Vol. 4, No. 3, March 2007
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Centers of Health
A Look at South Jersey Health Centers
We often don’t appreciate our health until we lose it. But when an injury sidelines us, or a bout of illness catches us by surprise, we are reminded of the precious gift that health can be. Fortunately, Atlantic City offers several state-of-the-art medical centers poised to deliver quality care to get us back on our feet.
Shore Memorial Hospital
Just a short block from the scenic bay in Somers Point, you’ll find Shore Memorial Hospital, a community institution since 1928 when it first appeared as a private drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. A group of local citizens bought it in 1940 and turned it into the nonprofit Somers Point Hospital. It was officially renamed Shore Memorial later that same year.
Today, Shore Memorial is a not-for-profit, 296-bed, full-service acute care community hospital with more than 1,700 employees and 35 medical and surgical specialties. To give you a sense of Shore Memorial’s service to the community, the hospital handled 12,679 admissions, 1,640 births, 43,428 emergency room visits and 7,200 inpatient and same-day surgeries in 2005.
“We provide the full spectrum of medical services but we’re a regional leader in cancer, cardiovascular, neuroscience and maternal and child health care,” said spokesperson Margie Barham, director of marketing and public relations. “We’ve put several partnerships in place to enhance the services that we can provide to our patients."
One such partnership is with the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network. It provides Shore Memorial patients with seamless access to clinical trials, research and treatment options. The Penn Lung Center at Shore Memorial, one of the newer programs, provides care from diagnosis through treatment. In addition, Shore Memorial’s cancer program is one of the most comprehensive in the country, including screenings, counseling and support groups as well as treatment.
Shore Memorial’s freestanding Cancer Center is also an ultra-modern facility designed for privacy and to meet the needs of cancer patients, based on input from those patients as well as cancer nurses and physicians.
"People in the area don’t have to travel to Philadelphia to get specialty care,” said Barham. “Not only do we provide the most advanced services, but our partnership with Penn allows them to get the benefit of that specialty care and still remain close to home during their treatment and follow-up.”
Similarly, Shore Memorial partners with Penn in cardiac care. Shore Memorial’s Critical Care Center offers advanced life-saving care, and its Cardiovascular Institute evaluates, diagnoses and treats cardiac disease. In neuroscience, Shore Memorial’s specialists provide advanced care for patients with disorders of the brain and spine, including strokes. In fact, Shore Memorial is a Primary Stroke Center and an affiliate of Penn’s Neurological Institute.
Under maternal and child health, Shore has another significant partnership, with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). CHOP provides round-the-clock medical backup to Shore’s pediatric care program, which includes a full and diverse staff to attend to the medical, emotional and educational care needs of the child and family. Before a young child undergoes a procedure at Shore Memorial, a nurse will “role play” the surgery using dolls. Their stay in the hospital is in the pediatric unit designed to look and feel like the Ocean City Boardwalk. In a similar vein, the maternity unit resembles a Victorian bed-and-breakfast.
But Shore Memorial’s focus isn’t only on injury or illness. The hospital also has a strong wellness component, with regular classes on such topics as stress management, t’ai chi, childbirth and parenting, and more. The hospital regularly hosts lectures and health fairs.
"We also partner with Tilton Athletic to help our patients develop healthier lifestyles,” said Barham. “The wellness and preventive care program is very important to us, and Tilton offers the opportunity for our patients to make lifestyle changes."
"Our relationship with Shore Health System is mutually beneficial one,” said Sam Young, owner of Tilton Fitness. “It enables Shore to extend their continuum of care beyond the traditional healthcare setting. For Tilton Fitness, it enables us to offer a broader range of health and wellness services to a more diverse population in terms of both age and health status. That benefits everyone, including employers and especially employees."
In addition, Shore Memorial, in cooperation with local NBC affiliate TV-40, produces Health Today, a weekly award-winning television health show. The program features local physicians and healthcare professionals. Plans for the future include an expanded emergency department and technology upgrades for cardiac and cancer diagnoses. Shore Memorial is going to invest $11.5 million in 2007 toward these upgrades.
AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center
As one of the largest non-casino employers in the region, AtlantiCare covers a full range of health services, but it is the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center that may be most visible. Situated on two separate campuses, ARMC is both in the city and offshore in Galloway with a total of 567 beds.
ARMC is home to a long list of services, including the Heart Institute at ARMC, the region's only cardiac surgery center; Level II Regional Trauma Center, one of only two in southern New Jersey; the Center for Childbirth and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the Joint Institute, the Spine Institute, the Stanley M. Grossman Pediatric Special Care Unit, AtlantiCare Cancer Care, the Kligerman Digestive Disease Center, the Center for Surgical Weight Loss & Wellness, AtlantiCare Women's Health & Wellness, and the region's only hospital-based infectious disease program.
In the area of cancer care, ARMC has partnered with one of the nation’s leading cancer centers, Fox Chase. The affiliation provides ARMC with access to programs for patients at higher risk of developing certain cancers because of family history or other factors. It’s just one of the ways ARMC is taking a leading role, according to hospital officials.
