40th Anniversary Of A Dream Realized: Brick Township's Hospital

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The hospital has come a long way since the 1984 opening, which Alan Cohen, one of the founders of the hospital, called “just the beginning.”

The real beginning was community conversations in the early 1960s, as the Garden State Parkway began to bring more and more permanent residents to the area. Cohen, who for years operated Mr. Alan’s Florist, led multiple fundraising drives. There was the annual Brick Hospital Association ball in every fall, at one point named the Starlight Ball. Every summer for 16 years, the Brick Hospital Fair drew thousands to ride carnival rides and play games in the area behind Brick Plaza that now is occupied by the AT&T store, Smashburger, Red Robin and Tre and Rosalita’s.

There were numerous other efforts to raise funds to build Brick Hospital, and it truly was a community effort. In a letter to the editor published in the Asbury Park Press on July 31, 1970, Mrs. Thomas Lanteri, publicity chairman of the Brick Township Hospital Fund, thanked a group of kids who raised $14 for the fund by holding a yard sale of toys and other items.

The hospital foundation purchased a 30-acre parcel off Maple Avenue between Burnt Tavern and Herbertsville roads in 1970 for $45,000 from Harry and Kathryn Limroth. An Asbury Park Press report from October 1969, when the impending purchase was announced, said the hope had been to locate the hospital south of the Laurelton traffic circle (long-since replaced by the intersection of Routes 88, 70 and Princeton Avenue) due to concerns about traffic even then. Land prices were cost-prohibitive: Parcels south of Laurelton Circle that were large enough to accommodate the hospital cost nearly $300,000, organizers told the Press.

The efforts to build the hospital hit a number of bumps in the 1970s, including a lengthy legal battle when the owners of Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood (now Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus) fought to block it, saying the area did not need another hospital. The fight over the certificate of need took a number of turns, with even Gov. Brendan T. Byrne getting involved. A law passed to help Brick ultimately was rejected by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

In addition, the state Department of Environmental Protection deemed the soil conditions at Maple Avenue as not suitable for the proposed four-story hospital, a March 1982 Asbury Park Press report said.

The Maple Avenue parcel was sold to Brick Township for $1, and the hospital association purchased the 32-acre site on Jack Martin Boulevard — land records show it was carved out from a much-larger piece of land that had once been poultry farms — for $180,000, according to land records.

At that time, the Brick Hospital Association merged with Point Pleasant Hospital to create the Northern Ocean Hospital System, and on July 4, 1982, ground was broken for Brick Hospital, which was to operate as a satellite of Point Pleasant Hospital.

The $31.4 million facility opened with 120 beds and 200 doctors, and accepted its first patient on July 9, 1984.

The hospital has grown and changed dramatically in the 40 years since, just as the area has changed. Brick Hospital and Point Pleasant Hospital merged with Jersey Shore Medical Center in 1997 to create Meridian Health, and in 2001, Point Pleasant Hospital shut down. Condominiums now take up part of its former site, and a satellite 24/7 emergency care center, Ocean Care Center, now operates in Point Pleasant, next to the OB Diner.

Brick Hospital, which became Ocean Medical Center and, in 2021, Ocean University Medical Center when it achieved status as a teaching hospital, now has more than 300 beds and 800 providers and is part of the Hackensack Meridian Health Network.

Hopes for bigger and better things at the hospital have been realized, as it now is seen as a regional destination for orthopedic, cardiovascular, cancer, stroke, and other care services, and holds numerous disease-specific designations in joint replacement, stroke, colon cancer surgery and other areas.

Ocean University Medical Center also is home to the Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, a 40-bed facility “that offers all-encompassing inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services,” the news release said, “and the recently established Dr. Robert H. and Mary Ellen Harris Heart and Vascular Center, one of the state’s most advanced centers for heart and vascular diagnosis and treatment.”
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“As Brick Township and our surrounding towns have grown rapidly over these past few decades, Ocean University Medical Center has always progressively served the needs of our region,” Mayor Lisa Crate said in a news release from the hospital. “We are very fortunate to have the highly recognized Ocean University Medical Center as part of our neighborhood fabric.”

“Excellence remains our standard, and patient-centered care is our priority,” said Robert C. Garrett, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “Exceptional hospital leadership and the continued dedication of the Ocean University Medical Center team have led us to this proud moment and reaffirms our commitment to the responsibility we have as an organization to the communities we serve across the state.”

“This milestone reminds us of the strong focus we have on our continued mission – providing high-quality, comprehensive care,” said Frank Citara, president and chief hospital executive of Ocean University Medical Center. “I am incredibly proud of our transformative work in the community and am confident our upward trajectory will yield even more innovative services in the years to come.”

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