In 1979, the New Jersey Chapter established the Samuel L. Baily Huntington’s Disease Family Service Center in cooperation with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the Center continues to provide invaluable services to this day. The mission of the Center is to provide comprehensive care for families and individuals in New Jersey. Services provided by the Center include:
- Support Services: The Center helps families obtain counseling, as well as social, financial, and legal help.
- Medical Services: The Center provides comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation therapies.
- Genetic Services: The Center can conduct prenatal and presymptomatic genetic testing, as well as counsel individuals undergoing such tests.
- Support Groups: The Center enables those with HD, those at risk, and caregivers to share their needs and concerns with others in the same situation.
- Placement and Protection Services: The Center helps families place patients appropriately in long-term care facilities and continues to follow their progress.
- Professional In-Service Education: The Center offers training and presentations on up-to-date information to hospitals and nursing homes, as well as other health-care professionals throughout New Jersey.
The Center recognizes that HD affects an entire family when a member is diagnosed with HD and provides services to the entire family. The Center also practices a team approach to patient care, bringing together a variety of medical and health-care specialists to work jointly with the patient and family.
For more information and assistance, please contact the Huntington’s Disease Family Service Center at the following numbers:
- Comprehensive Care Clinic at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School COPSA/University Behavior HealthCare, Piscataway, NJ: (732) 235-5993.
- Comprehensive Care Clinic at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, School of Osteopathic Medicine/Cooper Hospital UMC, Stratford, NJ: (856) 566-7078.