ARMC also has a strong wellness component. AtlantiCare Women’s Health & Wellness opened its new Pavilion at the Park, a facility dedicated to women’s health issues and concerns, located in the AtlantiCare LifeCenter in the AtlantiCare Health Park in Egg Harbor Township. It provides breast health, pelvic medicine and gynecologic health services in one convenient location.
AtlantiCare’s new Urogynecology Program and next-day breast biopsy results are among the many services women can access.
For the future, look for ARMC’s $110 million expansion of the city campus this year. The new seven-story patient tower will include an emergency department (ED) built to handle 60,000 patient visits a year, with its own diagnostic imaging suite, behavioral health area and radiology department; a rooftop helipad with trauma stabilization rooms on the roof that connect directly to the ED by elevator; an intensive care unit (ICU) with 26 private rooms; and medical surgical floors, each of which will have 30 private inpatient suites. The capital improvement project also includes renovation of 23,000 square feet of existing hospital space and construction of a pedestrian bridge from Caesars Atlantic City’s new parking garage into the second floor of the hospital, with a grand staircase and elevators to the new lobby.
Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation
The Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation was founded in 1924 to treat children with polio. But as that disease was conquered, the center was reinvented for a much-needed service—comprehensive rehabilitation. It stands on the campus of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, directly adjacent to the Mainland Campus of ARMC.
Today the 80-bed center offers both inpatient and outpatient services in a wide range of areas, from stroke to traumatic brain injury to joint replacement. The full list reads like a dictionary of medical services.
The goal is to deliver “independence and dignity through excellence in service,” according to Mary Joyce Perskie, vice president for marketing and business development. “For example, we have Renaissance Pavilion, which is our ‘hospital within a hospital.’
Here, we help a lot of patients with knee and hip replacements."
The ultra-modern facility is clearly upscale, with all of the appointments, including a spacious dining area complete with a large flat-screen TV, where many patients reportedly gathered to watch the Super Bowl. “We encourage people to get to know each other,” said Perskie. “They all dine together and it’s not unusual for them to make deep and lasting friendships."
In another area, outpatient visitors could enjoy their own TV and lunch, in between treatments. “This is our day rehab facility,” said Perskie. “It allows people to come in for treatment but spend their nights at home. Insurance companies like it because the outcomes are wonderful and patients like it because they can sleep in their own beds."
Bacharach even transports patients within a 20-mile radius.
In the physical therapy, a.k.a. PT room, the energy is palpable. Dozens of patients work with trainers and there are plenty of smiles and encouraging words. Just beyond, an apartment area is set up complete with bedroom and kitchen. “This is where we help people learn the tasks that they need to be able to go back to their lifestyle,” explained Perskie, who stopped to offer an encouraging word to a woman tackling a task in the kitchen.
"We’re one of only 155 such independent acute care rehab facilities in the country. We currently serve four counties—Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean—with 15 centers."
Perskie explains that Bacharach takes a team approach. “Our patients are not treated by one therapist but by a team of experts. We bring together the services that our patients need. For example, we have one of only four board-certified neuro optometrists in the U.S., who visits here once a month to treat patients."
What Bacharach is doing is certainly working. “When we measure ourselves against the nation, we find that people come to us sicker and leave sooner at a greater level of functioning. Helping people get their lives back is what we do."
Health Med Associates
When casino employees need urgent care in a timely fashion, many of them head to Health Med Associates on S. South Carolina Avenue in the city. This medical center has made a name for itself in urgent care, but that’s not all they do. Health Med also handles family and occupational medicine, including travel immunization and examinations for immigration.
"We don’t do life- or limb-threatening emergencies,” explained Pat Vitkow, executive director. “But we can handle all other urgent needs here."
Health Med was the brainchild of Medical Directors Arvind K. Patel, M.D. and Marcel Stern, M.D., who saw a need to build such a facility in Atlantic City. The building is spacious and modern, is completely computerized, and has the aesthetic touches you’d want in a medical center, from gallery art to an executive waiting room with leather couches and access to fax and phone in addition to the main reception area.
"It’s a reflection of how we feel about our patients,” said Patel. “We wanted to offer a clean, upscale place where they could get in and out. Therefore, we’re always well-staffed. Of course, we encourage patients to make appointments so they’ll get as much time as possible, but you can’t often predict work-related injuries. So we’re always well-staffed. We put the convenience and caring into the business of medicine."
Health Med is designated as a Local 54 Health Care Center, and also services a wide range of specialized populations from pilots and Army Reserve to Secret Service, federal air marshals and the Atlantic City casinos. The professional staff includes five board-certified physicians, two physical therapists, x-ray technologists, registered and practical nurses, and certified medical and laboratory technicians.
In the future, Health Med will be adding specialists including a gastroenterologist, and appointments for cardiology and ultrasound will be available. “So many specialists have left the city to go offshore, leaving a dramatic need here in town,” said Vitkow. “Our goal is to provide the kind of expert care that South Jersey residents need."
