Dear Fellow Community Members,
I pen this letter in sincere hope that this can help my fellow community members.
Back in March, by the first “round” of covid, I found myself as a patient in Jersey Shore Medical Center.
Those days were long and hard but I BH made a full recovery. Unfortunately, it seems like there is an increase in the cases in Lakewood. Through the grapevine, I keep hearing around town rumors that ”Jersey Shore Kills People” or ”Jersey Shore neglected their patients.”
I want to share my opinion.
The covid pandemic has been a terrible time in history with sky rocketing death rates around the country. Yes, there were many community members that passed way in Jersey Shore, but does anyone know what these patients medical histories were? Does anyone know the proportion of deaths to admissions? Does anyone know how many deaths came from Columbia and other “brand name hospitals?”
No, because we are convinced that they are G-d’s gift to humanity and can do no harm. Families like my own where naturally overwhelmed and devastated they couldn’t see me and first-hand witness that I was getting care. Hence, there must not be care at all.
Were there were times in which I wished that a nurse would bring me ice chips faster? Yes. But as I look back, we were in the middle of a world crisis and I understand that my medical needs were their priority even if they had to minimize their exposure. So I may have been thirsty, but I definitely didn’t die from thirst. So everyone can quiet the drama about the starvation and neglect that went on.
We are so quick to judge and talk. I am hearing of patients who would benefit tremendously from their multidisciplinary team, but are not going because they heard these rumors. Before you speak, know your facts and that you are very well holding back a patient from getting the appropriate care they deserve.
Wishing all a Gmar Chasima Tova.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
I’ve heard from others who were in your position, a very different story – although granted, it was about other hospitals – not Jersey Shore.
Wasn’t there during corona, but I spent time recently in a couple of the ICUs there as well as the regular floors I can say that JSUMC is an amazing hospital. They were instrumental in saving my life. The doctors were incredibly skilled and proactive and the staff was caring and kind. I have endless hakaras hatov to them.
There were definitely stories of blatant anti-semitism during the outbreak in March. Heard first hand.
I was a COVID patient there in March/April and the care they gave me there, under the circumstances, was excellent! B”H I am alive and well to tell the tale, and I have tremendous Hakoras Hatov to the Ribono Shel Olam, and to the doctors and nurses in Jersey Shore Medical Center. Stop all the the drama, complaining and badmouthing. Focus on the positive!
Maybe you don’t have multiple other health issues.
Maybe you didn’t have to wait for your ice chips, water or food for 12-36 hours.
I don’t think it’s specific to Jersey Shore, but it’s seems to be in NJ and NY.
And with a little research you can even find some videos online.
Thank you Hatzalah CJ and Bikur Cholim for advising amid this pandemic when to stay put or which hospital to go to and how long to stay there.
For every hospital there are people who are pro and there are people who are against.
Let’s not forget the גמרא says טוב שברופאים לגיהנם and know there’s a good reason for it. Facts are that the doctors and nurses were making what they felt to be the correct life and death decisions, when in fact any decision made by a doctor that does not concern life, is absolutely positively incorrect!
They were able to get away with this because families were not allowed into hospitals to advocate for the patients. Once the patients were intubated they were done. We know that hospitals were paid sufficiently more for Chinese virus deaths then for others and that know that went into the decision of once a person died, how the death was going to be assigned so to speak.
Hospitals got no extra compensation for Covid-19 deaths. There was no incentive for the hospital to let the patient’s die if they were Covid-19 positive. I don’t know from where you got your information, but your source is 100% incorrect.
Its amazing how people make life and death decisions based on coffee room talk, friend, neighbor or family member told me information.
I personally followed up one of my friends first hand story & after diluting the salt & pepper that was ( mistakingly) added, the story was so different that my friend had to admit he had a100% wrong assessment .
Don’t be fooled. There are many who survived because they were healthy enough to fight the disease on their own.
When my relative was finally dragged out against their will and transferred to another hospital I personally saw and confirmed the neglect and malpractice that occurred there.They lied numerous times about my relative’s care and we had to have a nurse that worked in the hospital get on to the floor to “assist” to get rights to see her files for us to confirm our worst fears.
Even though we tried to make the dangers public we were rebuffed by many well meaning “askunim” who thought that “the antisemitism there will get worse if we say anything.”
If you care about the person don’t let them near there until they allow people in to see what is really going on.
It is assur to leave a patient in a hospital without somebody to watch the administration of drugs and interaction with doctors – although i have seen wonderful care at Jersey Shore, i have also seen horrible care. Unfortunately there is no room for horrible care in a hospital situation. I myself was given somebody else’s medication, and only because i was alert and able to discern that it was the wrong medications did i avoid taking another person’s pills. When the head nurse happened to come to our room, i asked her if she heard what happened, and she was quite non apologetic or worried. A sick person is usually not able to advocate for themselves, so we must have a rule to allow a family member who is concerned about the patient to be able to monitor the care. And sadly, there is not a whole lot of room for error in the medical environment – you are not oversalting the chicken soup – they are dealing with lives.
My experience in JSUMC NICU with 3 premature babies was AMAZING!
My son was born at Jersey Shore & was left unattended in my wife’s recovery room without being covered with a blanket. He cried for a half an hour & noone came even though my wife pressed for a nurse multiple times. She couldn’t get up because she had just had an epidural. He developed hypothermia because his body temperature fell dangerously low & was in the nicu for over a week. He struggles academically & socially, possibly because of that trauma. I do not recommend giving birth in JS but I have had pleasant experiences there on other occasions for emergencies. I would definitely stick with MMC for childbirth.
Very much of what is said about hospitals is purely political. We had two children born in JSUMC one of which had an extended stay in the NICU there. We have nothing but praise for our experiences there. The staff was dedicated, knowledgeable and professional and we always felt like we were in great hands. B”H this child is now 100% healthy and we have no doubt that they get much credit.
Of course these stories happened, but you have to put yourself in the nurses shoes. They were told that the situation was helpless and those who were infected by the virus were not going to make it and anybody who caught it will not make it either(regardless of age or medical history). why in the world would they sacrifice their lives for a useless cause.
The were many well meaning people promoting this hysteria who felt that was the only way to encourage people to be careful but obviously it was a double edged sword.A LEVEL HEADED APPROACH IS THE BEST WAY!
I witnessed firsthand before corona.
1. The nurses were pleasant and very helpful.
2. Several doctors were very negligent.
As an RN, I will tell you, that I personally did not have time to feed those who are not, what we consider,”walkie talkies”. Not from a lack of care or concern on my part, but realistically from a lack of time and physical ability to do so because of the sheer overload of patient care.
Yet even so, I certainly recommend that everyone get the appropriate care that they need, and no one should withhold treatment or access based on reports of neglect.
Not an RN at JSMC.