IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Updated March 26, 2024
NJVIP Voices Strong Support for Medicaid Bill That Helps Resource CVI Work!
Thursday, March 14th saw and heard key voices from the New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention coalition (NJVIP) articulate strong support for S1407, a bill that would allow Medicaid funding to be applied to providing certified training and other services for this lifesaving work.
The bill was heard before the NJ Senate’s Health Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
The bill, sponsored by Senators Singleton, Ruiz and McKnight, would allow for violence prevention professionals to receive financial reimbursement through the Medicaid program and provide critical services to those impacted by violence.
“Passage of this bill will help to ensure that all communities can enhance their capacity to address violence through public health approaches,” said Will Simpson of Equal Justice USA and a key spokesperson for NJVIP pointedly.
Addressing violence through public health approaches is a key engine driving the united efforts of NJVIP and the work of each of its partners.
Alia Berry, a passionate social worker and fixture in Newark’s groundbreaking Community based Violence Intervention (CVI) ecosystem said that the bill would “also foster trauma recovery and promote stabilization and improved overall health outcomes” for those receiving these services.
She also pointed out that several other states, including California, Illinois, Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland, New York, Colorado, “have already passed similar laws authorizing Medicaid funding for intervention services.”
“It is time for New Jersey to join this national trend and take a significant step toward improving the well-being of our Medicaid beneficiaries,” she asserted.
Michael Ordonez, the program manager of University Hospital’s highly regarded hospital based violence intervention program also weighed in citing the documented success of their program.
Just last year, that program received the prestigious Crime Victims Rights Award for their pioneering service. Their program, which has serviced some 1618 client-patients since its inception, was also the subject of a recent study published in the American Journal of American College of Surgeons. Of the 490 client-patients looked at in this study 49% achieved their stated goals within six months of being discharged and that a considerable number also were able to be fully reintegrated back into their community as a result of those services. The participants voiced “universal satisfaction” for the help they received from the program.
Ordonez not only highlighted the value of the bill resourcing services for victims of violence, he saluted its range and also emphasized how it “mandates the certification of violence prevention professionals and establishes standards for their training and continuing education,” another key dimension driving NJVIP work.
“These services are crucial for the addressing the multifaceted needs of individuals affected by community violence and empowering them to lead healthier, more resilient lives,” he insisted.
Adam Garrastegui, the Hospital Violence Intervention Prevention director at St Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson, who was personally affected by the death of Najee Seabrooks, the Paterson Healing Collective interventionist killed by the police in a mental health crisis, closed out the testimony insisting that any key training provisions are accessible to those “on the ground” actually doing the work.
“In implementing the training and certification provisions for this bill, it is important that we insure that that funding is equally accessible, not just to those on paper, but to those who have been doing the work and who continue to the do the work on the ground,” he closed pointedly.
The bill successfully passed out of committee and will next be sent to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.