Newark Nurses Worry About Future Of Hospital’s Pediatric Unit

NEWARK, NJ — Administrators at University Hospital in Newark may be pondering changes at the busy medical center’s pediatric unit, and local labor groups, community leaders and nurses are worried about what will happen in their wake.

However, a hospital spokesperson offered Patch a simple statement about the fate of the pediatric unit: “We are not closing it.”

On Wednesday evening, the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) union helped to spearhead a town hall meeting at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Newark to discuss “concerns for the future of University Hospital’s in-patient pediatric services.”

The Newark-based People’s Organization for Progress was blunter in their description of the purpose of the town hall: “Pediatric care has been closed at University Hospital! We must fight back!”

The HPAE posted the following message on their website prior to the meeting:

“As the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) continues to review a pending application to close pediatric in-patient services at the hospital, the town hall event is an opportunity for the community to raise their concerns and ask questions on the impact these decisions will have on patients and the community… After raising concerns with the NJDOH over the closure, the nurses and health professionals represented by HPAE were informed on Tuesday, July 3 by hospital administrators that pediatrics will remain open until the NJDOH issues a decision on the hospital’s Certificate of Need (CON) application. Nurses who had been given layoff notices were informed that those notices were being put on-hold pending the Department of Health’s decision.”

On Wednesday, a hospital spokesperson told Patch that although administrators may be considering changes at the unit, the medical center is definitely not “closing it.” He provided the following statement about the situation:

“University Hospital is focused on what is in the best interest of all our patients and the broader community we serve. To be clear, our pediatric program is a vital University Hospital service and we are not closing it – we are matching the level of service to the number of pediatric patients we treat on a daily basis. Our goal with this decision is to ensure that the Newark community maintains access to the highest quality of care, and medical staff and services for their children. What will not change is our commitment and responsibility to provide emergency and trauma services as well as outpatient care to children.”

Patch reached out to the New Jersey Department of Health for more information about the hospital’s plans for its pediatric unit. We received the following reply:

“[University Hospital] submitted a request under Expedited Review Certificate of Need (ERCN) to close the Pediatric ICU, a service that requires a CON to open and requires a CON to close. Certain services, facility types/bed types require a CON application. Upon application, the department has to assess whether or not the service/facility type/bed type is required within the health care system as a whole, hence ‘need.’”

University Hospital’s application is currently under review, the Department of Health stated Wednesday.

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Photo: City of Newark Press Office (town hall on July 11, 2018)