LONG BRANCH: The city and area opened the Dr. Barry D. Elbaum Dental Center at 335 Broadway that replaces and significantly upgrades the present facilities and will serve the needs of the community irrespective of the ability to pay, CFO Bob Auriemma said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 27.

The new dental center, part of the Monmouth Family Health Center, was funded by the federal Health Resources Services Administration’s capital grant of $3.4 million. Construction costs amounted to $2.2M, plus $900,000 for state of the art equipment plus “paperwork administrative” costs.

The ceremony was emceed by Monmouth Family Health Executive Director Marta Cuellar Silverberg with the Invocation delivered by Rabbi Carlebach.

Visiting dignitaries included Senator Robert Menendez, Congressman Frank Pallone, Neptune Township Mayor Dr. Michel Brantley, Long Branch Council members Kate Billings and Michael Sirianni and Board of Directors Webster Trammell. Dr. Eric Burkett spoke on behalf of Monmouth Medical Center where Dr. Elbaum leads their dental care department. He praised doctor Elbaum, and said he has been advancing the dental care in the medical world for many years, since at least 1989 at Monmouth.

Dr. Elbaum was introduced by his daughter Dr. Gayle Elbaum, who told of his arrival in the United States at Ellis Island in 1949, an immigrant who survived the Holocaust. He worked his way through college, was an athlete in soccer and ping pong, and “masters everything he puts his mind to.” He is the father of three children, 15 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, she said. His passion is for education, “the only thing that cannot be taken from you”, she said on his behalf.

“He treats everyone with respect with a light that has never dimmed," she said.

His goal is to provide the best dental health care, it was said. Many of the work done at the center will be with the volunteer support of local dentists and staff. Dr. Elbaum paid tribute to them all as he gave his brief remarks and later wielded the scissors to cut the ribbon to a center built to serve the community for the foreseeable future.