Jon Bon Jovi Helps in Town's Health Care Woes

Dec. 27 -- Like many American towns, Red Bank, N.J., is in the midst of a serious crisis. Thousands of its working-class residents have no health insurance, and, consequently, inadequate access to health care. Unlike other towns, however, Red Bank has an activist minister, a visionary physician, and a homegrown rock star who joined forces to address the problem.

Dr. Gene Cheslock, one of Red Bank's most beloved physicians, saw the impact of America's health care crisis on his community every day. "Let's face it, we have Doctors Without Borders. They fly to Guatemala, they'll fly to Africa. Well, we have that need inherent in America," he said.

Shocking Numbers of Uninsured

What convinced Cheslock it was time for a new and daring endeavor in Red Bank was what Donald Warner, a Baptist minister and former school superintendent, discovered when he set out to see exactly how bad health care was for Red Bank's working poor.

Warner walked door-to-door, visiting 400 households, and determined that some 95 percent of Red Bank's Hispanic households, and roughly 30 percent of the area's African-American households, were uninsured. Warner said he was shocked by the numbers of uninsured.

For Cheslock, it was a clear call to action. He pitched a plan to create a free clinic to Red Bank's mayor, Ed McKenna. The mayor promised support but Cheslock was left to find his own funding. "I intentionally felt that the town should distance itself and it should function as a facility on its own so that it wasn't seen as a form of welfare or anything such as that," McKenna said.

Cheslock was undeterred. He rolled up his sleeves and soon a local construction company rolled in with the first major donation — an old trailer to be converted into a clinic.

But funding wasn't the only obstacle Cheslock faced. The tough Red Bank zoning board voted to pull the plug on the plan for the clinic. He also faced resistance from some in the community who said the town's illegal immigrants didn't deserve access to the clinic.