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Pioneering Community Partnerships Are Formed

As an affiliate of Saint Barnabas Health Care System, The Beth becomes a vital member of a statewide network of premier acute-care hospitals, nursing homes, geriatric centers, ambulatory care facilities and behavioral health centers. Born in Newark, Ronald J. Del Mauro, President and CEO of Saint Barnabas Health Care System, makes an unprecedented commitment to assist Newark's schools, churches and civic groups. Collaborating with The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey and other philanthropic organizations, The Beth strengthens its partnerships with its neighbors.

1997

Children's Hospital Of New Jersey Relocates At Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
The prestigious Children's Hospital of New Jersey relocates to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Energies are focused on building a state-of-the-art children's facility. Outstanding pediatric physicians in 32 specialties and subspecialties are introduced, as well as a licensed Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Program, which becomes the third largest children's cardiac service in the nation, in affiliation with the Cardiac Center of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Lester M. Bornstein Center For Emergency Services Opens At The Medical Center
After undergoing major expansions and renovations, The Beth offers a wide range of state-of-the-art emergency services to better serve the community. Among the  new features is an emergency pediatrics center, which is staffed by specialists in pediatric emergency medicine and operates separately from the adult emergency center. The center is named in honor of long-time Beth leader, Lester M. Bornstein (shown in illustration).

Innovative Thoroscopic Ligation Surgery Is Performed At The Beth
William DeCampli, M.D., Ph.D., the pediatric cardiac surgeon of The Children's Cardiac Center at Children's Hospital of New Jersey, performs same-day thoroscopic ligation surgery to correct a congenital heart defect in a three-year-old girl. Home in just hours after the operation, she is the first patient in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area to undergo this new procedure. Dr. DeCampli is one of only a few physicians in the world to perform this surgery.  

Pioneering Community Partnership Is Formed
In a groundbreaking community partnership, health services are provided in the city's Central Ward on the campus of Saint James A.M.E. Church by our Advanced Practice Nurses. Named The Center for Family Life at Saint James, it is one of the first inner-city primary care centers ever developed in conjunction with a church.

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(Shown in photo left to right: Lucetha Stribling, MS, RNC, CRNP, Director of The Center for Family Life at Saint James; Lester Z. Lieberman, Chairman, Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey; Ronald J. Del Mauro, CEO, Saint Barnabas Health Care System; William Payne, Assemblyman; Reverend William D. Watley, Pastor, St. James A.M.E. Church participate in the ribbon-cutting at the new center.) The Center initially receives funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and later from The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.  

The HEART HOSPITAL Of New Jersey Is Formed
The Medical Center's status as a provider of cutting-edge cardiac care is enhanced with the formation of a major center for cardiac services named The HEART HOSPITAL of New Jersey. Located at The Beth, it is the only provider in the state, and one of 80 in the nation, to offer every facet of cardiac care---from catheterizations and angioplasties, to highly sophisticated heart surgery and transplantation.

1998

State's First Successful Heart/Kidney Transplantation
Beth surgeons perform the state's first simultaneous successful heart and kidney transplant. The procedure is so rare that only 121 have been performed in the United States in the previous 10 years. In the national press, the patient calls his second chance at life "a miracle."

Renowned Cardiothoracic Surgeon Joins The System
Craig R. Saunders, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, is named chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery for the System. He sets the stage for innovative procedures such as beating-heart surgery and transmyocardial revascularization. In 1999, The HEART HOSPITAL of New Jersey at The Beth opens a satellite program at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.  

Rare Seven-Bypass Surgery Is Performed At The Beth
Craig Saunders, M.D., and the cardiac team (shown in photo) at The HEART HOSPITAL of New Jersey, successfully perform a seven-bypass surgery on a patient with the heart beating. 

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This is the first such procedure conducted on the East Coast of the United States. It is only the second time in history that seven bypasses are performed on one patient without the use of a heart-lung machine.

1998

Leading-Edge Endoscopic Stent Graft At The Medical Center
Vascular Surgeon Bruce J. Brener, M.D. is among the first physicians in the state to perform an endoscopic stent graft to treat life-threatening aortic aneurysms. The procedure is safer for patients with conditions such as diabetes, that preclude their undergoing traditional surgery.

Schering-Plough Provides A Special Medical Vehicle
Preschoolers sing at the dedication ceremony for The New Jersey Children's Health Project, known as The Big Blue Van (shown in photo). This specially equipped medical vehicle staffed by a dedicated Children's Hospital of New Jersey pediatric team. It takes primary medical care to children in Newark, Elizabeth and surrounding areas, who might not otherwise receive the care they need. The brightly decorated van funded by The Schering-Plough Corp. includes two treatment rooms, waiting and registration areas, as well as VCRs and monitors for educational programs.

Starbright Network Comes To The Beth
Children's Hospital of New Jersey is the first hospital in the state to become part of the Starbright World Network. Brainchild of famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg (shown in illustration), this interactive  computer network allows hospitalized children to express their feelings over the Internet with other hospitalized children across the country.

Project HOPE Is Created To Fight Drugs In Newark
In the spring of 1998, and again in 1999, graduation ceremonies are held for members of the community participating in substance abuse training provided by Project HOPE (Helping Other People Excel). Project HOPE is the result of meetings between Newark ministers and Ronald J. Del Mauro, Saint Barnabas Health Care System President and CEO. Funding for The Project is provided by The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. The courses taught by Project HOPE provide trainees with the skills necessary to recognize the warning signs of addiction and counsel those in need.

Medical Care Is Taken Directly To Area Students
In partnership with The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, Children's Hospital takes medical care directly to students at the George Washington Carver School in Newark's South Ward. Primary health care and dental services are made available to every child with a parent's signed consent. The program is so successful that similar school-based clinics are opened at the Dayton Street and Quitman Street schools in Newark, with the first high school-based program at Shabazz and Barringer high schools. 

1999

Our Department Of Cardiothoracic Surgery Is Formed
The Beth forms the much anticipated and highly publicized Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery on its campus.

Center For Adult Congenital Heart Disease Opens At The Beth
The Medical Center opens Newark's first congenital heart disease center that focuses entirely on the needs of adults.  The cardiac laboratory is also renovated and becomes fully digital.

2000

Medical Centers Begin Routine Teleconferencing
Regular teleconferencing begins among cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and staff between The Beth and Saint Barnabas Medical Center in nearby Livingston, New Jersey.

Renowned Echocardiographer Is Named Director At The Beth
The renowned echocardiographer, Chunguang Chen, M.D., is named Director of the newly digital, noninvasive cardiac laboratories at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

The Beth Celebrates Its 200th Heart Transplant
The Beth celebrates its 200th heart transplant procedure, marking yet another important milestone in the institution's leading-edge medical history.  



Newark Beth Israel Medical Center enters the twenty-first century as the busiest hospital in Newark. The Beth offers the most technologically advanced and compassionate medical care for patients far beyond Newark's city limits. For a century, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center has been, and will remain an exemplary model for the world as a health care innovator and leader.





•  Prior to 1900 - Newark's Early Period
•  1900-1927 The Birth of the Beth
•  1928-1954 The Beth Grows with Newark
•  1955-1965 The World Comes Here For "Miracle" Medicine
•  1967-1996 Times Forever Change As A Community Erupts And Then Reunites
•  1997-2001 Pioneering Community Partnerships Are Formed





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Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
201 Lyons Avenue at Osborne Terrace
Newark, NJ 07112
(973) 926-7175