SAVE MONMOUTH MEDICAL CENTER
ACT NOW!
It’s time to sound the alarm: the decision by the NJ Department of Health to let RWJBarnabas move nearly all services from Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch to a new hospital at Fort Monmouth is a dangerous mistake that will endanger patients and destabilize regional healthcare.
Tell Commissioner brown not to rush the decision on Monmouth Medical Center.
The State Health Planning Board raised serious, unanswered concerns about RWJBarnabas’ proposal to relocate Monmouth Medical Center, including health equity impacts, access for vulnerable residents, transportation barriers, staffing, and the loss of critical services in Long Branch. Hundreds of residents turned out to speak, and the Board delayed its recommendation because the process and information were not adequate.
Despite this, the Board has now scheduled a special meeting on December 18 with no public comment to consider the proposal.
Commissioner Brown should not push through a decision of this magnitude in the final weeks of the administration. Use the form below to tell Commissioner Brown to ensure a full, fair, and transparent review before any move is approved.
Why This Fight Matters
Protect Long Branch’s Most Vulnerable:
The What: RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) has filed an application with the NJ Department of Health to relocate nearly all acute inpatient services provided at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch to a new hospital at Fort Monmouth.
What this means: The following essential services would all be moved out of Long Branch:
Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Critical Care Unit (CCU)
All inpatient beds (except behavioral health)
OB/GYN (birthing facilities)
Pediatrics
Inpatient surgery
Cardiac care – including heart attack care
Comprehensive stroke center
Who will suffer: This is a drastic reduction of care that will disproportionately harm the uninsured, minority, and chronically ill residents of Long Branch and the surrounding communities, who will lose their birthing center, access to a cardiac cath lab for heart attack care, and rapid stroke treatment.
RWJBH has not proposed any plan to maintain these services for the Long Branch community. The additional travel time to Fort Monmouth will make it even harder for people to receive timely care and will put more strain on local EMS services and response times.
Prevent Healthcare Overload:
Why is this happening? There’s no clear reason why a new hospital is needed, and no one has really looked at how it would affect the hospitals already in Monmouth County.
How will this impact neighboring hospitals? The new Fort Monmouth hospital would actually be closer to all four of the other nearby hospitals than the current Long Branch location. Hospitals like Jersey Shore University Medical Center (JSUMC) could see a big increase in patients.
JSUMC will be the closest hospital for many, but it’s already overcrowded and other area hospitals less than 5 miles from the new site could lose patients, making it harder for them to keep services running smoothly.
These other hospitals already provide many of the same services that would be moved from Long Branch, so this change could hurt care for everyone in the area.