Don’t be confused, Dr. Brett Sealove, the chair of cardiology at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, certainly is thrilled that the hospital will soon open a 30,000-square-foot expansion for cardiovascular service.
“It’s literally an entire hospital floor,” he said.
But the true beauty of the $45 million expansion, located on the 4th floor of the Northwest Pavilion, is not the space, but what that space will include – and how it will allow the team at Jersey Shore and Hackensack Meridian Health to dramatically improve the care it provides, Sealove said.
“Having all the high-quality, state-of-the-art equipment in one unified, centralized location is incredible,” he said. “For most of the procedures that people will go through, they will come into that 30,000-square-foot space, get prepped, have their procedure, post procedure and be able to sit in one of our 28 private bays and recover.
“Most of them will then go home from the same location.”
To say it will elevate care may be an understatement, Sealove said.
“Right now, in many medical centers, a lot of cardiac patients are scattered across various departments, and that leads to tremendous inefficiencies of care,” he said. “Having a specialized cardiac unit like this is going to dramatically improve every outcome that people are looking for, patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction, team member burnout – you name it.”
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The new suite, which is on pace to open by the end of the year, will feature new diagnostic and treatment spaces, including four dedicated cardiac catheterization labs, four EP labs and two hybrid operating rooms, and the 28-bay patient prep and recovery area.
All told, it nearly triples the current patient capacity at JSUMC.
Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Bob Garrett said the design and functionality of the suite was thoughtfully created with input from JSUMC’s cardiologists, nurses, technicians and other hands-on experts with spaces structured to promote efficiency and provide the best experience for patients and their families.
For good reason.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women and men in the United States,” he said. “With this in mind, our network continues to add expert cardiologists, the latest technologies, state-of-the-art facilities, and pioneer investigational patient treatments to combat heart disease in all its forms.”
Jersey Shore University Medical Center is the only open heart and minimally invasive cardiac surgery center in Monmouth and Ocean counties. As a Joint Commission-designated Comprehensive Stroke Center and a major academic medical center, JSUMC officials feel they are able to provide the community with advanced structural heart, electrophysiology and emergency heart attack and stroke treatment options, as well as groundbreaking patient clinical trials and newly approved cardiovascular devices.
“We are meeting the needs of the community we serve with this expansion,” JSUMC Chief Hospital Executive Vito Buccellato said. “(We are) giving our cardiologists, nurses and team members a convenient, centralized, dedicated space and leading-edge tools so they can continue to provide our patients with world-class cardiovascular care,”
Care that clearly is needed.
“The volume of patients treated by our teams has steadily increased in recent years,” Buccellato said. “We are now the third-busiest New Jersey hospital, and as of 2022, we provide the second-most diagnostic and interventional cardiac procedures in our state.”
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The question always comes up, no matter what the treatment or the procedure: Do I need to travel to New York City or Philadelphia to get the best care?
For Sealove, the answer is a resounding, ‘No.’
“The resources HMH is putting into this project is going to absolutely revolutionize cardiovascular care at Jersey Shore and throughout the HMH system,” he said. “We will be able to service our community with the most state-of-the-art technological equipment – and we have the most advanced research. We are in large randomized clinical control trials that are no different than some of the things that you see in these major academic centers in New York.”
In an area of the state where the population tends to trend older, that’s important. Monmouth and Ocean are not just two of the fastest-growing counties in the state, they are counties with large numbers of Medicare recipients.
Of course, Sealove hopes he won’t have to meet many of them.
“In cardiology, prevention is where it’s at,” he said. “But when you need something done, we’re going to be here to service our neighbors – bigger and better than ever.”
Dr. Kenneth Sable, regional president, Southern Market, for HMH, said the growth of cardiology services matches the growth of the hospital.
“The increase in patient volume has been a result of Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s reputation as a top hospital, with consistent top 10 rankings in N.J. from U.S. News & World Report, ranking in the top five percent of hospitals nationally from Healthgrades, and six-time Magnet designation recognizing nursing excellence, as well as the recent population increase in Monmouth and Ocean counties,” he said.
“The new suite’s increased capacity will enable patients to schedule elective cardiovascular procedures more quickly and improve procedure scheduling for patients who are transferred from community hospitals to Jersey Shore so they can receive advanced treatment for complex cases.”
