Bayshore Medical Center names new building as Dr. Robert H. Harris Emergency Care Center

Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center Foundation is pleased to reveal that the new Emergency Care Center at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, NJ, will be called the Dr. Robert H. Harris Emergency Care Center.

The Emergency Care Center, currently under construction, will be named by Mary Ellen Harris, Golden Dome Foundation founder, in honor of Dr. Robert H. Harris, thanks to a generous gift made by the foundation.

The pledge, the largest in Bayshore Medical Center's history, offers exclusive naming rights to the Golden Dome Foundation, a Middletown, NJ-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was founded in 2015 by the late Dr. Robert H. Harris and his wife – the organization's current president – Mary Ellen Harris, to support charitable causes.

"This naming and gift is an auspicious moment for Bayshore Medical Center," says Joseph Stampe, president and chief development officer of Hackensack Meridian Health Meridian Health Foundation, to which Bayshore Medical Center Foundation belongs. "The new Dr. Robert. H. Harris Emergency Care Center will mean a great deal to the community and we are incredibly grateful to the Golden Dome Foundation for their generosity and support of this monumental project."

The 32,000 square foot expansion will provide space necessary for the medical staff to address the needs of the community in a comfortable and private environment. Located on the Garden State Parkway side of the campus, it will contain 35 patient bays, swing space with capacity for pediatric care and new imaging equipment dedicated to Emergency Care Center patients.

We are privileged to accept this generous donation from the Golden Dome Foundation. It is our great honor to announce the Dr. Robert H. Harris Emergency Care Center at Bayshore Medical Center. The founders and trustees of this foundation have deep roots in the Holmdel region and are connected to Bayshore through many care experiences, most significantly, through Niranjan Shah, M.D., who inspired this gift through his passionate advocacy of our hospital."

  Frank Citara, MBA, chief hospital executive, Bayshore Medical Center

In addition to creating additional space in which to treat patients, the project also incorporates a new medical center lobby, including a reception and waiting area and interior renovations to the corridor linking each side of the medical center and creating a new main corridor. The new main entrance will be repositioned to the rear of the medical center where the current Emergency Care Center sits.

"This hospital is an important part of the community, and our neighbors deserve access to the best care available," says Mary Ellen Harris. "My husband, Bob, for whom this building is named, had a love for medicine and great respect for the work of the care team at Bayshore Medical Center.

As a pioneer in innovative research, he was always trying to improve the quality of life for the people his work impacted, and I know he'd be proud to help improve the working environment for clinicians, while enhancing care for patients."

Hackensack Meridian Health has invested heavily in the new Emergency Care Center, which will have the capacity to care for 55,000 people annually. The new center will offer decreased wait times and increased efficiency so that patients with emergent needs have access to the most advanced emergency care available – right in their own backyard.

The pledge by the Golden Dome Foundation contributes to a $150 million fundraising goal as part of Meridian Health Foundation's Giving Heals campaign.

Giving Heals, which has currently raised more than $96 million, supports four important initiatives: strengthening oncology services, improving clinical outcomes, enhancing the patient experience and broadening clinical research and academic programs at the following Hackensack Meridian Health medical centers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties:

Bayshore Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital, Ocean Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center and Southern Ocean Medical Center.