Newswise — Brick, NJ – September 4, 2019 – The Guild of Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center raised more than $48,000 through its Annual Fashion Show at Jack Baker’s Lobster Shanty in Point Pleasant Beach. Proceeds from the event will be used to purchase equipment for Ocean Medical Center’s stroke rehabilitation and acute care of the elderly services. Additionally, the Guild will donate $10,000 to the Common Ground Grief Center in Manasquan and $22,200 to the Mental Health Association of Monmouth and Ocean counties suicide prevention programs in local schools.

The fundraising event featured a four course dinner, gift auction and high-end fashion show that showcased local boutiques. “We look forward to this event each year,” shares Sharon Dymnioski, president of the Guild of Ocean Medical Center. “It gives us the opportunity to gather with friends and enjoy a night out, all while making a positive impact on the health care provided to our very special community.”

The Guild is comprised of volunteer men and women who raise funds to support educational and other health-related services at Ocean Medical Center and throughout the community. Since it was founded in 1953, Guild of Ocean Medical Center has made generous contributions to support excellence in health care on a local level. The group provided funding for endoscopy equipment, cancer services, surgical needs and many more initiatives that help Ocean Medical Center provide the best health care possible, close to home. The Guild has also supported several community organizations that help advance the health and well-being of the local community.

“We are incredibly grateful for organizations such as the Guild of Ocean Medical Center, run by generous individuals who volunteer their time, expertise and passion to help raise funds for our medical centers,” says Joseph Stampe, president and chief development officer, Hackensack Meridian Health Meridian Health Foundation. “The funds raised by these organizations are valuable as Meridian Health Foundation strives to raise $150 million as part of our Giving Heals capital campaign and we are thankful for their support.”

Giving Heals supports four important initiatives: strengthening oncology services, improving clinical outcomes, enhancing the patient experience and broadening clinical research and academic programs at the following Hackensack Meridian Health medical centers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties: Jersey Shore University Medical Center, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, Bayshore Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center and Southern Ocean Medical Center.

To learn more about the Guild of Ocean Medical Center, or to become a member, please call 732-223-0435. To learn more about the Giving Heals campaign, please call Matt Lang, executive director, Ocean Medical Center Foundation, at 732-751-5116 or email [email protected].

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH OCEAN MEDICAL CENTER

Serving Ocean and southern Monmouth counties, Ocean Medical Center is an advanced care hospital that offers the convenience and easy access of a community hospital with high technology advances and expertise of a major medical center featuring expert care coordinated by a team of top specialists in emergency, cardio vascular, women’s health, cancer and orthopedic services. Delivering on this promise, Ocean Medical Center is home to an innovative medical-surgical floor equipped with 36 private patient beds that integrates technology and design to transform the patient experience and empower patients to return to their lives as soon as possible.  This forward thinking renovation project completed the $82 million expansion including the 44,300 square foot state-of-the-art Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Emergency Care Center and a new comprehensive Cancer Center. Ocean Medical Center officially became a premier community-based teaching hospital with the launch of its inaugural class of family medicine and psychiatry residents in 2018 and, further medical education developments included the addition of an internal medicine residency program in 2019. 

The medical center provides the only 24/7 obstetrical hospitalist coverage and a dedicated obstetrical emergency department in the community to enhance the continuity of care for women and their infants. Certified by the Joint Commission as an accredited orthopedic program, Ocean Medical Center is a designation for orthopedic joint replacements where more than 1,000 joint replacements are done annually. The Vascular Program is among the first in Ocean County to offer Trans-cervical Carotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) for patients with carotid artery disease. Other key services include: designation as a Primary Stroke Center; brain lab neurological surgery, DaTscan and advanced imaging technology; da Vinci®  robotic surgery; general thoracic and vascular surgery; one of the nation’s most advanced cardiac catheterization laboratories and cardiac services; acute care of the elderly; and critical care services.  Ocean was recognized as a high performing hospital in U.S. News & World Report 2018-19 for heart failure and colon cancer surgery and earned The Joint Commission Seal of Approval for four disease sites:  Jt. Replacement, Stroke, Palliative Care, and Colorectal cancer.

The medical center has achieved Magnet® recognition, one of the highest and most prestigious distinctions a health care organization can receive for nursing excellence and high-quality patient care. In spring 2019, Ocean Medical Center was once again awarded an ‘A’ rating in the Leapfrog Safety Grade and received the 2018 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for superior safety performance. Ocean Medical Center received the highest score in the hospital network for team member engagement in the Great Places To Work® survey and has been honored for Environmental Excellence by Greenhealth for its ongoing commitment to improving environment performance.

Additional certifications and awards include:  2018 Get with the Guidelines® continuous quality improvement awards for Heart Failure Gold Plus Award, Stroke Gold Plus and Stroke Honor Roll Elite Awards, the 2018 ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award. 

The medical center also operates the state’s first satellite Emergency Care Center in Point Pleasant, the Ocean Care Center, and hospital-based programs at Jackson Health Village.

ABOUT THE GIVING HEALS CAMPAIGN

Giving Heals is a $150 million regional comprehensive campaign to raise funds for strengthening oncology services, improving clinical outcomes, enhancing the patient experience and broadening clinical research and academic programs. Publicly announced at the Meridian Health Foundation Gala on November 17, 2018, the campaign will run through 2020. Over $90 million dollars has been raised to date to support following Hackensack Meridian Health medical centers: Jersey Shore University Medical Center, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, Bayshore Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center and Southern Ocean Medical Center.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 34,100 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker’s Health care’s “150 Top Places to Work in Health care/2018” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

 

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