Mobile Clinic Serving Underprivileged Children Visits New Rochelle at Temple Israel of New Rochelle

The clinic is operated by the Children's Health Fund and was founded in 1987 by singer/songwriter Paul Simon and Dr. Irwin Redlener.

Dr. Irwin Redlener speaking to students as they visit the mobile medical unit of the Children's Health Fund at Temple Israel of New Rochelle Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012.

Sitting in the parking lot of Temple Israel of New Rochelle Tuesday was a big blue RV-like vehicle.
The "mobile medical clinic" is owned and operated by the Children's Health Fund, an organization that provides state-of-the-art health care to, among others, children housed in New York City homeless shelters and their families.

The Children's Health Fund, co-founded in 1987 by Dr. Irwin Redlener and singer/songwriter Paul Simon, operates 24 programs in rural and urban areas with 50 of the mobile clinics. They have also been called on to provide health care during such crises as the 9/11 attacks and Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina.

"We treat about 75,000 low-income children and their families every year in these units," Redlener said, adding that they like to call them "doctor's offices on wheels."

The fund's mission "is to try to get kids as healthy as possible," he said.

The reason for the mobile clinic's appearance in New Rochelle was not to treat area residents but to serve a fundraising purpose.

Redlener's grandson, Caleb Redlener, 12, who is a sixth grade student at Albert Leonard Middle School and attends Hebrew school at Temple Israel, wanted to do something for his grandfather's organization.

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