Hackensack Meridian Health has unified their three rehabilitation hospitals under the Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute name to reflect the shared vision and mission to provide the highest level of rehabilitation care to patients.
Through this alignment, Riverview Rehabilitation Center, Red Bank, and Shore Rehabilitation Institute, Brick, will now be renamed. The new names are: Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Riverview Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Ocean Medical Center.
Together with JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, the institutes bring together physicians and other specialized professionals to provide outstanding care for patients, according to information provided by Hackensack Meridian Health.
“Aligning our rehabilitation hospitals under one name will strengthen the already existing collaboration among the three hospitals and promote our shared excellence in rehabilitation care,” Anthony Cuzzola, vice president, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, said in the statement.
“Our three rehabilitation hospitals already work closely together to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments and disabilities,” SuAnn Chen, M.D., medical director, Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Ocean Medical Center, said in the statement.
Patients may have brain injuries caused by stroke or traumatic injury, sports injuries, life-limiting diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, amputation, spinal cord injuries, spasticity, or other conditions. The physicians, nurses, therapists, and other professionals work to restore their lives and independence. Together, they support patients throughout their journey toward recovery.
“Our patients will find expert and experienced staff throughout the continuum of care — and at all three of the rehabilitation hospitals. Care is consistently high-quality throughout all three institutions,” Jorge Corzo, M.D., medical director, Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Riverview Medical Center, said in the statement.
The Johnson Rehabilitation Institutes each provide experienced physician leaders in rehabilitation medicine, many of them widely published. These leaders include physicians recognized nationally and internationally in fields such as brain injury medicine, spasticity, pain management, and prosthetics and orthotics, according to the statement.
“The most up-to-date and relevant research and information is already being shared throughout the three rehabilitation hospitals in professional development programs for staff on every level,” said Sara Cuccurullo, M.D., vice president and medical director, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. “An example is that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic there was professional development of virtual courses and programming for physicians, nurses, therapists, and other professionals treating patients. The latest evidenced-based best practice and research is shared, discussed, and implemented throughout each of our institutions.”
Physicians, scientists and other professional staff members conducting cutting edge research will have opportunities to expand their research throughout the three rehabilitation hospitals, according to the statement. Research includes the ongoing Stroke-HEART Trials at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute that are showing how cardiac rehabilitation modified for stroke patients can reduce death and disability among stroke patients. The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is another example of research that will now expand throughout the three rehabilitation hospitals.