Two community health centers that have multiple locations serving tens of thousands of people in Ocean and Monmouth Counties have been awarded an additional $1,394,888 in federal funds to help combat the impact of the coronavirus with expanded testing, said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04).

“The grants will help Ocean Health Initiatives (OHI) and the Center for Health Education, Medicine and Dentistry (CHEMED) located in Lakewood—which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Ocean County— expand capacity to test for COVID-19,” said Smith (NJ-04), who spoke on the floor in support of quick passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. “Our community health centers are at ground zero across America in the battle to slow and contain COVID-19.

“I am proud to have worked several years ago to win the critical federal designation for both of these Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FQHC),” Smith said. “Congress passed CARES to get aid into the hands of health providers like these FQHCs as quickly as possible.”

Smith said the funding—awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant Service Office last night—comes from the comprehensive, bipartisan $2 trillion stimulus to help communities devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, a bill which Smith strongly supported and was signed into law by President Trump March 27.

The CARES Act funding announced today provides Expanding Capacity for Coronavirus Testing (ECT) grants in the amount of $575,404 to Ocean Health Initiatives in Lakewood and $819,484 to the Lakewood Resource and Referral Center.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, three rounds of federal funding have now delivered a total of $4,039,336 to these critical healthcare centers: $1,848,236 in emergency funding to OHI, and $2,191,100 to CHEMED.

In a previous round of CARES Act funding announced in April, OHI received $1,178,900 grant, and CHEMED received $819,484. In March, funding from the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 provided $83,256 for OHI and $82,932 for CHEMED for treatment and prevention measures.

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