For Immediate Release
November 19, 2007
Contact: Michael Valentino
732-751-7538

JERSEY SHORE'S EXPANSION REACHES MAJOR MILESTONE

The final steel beam lifted into place for "topping off" ceremony marks the major milestone in $300 million expansion project at Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Neptune, NJ - Hospital staff, physicians, nurses, town officials, and construction workers recently celebrated a major milestone at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, as the last steel beam was put into place as part of the hospital's $300 million expansion and renovation project.

The "Transforming Care: the 'New' Jersey Shore" project consists of a new patient care pavilion featuring all-private rooms; a state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment building offering the latest technology, surgical suites; a new emergency department and trauma center with the ability to annually treat over 100,000 patients; a new parking garage to ease parking strains; and extensive renovations throughout existing buildings.

A construction industry tradition, the "topping off" ceremony is considered good luck, recognizing the hard work by the iron workers, and celebrates the major milestone of the construction project. The final beam at Jersey Shore was signed with well wishes by hundreds of hospital staff and construction workers, and was hoisted into the sky with an American flag and an evergreen tree symbolizing life in the new building.

"The topping off ceremony is a fantastic moment for Jersey Shore and everyone who has been a part of this landmark project," says Steven Littleson, FACHE, president of Jersey Shore University Medical Center. "This project is all about ensuring that Jersey Shore continues to provide the very best care to our community both today and for future generations."

Six weeks ahead of schedule, the project is kept on track by the Philadelphia-based construction firm L.F. Driscoll Co., and has been helped by generally good weather since its groundbreaking in June 2006. With the first phase of the hospital?s new parking garage open, the new Diagnostic and Treatment building expected to be complete in the later part of 2008, the Northwest Pavilion following in 2009, and complete renovations throughout the hospital continuing through 2010.

"The transformation of Jersey Shore is made possible through the commitment of our entire community," says Littleson. "From the tremendous support of Neptune Township, to the generous contributions we have received from the community to help finance the project, to our immediate neighbors who continue to support and work with us during this process, Jersey Shore is a world-class medical center with very local roots. We are grateful to everyone who has been a part of this effort to make Jersey Shore the premier independent academic medical center in New Jersey."

Meeting the Needs of a Growing Community
Jersey Shore is the region's only university-level academic medical center, the only provider of cardiac surgery and trauma care, region?s first nationally-designated stroke center, and home to K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital ? the first children?s hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties. One of the busiest medical centers in the state, Jersey Shore has experienced an average growth in patient volume four times the state average. Additionally, the medical center has seen its Emergency Department visits grow every year, with approximately 70,000 annual visits.

Also, as a university medical center affiliate of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Jersey Shore is home to extensive teaching and research programs, which include several medical and surgical residency and fellowship programs for physicians, advanced education opportunities for nurses, clinical trials, and academic research projects.

To ease access to Jersey Shore, the new 975-car parking garage is being constructed in the rear of the medical center campus that when completed, will include dedicated parking for patients, visitors, and staff as well as a new rooftop heliport for trauma patients, and dedicated ambulance access areas. Patients will be able to enter the Medical Center from the new parking garage through a new four-story glass atrium that allows central access to all areas of the medical center.

The 'new' Jersey Shore will be home to countless technological, clinical, and patient care advances, including 24-hour room service for meals so patients can choose when and what they eat while in the hospital, private rooms to improve privacy and comfort, and bedside internet access.

About Jersey Shore University Medical Center
Jersey Shore University Medical Center, a member of the Meridian Health family, is a not-for-profit university teaching and home to the K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital ? the first children's hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Jersey Shore is the regional provider of cardiac surgery, a program which has been ranked among the best in the Northeast, and is home to the only trauma center and nationally-designated stroke center in the region. Jersey Shore University Medical Center specializes in cardiac care and surgery, orthopedics and rehabilitation, cancer care, and advanced women's and children's health services.

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