FOR THE KIDS
Rally urges hosp not to pull plug on pediatric program

Saturday, March 31, 2007
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A slew of Jersey City officials staged a rally yesterday demanding that the Jersey City Medical Center keep open its pediatric residency program, although hospital officials say a lack of patients is forcing them to phase out the program.

Approximately 75 people, including Mayor Jerramiah Healy and several City Council members, gathered outside the hospital, at Jersey Avenue and Grand Street, waving signs in support of the program, which trains resident doctors in various pediatric care specialties.

Hospital officials say the 22-bed program is averaging only eight patients a day, which is not enough to adequately train physicians.

"We have only half the patients that we need under state regulations to properly train pediatric residents," said Dr. Robert Jacobs, interim chief medical officer. "By state regulation we don't have enough patients to keep the designation of a children's hospital."

In a statement released yesterday, the hospital said its patient load is about half of what is needed to train the 21 doctors in the program and that it would have lost its accreditation at the next review due to a lack of patients. It said the residents had been placed in other programs.

During yesterday's rally, Dr. Reginald Coleman, a pediatrician who works at the hospital, said shutting down the program would cause a hardship for young patients and their families, who would have to be transferred to hospitals in Newark, Paterson or Passaic.

Healy acknowledged that the Medical Center, like most hospitals in Hudson County, is in financial straits.

"But I'm glad Dr. Coleman educated me," he said. "The hospital said it cost them about $2 million a year to run the residency program. They can probably continue it with $1.2 million a year. I think we can go to Trenton, if we have to, and find that money somewhere."

Joining Healy and Coleman were Councilwoman Viola Richardson - who organized the rally - City Council President Marino Vega, Councilmen Peter Brennan and Michael Sottolano, Hudson County Freeholder Jeff Dublin and state Senate candidate Sandra Bolden Cunningham. Richardson thanked the mayor for his support and her council colleagues for approving a resolution urging the hospital to maintain the program.

Jacobs said the hospital is reviewing all its operations and a number of decisions, some of them difficult, will have to be made.

"But I can assure you we are doing our best to see to it that we are able to provide the best care possible," he said.