Community Medical Center Honors Veterans and One of Their Own

Irene Wagner, a 94-year-old patient in Community Medical Center’s Transitional Care Unit, was recently honored as a World War II veteran through the hospital’s expanding Veteran Recognition Program. The Program also brought to light a personal connection to the hospital: Wagner was one of the first nurses to work at Community Medical Center decades before.

The Manchester resident had served as a member of the Navy Nurse Corps, and treated injured servicemen at the Marines boot camp on Parris Island in South Carolina during WWII. After the war she settled with her husband in Toms River, and worked as a medical/surgical nurse at Community Medical Center (then called Community Memorial Hospital) from 1961 to 1970.

“It was an emotional experience, seeing Irene honored as a woman, a nurse and as a veteran,” said Gladys Zakar, CAVS, CVM, Manager, Volunteer Department & Pastoral Care Services. Zakar coordinates the Veteran Recognition Program, which is supported by volunteers, many of them veterans.

Wagner was presented with a red, white and blue hand-knitted blanket and a certificate, as well as a star from a retired U.S. flag with a message to the veteran recipient to tell her that she was not forgotten.

Wagner said she was surprised when Zakar and VNA Hospice volunteer Frank Alleva came to her bedside for the dedication. She told them about her years of service and how she had only been in nursing school for six months when WWII broke out. She joined the Nurse Navy Corps upon her graduation. “When you enlisted, you were made supervisor of a unit,” Wagner says. “I was in orthopedics, so I helped amputees and soldiers who were paralyzed.”

“It’s important to remember veterans in this way,” said Alleva, the volunteer who presented Irene with her gifts – especially in Ocean County, which is home to the state’s largest population of veterans and seniors overall. According to the US Census Bureau, the town of Toms River has the largest population of veterans in the state. Nearly half a million veterans reside in New Jersey.

The Veteran Recognition Program at Community Medical Center began as a hospice-only program in April 2016 and has grown to encompass inpatients throughout the hospital.

“It’s a recognition of what they’ve done in their life, a reaffirmation for them,” Alleva said. An Air Force veteran himself, Alleva said he enjoys sitting with veterans, talking and listening to them. “When they get to tell their story to someone new, and people thank them for their service, it instills a little more pride in them than before. And they do have some amazing stories. You feel like you’re visiting history.”

Irene Wagner, a 94-year-old WWII Navy Nurse Corps Veteran and one of the first nurses to work at Community Medical Center, was honored for her service as part of the hospital’s Veteran Recognition Program.

About Community Medical Center

Community Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, offers a comprehensive array of services including sophisticated neurology and neurosurgery services with a neuro-interventional lab with a bi-plane, and a Level 3 Epilepsy program for children and adults. Our cardiac care features three cardiac catheterization labs and elective and emergency angioplasty programs for patients with heart disease. Patients have access to advanced cancer care including one of the most sophisticated linear accelerators used for radiation therapy and a CyberKnife for treating inoperable tumors. Surgical services include two daVinci robotic surgical platforms, and the hospital’s commitment to technology is evidenced by access to advanced imaging equipment not typically found in a community hospital. As a trusted provider of maternal and children’s services, a Level 2 special care nursery with onsite neonatologists for newborns requiring special care, a dedicated pediatric unit and a pediatrician in the Emergency Department are provided.

Community Medical Center’s cancer program has been accredited by the Commission on Cancer of The American College of Surgeons since 1986 and is the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award, one of only two cancer programs in New Jersey to earn this designation, and also offers an accredited Breast Center. The Joint Commission has awarded the hospital their Gold Seal of Approval for the care of Stroke, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure and Total Joint Replacement – Hip and Knee and our Cardiac Rehabilitation program.