. The project demands contributions from all, including the targeted populations, so that services are provided with, and not for, the residents. Program funds go directly to services. Accountability is to the Collaborative. The project is eminently replicable with particular applicability to inner city communities.

Time Frame
The initial Neighborhood Living Room will open in East Camden in July of 1998. Four other NLRs will open in Parkside, The LEAP Academy, Centerville and Whitman Park by July of 1999.

Financial Profile
The annual cost of operating the five NLRs is estimated at $250,000 or $50,000 per site.

Outcome
Expected outcomes are provision of needed and accessible community services delivered in a culturally competent manner; improvement in identified health indicators; enhanced ability of the community to plan and execute projects to deal with identified problems; and development of a replicable model with documentation, evaluation, and information dissemination. Another outcome will be increased interest, understanding and control over their own health on the part of neighborhood residents; more appropriate and cost effective use of available health services with decreases in inappropriate ER utilization among those served.

The fifth most impoverished city of its size in the United States-Camden, New Jersey-presents health statistics that easily rival many third world countries. And inability to access healthcare is a major contributor to the third world statistics. One of every eight adults is unable to identify a healthy care provider they could consult when ill. Almost one-fifth of Camden residents did not receive health care in 1996. One of every five prescriptions is unfilled due to economic distress. Limited hours by private primary care physicians have lead to lengthy waiting times for appointments and office visits. Lack of transportation, fear of going out of their homes, lack of understanding of managed care procedures and the importance of preventive care, lack of health insurance and cultural insensitivity are all barriers that presently inhibit access to health care.

Best Practice Narrative is limited to a one page summary.
Supporting data is limited to one page.