O’Dea Calls for Task Force Including All Levels of Government to Save Christ Hospital

Mayoral candidate and County Commissioner Bill O’Dea is releasing the following statement on the recent developments regarding Christ Hospital:

"Christ Hospital is an essential part of Jersey City's healthcare infrastructure that thousands of people rely on for medical care, especially those without the means to travel to other facilities. It also carries extra significance to me, because I was born there and have had many friends receive care there over the years, which makes keeping it open and operating as Christ Hospital is very personal. If it were to close, those patients who are mostly elderly, low-income, immigrants and other vulnerable populations would be deeply at risk. We must do everything in our power to ensure that Christ Hospital remains open as a full-service, acute care, safety net hospital, full stop. I'm calling on Governor Murphy and our state legislators to immediately convene a task force of all levels of government to ensure that every possible step is taken to keep Christ Hospital open and serving patients with no interruption in service.

It's deeply concerning that the new ownership of Christ Hospital is talking about cutting services or potentially even closing this essential facility so soon after taking over control of it. While they are correct that more state funding is absolutely needed, we also require full transparency from the hospital's owners about what changed in recent months and how the situation suddenly became this dire. Christ Hospital has faced financial challenges for years, but that did not stop Hudson Regional Health from purchasing it. They now have a responsibility to the people of Jersey City to provide honest, straight answers about the future of healthcare in our city. My fear, and something that I know many residents share, is that this property is being considered for development due to its prime location, and we cannot let that jeopardize our right to quality health care in the North end of Jersey City."