$1.7M Gift To Morristown Medical Center Paves Way For New Nurses

MORRISTOWN, NJ — A Morris Township family has donated more than $1 million to help establish a brand-new nurse educator program at Morristown Medical Center, allowing the hospital to hire four nurses with advanced degrees.

Robert “Dick” Deskovick, a 94-year-old Foundation for Morristown Medical Center honorary trustee and Washington Partner, donated $1.7 million to help launch the Dick, Jackie and Kim Deskovick Joint Faculty Nurse Educator Program.

“I’ve lived a charmed life,” Deskovick said. “I don’t know how I traveled the world, accomplished so much, and did so well; I guess I was lucky. I was a high school dropout, but my success over the years has left me with a lot to give away.”

The new nurse educator program is an immersive education model for nurses in which highly experienced, hospital-based joint faculty nurse educators teach clinical skills to novice nurses in the hospital setting while also helping seasoned nurses further develop their practice skills.

The Deskovicks' sponsorship of the program enabled the local hospital to hire four advanced-degree nurses, each with clinical experience in pediatrics, the pediatric emergency department, mother-baby care, and labor and delivery.

According to Deskovick, his connection to Morristown Medical Center began when his friend, the late Joseph Goryeb, asked him to consider supporting the hospital.

“I appreciate what Morristown Medical Center has done for my family – it means a lot to me,” Deskovick said. “I am especially grateful for how well they cared for my wife. It gives me a lot of pride to see our family’s name at the hospital and know we have made an impact.”

Over the last ten years, Deskovick has donated nearly $7 million to support the medical center.

"Whether it’s helping his favorite waitress at the local diner to catch up on bills, buying a new ambulance for the local squad in town or supporting high-priority needs at Morristown Medical Center, Dick is quick to listen and eager to help those around him," Atlantic Health System said.

Morristown Medical Center's Emergency Department, a Level 1 ACS Trauma Center, is one of the busiest in the state of New Jersey, with well over 100,000 patient visits per year, Atlantic Health System said.

Morristown Medical Center is also among a slew of New Jersey medical facilities that received the highest rating from a watchdog agency as part of its twice-yearly "safety grades."

The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, grades general hospitals across the country with an "A," "B," "C," "D," or "F" based on more than 30 national performance measures that reflect errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.

Since 2012, Leapfrog has released Safety Grades twice per year, and Morristown Medical Center has received an "A" the past 17 times in a row.