Meet Your Provider: Patricia Kao, M.D.
Pediatricians have a big responsibility to the littlest members of our community: they help patients ages birth to 21 grow into healthy adults. For Zufall Health’s Patricia Kao, M.D., being a pediatrician also means helping young patients overcome barriers to care. As the lead physician at Zufall’s Plainsboro site for the last year and, previously, a physician at our Somerville location for five years, Kao uses a person-centered, trauma-informed approach to...
Zufall Health Creates Healthy Smiles in Time for Veterans’ Day, and All Year-Round
Dozens of low-income military veterans received no-cost dental care at Zufall Health’s “Smiles for Our Heroes” event, sponsored by Delta Dental and the New Jersey Dental Association, on Saturday, November 5 in Dover and Morristown. Zufall provided a full range of services including dental exams and cleanings, oral cancer assessments, x-rays, fillings, and dentures, as well as refreshments, goodie bags, and nutrition education. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), a former U.S. Navy...
American Academy of Pediatrics Publishes Advice from Zufall Pediatrician Christine Pagano, M.D., About Keeping Kids Safe from Batteries
Christine Pagano, M.D., a pediatrician in Zufall’s Dover location, was published in October 2022 in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ digital publication HealthyChildren.org. Dr. Pagano’s article, “How can I protect my child from the dangers of lithium coin and button batteries?” addresses the growing problem of kids being admitted to emergency rooms for swallowing batteries, which are harmful to the body. Dr. Pagano writes: “In just 2 hours, lithium coin batteries can...
How Telehealth Transformed Our Delivery of Care
When Zufall Health’s clinical leadership first began discussions about telehealth with the New Jersey Primary Care Association (NJPCA), COVID-19 had yet to enter anyone’s vocabulary. Three years later, Zufall providers, including the Assistant Medical Director and family medicine physician Douglas S. Bishop, M.D., agree that telehealth has been essential for providing accessible and excellent health care delivery during the pandemic and beyond. In addition to mitigating the spread of the virus...
Art Exhibition Receptions Return to Zufall’s Dover Health Center
This month, Zufall Health’s Dover headquarters welcomed to its walls new works of art by local creatives. The group exhibition, “Movement,” curated by Zufall Communications Coordinator Amanda Barron, is the health center’s first since early 2020. The more than 60 original works include representational and abstract drawings, paintings, collage, and photography. Participating artists, art enthusiasts, and Zufall supporters gathered at the opening reception on Friday, September 16. An acoustic guitar performance...
Congratulations to Our Inaugural Class of Community Dental Health Coordinators
On Friday, September 9, Zufall Health honored its inaugural cohort of Community Dental Health Coordinators (CDHCs) in a graduation ceremony. The hybrid in-person/virtual celebration held in Zufall’s Dover headquarters capped a one-year program led by Zufall Chief Dental Officer Sam Wakim, DMD, MPH. Developed by the American Dental Association and initiated in 2007, the CDHC program trains dental professionals and other health professionals to improve access to oral health care. As...
Ask Dr. Bob: Are You Depressed, and What Can You Do About Depression?
We all have times when we feel bad, even guilty, about our lives, ourselves, our careers, or our futures. But for many people, this sad mood won’t go away and becomes a way of life. They may lack energy, have trouble concentrating, experience a change in appetite, or have sleep problems. It doesn’t do any good to tell them to just snap out of it. They would like to, but...
Celebrating the Value of Community Health Centers
Every year in early August the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) leads National Health Center Week (NHCW), a campaign celebrating the essential contributions that Community Health Centers (CHCs) make to local communities across the U.S. CHCs are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver comprehensive, culturally competent, high-quality primary health care services to vulnerable individuals and families. Zufall Health is proud to be a CHC! Annually, our nation’s 1400-plus CHCs serve an...
Meet Your Provider: Marcella Perez, M.D.
Zufall Health Family Medicine Physician Marcella Perez, M.D., is a first-generation Colombian American. She says that the similarities between Zufall’s patients and her own family members inspired her to join – and stay with – our health center. Perez has been providing care to children and adults at Zufall’s Morristown and West Orange sites for four years. She takes pride in being able to connect with her patients in their native...
Zufall Brings School-Based Care to High-Need Franklin Township
Zufall Health recently welcomed patients to our very first school-based health center! The new center, located on the campus of Hillcrest Elementary School in Franklin Township in Somerset County, marks Zufall’s tenth clinical site. A school-based health center (SBHC) is a health care facility within a school or on school grounds. The SBHC staff and school nurse work collaboratively to enhance the health and well-being of students, reduce absences, and maximize...