Riverview Expansion; Rechnitz Donation

It was nearly a year ago that Riverview Medical Center laid out its plans for the creation of a 22,000-square-foot center for surgical excellence.

At an invite-only gala Thursday, officials unveiled the first completed phase of the expansion, the Surgical Day Stay, an amenity-rich medical unit with 23 new healing bays that will began accepting new patients in just days. 

When completed, the entire expansion will include a state-of-the-art conference and educational center, specialty surgical suites, and a renovated post-anesthesia care area, among other things. On Thursday, however, officials gathered to appraise what's been accomplished so far, much of it coming thanks to the generosity of the community. 

Major donors to the unit's construction, Middletown residents Bob and Joan Rechnitz, were on hand to see the results.

Posing for a photo with his wife Joan, along with Hogan and Meridian Health Foundation President David Flood, Bob Rechnitz gave an approving survey of the new unit. The Rechnitzes donated $5 million to the hospital's capital campaign called "Life. Changing."

Their donation was the largest in hospital history, but it didn't come alone. By the end of 2011, more than $13 million had been donated to help fund the complete expansion.

"It's great for the community. Sooner or later everyone needs to go to the hospital. This is our hospital. Our children were born here," Bob Rechnitz, who along with his wife founded Two River Theater Company, said. "I think it looks beautiful. It is a little overwhelming and we haven't had time to really comprehend it. Aesthetically, it's just super."

The new space includes an oversized surgical waiting area with a television — each healing bay also comes with a television — designed to give patients and their families a more "homey" feeling when they visit the Day Stay.

The nautical theme, represented in paintings and light fixtures scattered throughout the center, is best represented by the large windows in nearly every healing bay that look out onto the Navesink River, providing patients with some of the best views in Red Bank.

It's not just amenities the space offers, though the hospital's president, Tim Hogan, said Riverview aims as providing as close to a five star stay as they can for their patients, but the space is piratical, too.

In just three years, the hospital's surgical volume has grown more than 20 percent requiring Riverview to update and enhance its operations. The new day stay unit replaces an outdated space that was no longer as useful.