Expanded History

EXPANDED HISTORY

In 1963 two African American women, Alvan Martin, wife of Councilman Fred Martin, and Susan Scott, met with Joel Leyner a Jersey City attorney to discuss the possibility of opening a birth control clinic in Jersey City. They were aware that community physicians were not giving birth control advice because they were afraid of losing their affiliations at the local hospitals. They also knew the pressing need of the community for reproductive education & services.

Mr. Leyner has a vivid recollection of how the ideas and desires of a small group of Hudson County residents began to develop. The first thing done was the organization of a Board of Trustees. This Board included Father Robert Castle, a priest from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Rabbi Berman, Dr. Hilda Fleigel, Alvan Martin, Susan Scott and Joel Leyner, who was the founding Board President from 1963-1972.

Father Castle allowed the use of the parish house at St. John’s Church on Summit Avenue so Saturday sessions could begin. In 1963 a provisional affiliation was obtained from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Claudette Mack, R.N. was hired to work on Saturday mornings. Contact was made with several physicians including Drs. David Drelich and Morris Soled. These physicians agreed to donate two hours on Saturday mornings. Board members, Alvan Martin and Susan Scott, volunteered as receptionist and outreach workers. Later, Cynthia Scott, Susan Scott’s daughter-in-law, also volunteered as a health care and outreach worker. Lillian Guss, a volunteer in the clinic’s fledging stages and its first Executive Director, recalls with nostalgia, "We had to carry buckets of water for the doctors to wash. Conditions were primitive but spirits were high because of the belief in the cause".

A remarkable parallel current began to be felt within the Jersey City community, a current which would eventually infuse the birth control clinic with desperately needed funds. A group of concerned community leaders, including Revered Ercel Webb, Earl Byrd and attorney Raymond Chasan, formed a group called Community and Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO). Several programs had their genesis directly from this organization, among them were Head Start and Meals On Wheels. In 1967, after a series of lively, often contentious, public meetings, CANDO voted to fund Planned Parenthood Association of Hudson County’s grant request. The grant enabled the birth control clinic to move to its first permanent office at 777 Bergen Avenue, over what was then the PIX Theater on McGinley Square. By the following year, the number of patients visiting the Family Planning Center had grown to 500.

It was a very exciting time in the community. The federal anti-poverty programs were new and popular and there was a genuine desire in the community to help people lift themselves out of poverty. Leaders like Councilman Fred Martin and Julian Robinson saw the possibility of the poor as well as the rich having means of planning for and spacing their children, as a contribution to the community.

For the first seven years after incorporation, Planned Parenthood Association of Hudson County was the only complete family planning service in Hudson County. Satellite facilities in two other Hudson County cities, Bayonne and Hoboken, were established and supervised by Planned Parenthood of Hudson County for two years before becoming autonomous. Satellite clinics were also started in the three high rise federal housing projects in Jersey City: A. Harry Moore, (Duncan Projects), Curries Woods and Montgomery gardens, where a clinic was named in memory of Founder, Susan Scott. A psychological clinic was set up in the main facility to address the severe psychological and sociological stresses that many of the patients were undergoing within their families and relationships. A small nursery was built to alleviate baby-sitting problems.

By early 1970, thanks to outreach, word-of-mouth, and a steady stream of favorable publicity, the center’s caseload became quite large and in 1971, Title X funding came from the federal government through the New Jersey State Department of Health.

Beginning in 1982 the direction of Marilyn Bennett, Health Services of Hudson County became the nucleus for an unprecedented burgeoning of health care services for women. In 1983, a prenatal grant was obtained from the State of New Jersey and a center which had previously operated in the old CYO building was moved to the present Bergen Avenue site. During the following year, through the dedication of the midwives, the prenatal center was expanded to become a full maternity service providing prenatal, labor, delivery and post-partum care. Initially there were 250 deliveries, a figure which soon grew to over 700 annually. In 1984, funding was obtained from the Department of Health, to begin intensive programs for pregnant and parenting teens with an emphasis on the prevention of child abuse and further teen pregnancies. "This was a critically important step in recognizing that teen pregnancy is a social as well as a health problem", says Marilyn Bennett. In 1985, Health Services of Hudson County instituted a center to provide inoculations and well-baby care for babies delivered to the women in the facility’s maternity unit. That same year the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies program was initiated in Jersey City and Health Services was able to expand its services to pregnant women and babies with the use of these additional funds. In 1990 Health Services of Hudson County again changed its name. Horizon Health Center was born. In 1993 in yet another in this series of seemingly annual breakthroughs, Horizon became a FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Center Look-A-Like) and in 1999 became a full Community Health Center funded by the Federal government. In 2002 Horizon opened a new site at 412 Summit Avenue and in February 2003 Horizon Health Center became JCAHO accredited.

Today, over 40 years after its humble inception at an Episcopal parish house clinic, run by volunteers on Saturday mornings, Horizon offers full comprehensive health care. Not only does it function successfully as a primary care agency, but as a referral agency for a diverse range of social, educational, and medical concerns. What began a quarter of a century ago with a few doctors donating a couple of hours each weekend and Board members manning the telephone, is today a complex and vital health care organization whose policy guidance is provided by physicians, attorneys, educators, business people and consumers who serve on its Board of Directors. Medical policies are overseen by a Medical Director and Ob/Gyn Board Certified physicians. The staff also includes certified ob/gyn nurse practitioners, registered nurses, certified nurse midwives, licensed practical nurses, laboratory technicians, counseling and educational professionals as well as administrative and clerical staff. Hispanic, African American, Filipino, Indian Pakistani and Arabic staff are available to better serve our multi-lingual patients.

As we look back on the legacy roughly traced here, we marvel at the steely tenacity of its protagonists and we salute their indefatigable commitment to providing comprehensive health care for all citizens of their community. We proudly salute the Alvan Martins, and Susan Scotts, and we proudly salute the thousands and thousands of citizens who have passed through the doors of Horizon in pursuit of their own and their family’s well-being since that first Saturday morning in 1963. It only takes a cursory perusal of today’s headlines to realize that the struggle to provide adequate and dignified health care is far from over; there are always those who would turn back the clock on women’s rights as well as deny health care to the poor adults and children if they could. But ballasted by a distinguished history, we face the twenty-first century, resolute in our efforts to provide the people of this area with a complete and effective health care facility whose doors are open to everyone.

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