Zufall Health Honors Direct Relief At 30+1 Anniversary Event

Press release from Zufall Health:

Oct. 24, 2021

Zufall Health recently celebrated three decades of service to New Jersey’s most vulnerable patients by honoring Direct Relief, a global humanitarian organization that provides medical and emergency relief to victims of poverty and natural disasters.

At an outdoor event at Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park, Zufall also paid posthumous tribute to Paul Nusbaum, its board chairman emeritus.

“Direct Relief’s steadfast commitment to community health centers like ours is making an enormous impact on reducing health disparities and improving access to care for millions of medically underserved patients worldwide,” Zufall President and Chief Executive Officer Eva Turbiner told more than 100 celebrants at the event originally planned for last year, but derailed due to COVID.

“More personally, 10 years of support by Direct Relief and its partners has not only helped us create innovative programs and deliver better care, but provided desperately needed protective gear and funds that significantly helped us through the dark, early days of the pandemic.”

Following acceptance of a painting created by Denville artist Laurie Harden, Direct Relief President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Tighe praised Zufall for its leadership in launching public health initiatives that have become national models.

“I’ve visited nearly a thousand health centers during my tenure … and Zufall is at the top of the top in all things that matter,” Tighe said. “The best case for private philanthropy today in the United States are community health centers broadly, and Zufall in particular.”

The program also included the presentation of the Founders Award to Paul Nusbaum, Zufall’s board chairman emeritus. Nusbaum, a retired attorney, died in February after leading the Zufall board for nearly 20 years. The honor was accepted by Meredith Nusbaum, his widow.

Additionally, Turbiner acknowledged Congressional certificates commemorating Zufall’s milestone anniversary sent by Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer.

A nationally acclaimed, nonprofit federally qualified health center, Zufall Health was launched by Robert Zufall, M.D. and his wife, Kathryn, in 1990 as a modest free clinic in Dover. It now serves nearly 40,000 patients annually at its headquarters in Dover and seven additional sites in Morris, Sussex, Warren, Essex, Somerset, Hunterdon, and Middlesex counties.

This press release was produced by Zufall Health. The views expressed here are the author's own.