Jersey City Medical Center

Jersey Avenue

For the former JCMC complex and historical site, see: Beacon, Jersey City.

The Jersey City Medical Center is a hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. The hospital has had different facilities in the city.

History

The hospital began as the "Charity Hospital" but the Board of Aldermen of Jersey City bought land at Baldwin Avenue and Montgomery Street in 1882 for a new hospital. The locale was chosen to remove the hospital from the industrial development at Paulus Hook. This building is now the Medical Center building. It was renamed the Jersey City Hospital in 1885 and had expanded to 200 beds. In 1909, the original hospital building was reserved for men and a second wing was added for women. When Frank Hague became mayor of Jersey City in 1917, he planned to expand the hospital. He had the original building renovated and constructed a new 23-story structure for surgery, known as The Orpheum. The new facility opened in 1931, and George O'Hanlon was the first director. With money from the Works Progress Administration new buildings were added during The Great Depression. The formal dedication of the Medical Center Complex, the B. S. Pollack Hospital, was on October 2, 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating the building. During the 1950s, JCMC was the home of the medical school of Seton Hall University the predecessor to the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry now located in Newark, NJ. The Art Deco buildings of the former JCMC complex are being renovated as The Beacon Jersey City.

Current operations

In 1988, the Medical Center declared bankruptcy and became a private, non-profit organization. In 1994, the State of New Jersey designated the Medical Center as a regional trauma center, and in the late 1990s it was approved as a core teaching affiliate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The hospital also has a teaching affiliation with the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. The facility is currently operated by Liberty Health. In 2004, JCMC moved to new quarters at Grand Street and Jersey Avenue.

JCMC received among the highest scores in Hudson County in the New Jersey Department of Health's 2009 Hospital Performance Report. The Center scored in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the state for their care of heart attacks, surgical improvements, and heart failure, receiving the second-highest score behind North Bergen's Palisades Medical Center. JCMC received a 95 in pneumonia treatment, 97 in heart attack, heart failure and surgical care, percentages that represent the number of patients treated properly and released.^[1]

The JCMC comprises two main hospital facilities, the Wilzig Hospital (named after Alan Wilzig) and the Provident Bank Ambulatory Center.^[2]

While not directly connected to the JCMC, a 2.5 acre parcel owned by the city is planned to become a Proton therapy treatment center,^[3][4] though the deal is contigent on tax-abatements the city is reluctant to give.^[5]

See also

• Seton Hall University

References

1. ^ Tirella, Tricia. "Palisades scores highest in Hudson County" The Union City Reporter October 25, 2009; Pages 5-6
2. ^ http://www.libertyhealth.org/about.aspx?id=56
3. ^ http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/09/jersey_city_plans_for_15m_deve.html
4. ^ http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/09/jersey-city-says-it-has-found-a-15m-buyer-for-city-owned-land-behind-medical-center/
5. ^ http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/14/jersey-citys-15-million-land-sale-deal-may-hinge-on-tax-abatement/

External links

• Jersey City history
• Liberty Health