Hackensack Meridian Health Establishes Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation

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Edison, NJ – Hackensack Meridian Health, the largest, most comprehensive, and integrated health care network in New Jersey, today announced the formation of Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation. The newly created foundation will serve as the parent organization for the network’s 10 community-based hospital foundations. In addition to raising funds for the network’s local medical centers, Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation will also focus on network-wide priorities such as behavioral health, children’s health, the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery & Innovation and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

“The establishment of one network-wide philanthropic entity has been a goal for a long time,” says Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “Our local hospital foundations, led by strong boards of trustees, do a tremendous job of fundraising for their local medical centers. In addition, there are important priorities that we need to address at a broader level that will ultimately benefit our community hospitals and patients. Take, for example, behavioral health. Funding on a larger scale helps us to create the additional programs and facilities needed to address a growing health crisis, and those extra resources have the added benefit of freeing up space and caregiver expertise in the emergency departments, which is good on a local level.”

Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation is led by president and chief development officer Joyce P. Hendricks, along with a board of trustees co-chaired by Keith Banks and Domenic DiPiero. The trustees consist of members from each hospital foundation board, ensuring local hospital representation as they work to broadly raise funds for Hackensack Meridian Health. All hospital foundations will continue to operate locally, raising money for the hospitals, programs and services that mean the most to supporters in those areas.

“We are so fortunate to have dedicated trustees who will work as ambassadors on behalf of the network at all levels,” says Hendricks. “It is vital that a leading health care organization such as Hackensack Meridian Health has a foundation that matches its ambitious goals and is able to secure the funding necessary to help the network fulfill its mission to transform health care. However, it is equally important that we continue to support our local hospitals, and all gifts made to those important community hospitals will be directed as donors intend and remain with the facility or program of their choosing. I am confident that with the creation of Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation, we are well poised to make a real difference for the network, and most importantly, our patients.”

In addition to fundraising for Hackensack Meridian Health priorities, the establishment of Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation will deliver cost savings through the centralization of operations and office space. This will help to reduce expenses and enable the foundation to transfer additional funds directly to programs and services.

In a joint statement, foundation co-chairs Banks and DiPiero said the following: “It is an honor to serve as co-chairs of this very important endeavor. We firmly believe that the merger of our foundations in the north, central and southern markets of Hackensack Meridian Health will create a halo effect that will envelop and enhance health care for our communities. Together with our dedicated board of trustees, we will actively seek out philanthropic opportunities that will make Hackensack Meridian Health the health care organization of choice for the residents of New Jersey and beyond.”

To learn more about how you can support the foundations of Hackensack Meridian Health, please visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/give-now/.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals – Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals – JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having four of its hospitals among the top hospitals in New Jersey for 2020-21, according to U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, the health system has more top-ranked hospitals than any system in New Jersey. Children’s Health is again ranked a top provider of pediatric health care in the United States and earned top 50 rankings in the annual U.S. News’ 2020-21 Best Children’s Hospitals report.   Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2019” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. The Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), housed in a fully renovated state-of-the-art facility, seeks to translate current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases and other life-threatening and disabling conditions.

Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies. To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.