$2.5M Grant Supports Expansion For Morristown Medical Center

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Morristown Medical Center will soon be opening a new facility focused on treating women with high-risk pregnancies.

Morristown Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, has announced that the Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation will provide a $2.5 million gift to establish the brand-new Hersh Fetal Diagnostic and Treatment Center.

The new facility, which will be located at 55 Madison Avenue, will allow women with high-risk pregnancies to have vital access to medical experts in one location.

The diagnostic and treatment center will be for pregnant women whose babies have congenital anomalies or other fetal complications and will provide access to multidisciplinary care by clinical experts whose sole focus is to keep both mother and baby healthy before, during, and after birth.

“We are deeply grateful to the Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation for its extraordinary contributions and longstanding support,” Trish O’Keefe, President of Morristown Medical Center, said. "Together, we are building a state-of-the-art center for advanced care and treatment that will make a difference in the lives of so many high-risk moms and babies."

Established in 2010, the current practice has experienced significant patient demand, particularly in the last three years. The clinic sees 180 children per year and refers them to Goryeb Children's Hospital's pediatric divisions for specialist treatment.

Many of the services and physicians are spread between Goryeb Children's Hospital and Morristown Medical Center, requiring parents to schedule multiple appointments and travel to various locations, adding stress to an already stressful situation, Atlantic Health System said.

The new Hersh Fetal Diagnostic and Treatment Center will be designed to make it easy and convenient for families to receive all their care in one location, ideally during one appointment.

"This important contribution is a clear demonstration of the power of philanthropy to accelerate positive growth in healthcare delivery, treatment and state-of-the-art equipment,” said Jennifer Smith, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Foundation for Morristown Medical Center. “The Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation’s generosity continues a long philanthropic legacy at Morristown Medical Center and there is no doubt that this gift will have a long-lasting impact on families and generations to come.”

The Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation, founded in 1979, provides grants for capital expenditures that assist the needs of children throughout New Jersey and has supported critical pediatric needs at Morristown and Overlook Medical Centers over the past decade.

“I know Dorothy would be stunned, and so pleased that today – more than four decades after the foundation was established – thousands and thousands of children in New Jersey have the chance to be happy and healthy with happy and healthy parents,” said Harriet L. Donnelly, foundation administrator of the Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation. “Our mission is to improve the lives of children, one child at a time, and this effort is unique because we are taking a step back and helping children from the very beginning of their lives while they are still in the womb. The impact of this contribution, I am sure, will make a difference in so many lives across the state.”

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.