TOMS RIVER – Officials, physicians and special guests gathered to break ground on the future Children’s Specialized Hospital of the Community Medical Center and RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group.
The ceremony was hosted by Community Medical Center (CMC), CSH and RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. Upon its completion, the three-story medical building will be shared by CMC and CSH both RWJBarnabas Health facilities, as well as RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group Orthopedic and Primary Care services.
The christening of the future 86,000 square-foot medical hub located at 1251 Route 37 West featured Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill and Major League All-Star Todd Frazier and his wife, Jackie Frazier who serve as the honorary co-chairs of Children’s Specialized Hospital (CSH) Foundation Capital Campaign.
“The Toddfather” is a third baseman who is currently a free agent. He was on the legendary 1998 Little League World Series team. His wife is a New Jersey native as well. After their youngest son Grant was hospitalized briefly, the couple developed a greater understanding for the work being done at CSH.
Jackie Frazier said “when we were presented the opportunity to serve as co-chairs for such an amazing organization, we decided that especially since it was going to have a facility here in Toms River that is five minutes from our home, how could we give back to our community any better. We are so excited to see this brought to our community and hopefully change a lot of children’s’ lives here.”
Todd Frazier added that his son “is doing a lot better now but to think about the children who are going through tough times and parents who are trying to figure out having to drive two hours here or four hours to a certain area…now those who live in this area can take an easier drive. I want to thank all of you who have put all the hard work into this.”
CMC Chief Executive Officer Patrick Ahearn told Micromedia Publications, that they are expecting to open next year. “We’ll have about 10 of our physicians from Community Medical Center in the building and there’ll be 20 or so from Children’s Specialized Hospital if not more than that. We’ll be one of their major locations for kids.
“We will have orthopedic surgeons and primary care physicians in the building. Because of the surgery center we’ll have quite a lot of surgeons that don’t live in the building but will work in the building. Some of them may have an office right down the road here less than a mile away. They’ll do their office hours and come here and do their surgeries and go back to their offices,” he said.
Ahearn noted the additional medical hubs that have been added to Barnegat, east Toms River “and this is the one that is probably the most ambitious.”
One of those orthopedic surgeons is Dr. Chanakya “Sean” Jandhyala, of RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. He said “this building will provide state of the art health care. We are going to have a new X-ray machine that will be in the office that will provide 3-D views of anatomy for us and an ambulatory surgery center so that means outpatient surgeries that can be done in the office.”
“Patients can get shoulder scopes, knee scopes, hip replacements done here and minimally invasive spine surgery done in an outpatient setting so they won’t have to go into a hospital setting,” Dr. Jandhyala said.
Mayor Hill served on the Board of CMC for several years and said he understood well the importance of the forthcoming medical facility. Joking with Ahearn he also noted the importance of a ratable for the township. He presented a certificate to Ahearn for the groundbreaking of CSH.
“These centers are becoming the big thing with health care now and a lot of the procedures that used to be done in the hospital are being done in surgery centers,” the mayor added.
Lacey Committeeman Peter Curatolo who works for the Ocean County Health Department was present at the ceremony. He concurred with Ahearn and told Micromedia Publications “it is a win-win for those parents and children here in Ocean County.”
“Children Specialized has a 130-year commitment to children and youth with special health care needs,” CSH President and CEO, Dr. Matthew B. McDonald III said. “Today is a remarkable milestone where we will have the opportunity to serve those kids in this community.”
Mark Montenero, CSH Foundation Board of Trustees; Capital Campaign Co-Chair; President of Autoland Toyota, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and RAM Trucks said, “we are rolling out a $45 million fundraising campaign to support this amazing hospital. When our mission is complete there will be four more new outpatient centers including the one, we are breaking ground on today.”
