Lisa Schiavo was a 26-year-old single mother, and she needed help. On welfare and wanting desperately to get off of it, she turned to the North Hudson Community Action Corporation, known locally as the “NHCAC.”
Said Schiavo in a recent interview, “I went from on the system to off the system in a pretty short time. I went through their transitional housing program where you’re placed in an apartment on an emergency basis, such as being a single mom.”
Founded in 1965 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” program and using both Summer Head Start and Neighborhood Youth Corps grant money, the NHCAC now serves Union City, West New York, Guttenberg, North Bergen, Weehawken, Secaucus, Kearny, East Newark and Harrison. The main annex, located in West New York, provides medical care of all sorts, from pre-natal care and testing to HIV counseling.
According to a pamphlet published by the NHCAC, one of their main goals is “To better organize a variety of services, making these effective in helping poor families and individuals overcome a complex of interrelated problems blocking their escape from poverty.”
Michael Leggiero, president and CEO of the NHCAC, rose through the ranks since beginning his public service career in 1971 as a community relations representative. The NHCAC has moved many times and taken many forms, but has always been focused on the good of the public.
“You either do it right or you don’t do it at all,” says Leggiero.
The NHCAC provides a vast array of services for low-income residents of the towns it serves: regular doctor’s appointments (depending on income limits and insurance), gynecology, obstetrics, minor cryo-surgery, woman’s health, mental health (there are two full-time psychiatrists on duty), and substance abuse counseling.
If a person is part of an HMO, he must choose the NHCAC as his primary care facility in order to be treated by a doctor there. However, if a person only has insurance, but is not part of a HMO, that person can use the NHCAC and will be charged on the “sliding fee scale.” The scale mandates that the client pay whatever he or she can, according to their income. It may be $20, it may be $100, but either way, the patient must provide some sort of documentation proving income levels, or lack thereof. There is also a section of patients who fall under “uncompensated care” – these are people who simply cannot pay.
There are two other centers like the NHCAC in Hudson County and 15 total in New Jersey. According to Leggiero, a city or municipality must be designated by the state as an “MUA” or a “medically under-served area.” This is figured based on how many doctors serve the poor or indigent in a given area.
The program is partially funded by federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs).
Began as a family-planning program
The NHCAC actually began as a pre-natal and family-planning program run out of the basement of the St. John’s homeless shelter in Union City. The program was also a forerunner of a midwifery program.
Eleven years ago, the family planning grants dried up. According to Leggiero, “we needed to find another way to fund ambulatory care.” Ambulatory care is defined as any medical procedure or consultation that occurs outside of a hospital setting, and can be reached by the injured person.
Through a stroke of luck that Leggiero refers to as a “miracle,” the NHCAC was able to link up with the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, which just happened to have recently received a grant to fund an ambulatory care facility. Leggiero floated the idea of having the center right within the neighborhood. The hospital, lacking the space needed for such a facility, accepted.
The name “North Hudson Community Action Corporation” can be misleading as it conjures images of corporate boardrooms and men in three-piece suits. But as “action” is part of the name, it is put into practice every day, in a real way. The office in West New York is a thriving, bustling hive of activity. People from all walks of life line the halls or sit in chairs, waiting to meet with doctors. This is the tangible facet of the NHCAC. The non-tangible part is the one that can’t be seen, but can surely be felt by the people it helps. And to that end, the NHCAC also focuses on housing, health, employment, economic development and education to help ameliorate the problem of poverty that exists in the neighborhoods.
The NHCAC survives on a grass roots level. Says Leggiero, “Ninety-seven percent of our clients are referred to us by word-of-mouth.” Donations from local foundations and businesses also help keep the doors open. Said Leggiero, “Foundations have contributed, and PSE&G and Fleet bank have helped out as well.”
In the spirit of prevention, the NHCAC will be funding a scholarship program for nursing students that will happen, according to Leggiero, “hopefully by years’ end.” The best nursing students are selected (based on testing, attendance, instructor evaluations) and the NHCAC pays their tuition with the understanding being that the student will come back and work for the NHCAC.
Said Leggiero of this arrangement, “Everybody wins.”
The NHCAC also runs the “Women, Infants and Children” (WIC) program. This is a nutritional assistance program for pregnant and nursing women, infants and children. This program provides “income eligible” clients with nutritional advice and support in order to insure successful pregnancies and a good start to life.
Anyone wishing to contact the health center, in West New York, can call ( 201) 866-9320.