Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel said that under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Bronx Community Health Network is receiving a $697,149 grant for its DeWitt Clinton High School Health Center.

Rep. Engel said, “This funding for a school health center will help keep our young people healthy, giving them greater opportunities to succeed in school and in life. These are difficult times and this health center will go a long way to maintaining the health of our community.”

Eleanor Larrier, Executive Director of the Bronx Community Health Network, said, “BCHN is delighted that ARA funding is now available for this much needed school health center. Keeping our students healthy allows them to perform better academically and to be prepared to compete in school and in the work place.”

Rep. Engel said the grant was part of the $155 million awarded to 126 health centers nationwide under the ARA. The 11-term Congressman, who is a senior member of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said the money is part of a program that will ultimately spend $2 billion in health centers to provide health services to 750,000 Americans while creating 5,500 jobs.

BCHN is a not-for-profit, community-based, organization that was established in 1996 and whose mission is to secure resources which will assure access to the highest quality comprehensive health care services, particularly for those with little or no health care insurance.

The BCHN centers are operated by Montefiore Medical Center and Promesa Systems. BCHN also operated health care centers at Walton High School and South Bronx High School.

Health centers typically provide the following services: primary medical care, education, pharmacy, nutrition assessment, mental health, dental and oral health and vision testing. They also provide referrals and follow-up for specialty, inpatient, complex diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative services.