By Jeff Bahr
In addition to a recent management change and expansion that saw Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center (MHMC) in Secaucus beef up many of its services to the public, the hospital opened a surgery clinic on April 9 that offers free consultation and guidance to patients contemplating surgery.
“We know that people who have been told they need surgery often have many questions and are not always sure where to turn,” explained Dr. Ghassan Khani, a board-certified surgeon and the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer who is now in charge of the clinic. “Our clinic will offer consultation in a comfortable setting. People can come to us for a second opinion, or to arrange for surgery, and to get answers to their questions,” said Khani.
“Everyone is welcome for a free surgical consult,” said Lynn McVey, acting president and CEO of MHMC. “Sometimes people who know they need surgery put it off. Others who need surgery are not sure where to begin to find the surgeon they need. We think Dr. Khani and our new surgical clinic will help everyone contemplating surgery and start them on the road to recovery and better health,” she said.
MHMC is also offering patients in the Meadowlands region access to state-of-theart, comprehensive heart and vascular care at its Cardiology Institute. “Now we can see all our hospitalized patients here at the hospital for follow-up and our patients don’t have to leave Secaucus,” said institute Director Dr. Brendan Sullivan, a board-certified doctor in internal medicine, cardiology and nuclear cardiology.
According to a recent MHMC press release, the newly renovated center will provide a range of cardiology treatments as well as diagnostic services including stress testing, echocardiograms, EKGs, Holter monitors and other crucial tests. Minimally invasive vascular treatments that have revolutionized the field in recent years will also be offered to patients.
“We work to find the least invasive way to treat vascular blockages,” explained team member Dr. Tarek A. Alshafie; who is boardcertified in both vascular and general surgery. “When you find a blockage in the heart you may also find blockages in the neck or elsewhere,” he pointed out, “so cardiologists and vascular physicians work together very closely.”
“Getting younger people in for heart, lipid and blood pressure screening for primary prevention is one of the big goals of cardiology,” according to Sullivan. “And if there is a problem, then at the Cardiology Institute here at Meadowlands we can identify it and provide critical treatment and prevention.”
MHMC has also expanded its maternity services. In fact, it might be said that it has gone positively “upscale” on this front as the hospital now offers mothers-to-be such niceties as private delivery rooms replete with Tuscanstyle bathrooms and chef-prepared candle-lit champagne dinners to honor the major event. Such amenities make the facility “ more “hotel” than “hospital” according to the press release. But frills aren’t the only things that have been added at the maternity wing according to the press release. The expansion also includes:
• An in-house obstetrical group, led by Dr. Lev Kandinov, board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, providing a wide range of maternity services on the hospital campus.
• A maternity anesthesiology group provides services 24 hours each day, every day. • Board certified obstetricians are available 24 hours every day.
• The purchase of the latest, fully equipped ultrasound machine and other technologies to perform necessary tests right at the hospital. • Other investments made at the hospital include:
• Expanded outpatient services, which now include endocrinology, cardiology, internal medicine, and pulmonology. The services are available to patients on an everyday basis.
• Updated the Department of Neuroscience and Cognitive Rehabilitation to provide significant medical and technological support for patients suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and post stroke.
• Purchased general chemistry, histology and microbiology laboratory equipment to provide accurate and timely test results to patients.
• Made necessary investments and renovations throughout the hospital.
• Created the most up-todate electronic medical records system that makes the hospital entirely paperless.
• Recruited obstetricians, renovated its labor and delivery rooms, and provided new services for mothers and their babies as part of a major expansion of maternalchild health services.
“Wide-ranging investments in technology, services, and infrastructure” have become the order of the day at the hospital, according to the press release. Since the management change, “more than 250 board-certified primary and specialty physicians have joined Meadowlands Hospital and Medical Center,” it concludes.
In addition to the aforementioned, the hospital offers free parking to visitors and free lunch and/or dinner at its cafeteria to visitors or patients who receive sameday treatment.
