Views from the Shore
By Brian Cahill
It has been a privilege working with Shore Medical Center as its Marketing Director for the past six years and supporting our local community hospital. When the pandemic started, the sense of community was loud and clear; the outpouring love and support for our healthcare heroes was on full display. While our doctors, nurses, clinical support staff were battling Covid on the front lines, you were donating subs and snacks, pizza and PPE, along with money to help us with costs for Covid. Our staff knew you cared about them and that gave them a boost to keep on going. I will remember this feeling for a long time.
In addition to the health effects of the virus, many people lost their jobs and with that, their insurance. Our area was particularly affected because so many are part of the entertainment and hospitality industry. This has left many people without health insurance or with only minimal coverage to pay their medical bills. But regardless of the patients ability to pay, our non-profit hospital provides care and treatment for those who need it.
Recognizing this, Shore Medical Center created its Caring Together campaign for 2021. This Caring Together campaign will help the community help us provide care to those that need it.
The Caring Together Campaign was created in the spirit of community during the past year between our hospital workers and those that supported them.
Every year there is a financial challenge that the Shore Medical Center faces resulting from the lack of Charity Care funding the hospital receives from the State of New Jersey. Shore Medical Center pays the State over $1 million each year as part of their obligation to the State’s Charity Care program. This program is in place to provide hospitals with funding to offset the cost of providing care to those who do not have insurance or who are underinsured and cannot pay their bills. The State provides Shore Medical Center with $84,000 per year to cover these patients. That amount is a small fraction of the dollars needed when compared to $12.3 million in uncompensated care Shore provides. The Caring Together Campaign will help put us on the path to offset the cost for this uncompensated care for patients in the following areas: Cardiovascular Health, Maternity patients’ care, Cancer treatments, and Diabetes treatments.
Thank you for taking a moment of your time to learn about Shore’s Caring Together campaign, and joining in our mission to care for our community. On behalf of Shore, I appreciate if you would consider making a donation Shore Medical Center. Every dollar makes a difference. To donate online follow the link to givetoshore.org. Thank you.
Brian Cahill is the Director of Marketing for Shore Medical Center. He is also on the Board of the Somers Point Business Association, an Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at Stockton University, and is a founding member of Somers Point-Community First, a local volunteer organization
