Tuesday's Random Thoughts

52 employees at Community Medical Center have lost their jobs as the Saint Barnabas Health Care System continues to try and cut costs to deal with revenue shortfalls. The latest job cuts are in addition to 35 made at Community in November and a total of 63 at Kimball Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center over that same time span.

In the case of Community the biggest problem is federal and state reimbursement for charity care programs along with Medicare and Medicaid. Community has spent about $15 million in charity care this year but was reimbursed only $3 million….an equation that just doesn’t work.
The Medicare and Medicaid numbers are challenging because of the high number of seniors treated at the Toms River hospital.

One of the few good things to come out of Trenton in the last couple of years has been the NJ STARS and STARS II program which rewards students for excellence in the classroom and encourages them to stay in New Jersey for their higher education. However that program is headed for changes next year once Governor Corzine signs revisions which will exclude families with more than $250,000 in income. In addition under the STARS program high school students will have to graduate in the top 15% of their class (instead of 20%) to receive free tuition to community colleges like OCC. They can then move onto four-year colleges and universities through STARS II scholarships if they graduate with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. However the new proposal will result in a required GPA of at least 3.25 and will cap the scholarship at $7,000. It is still a good program but many students will now find themselves on the outside looking in.

This is the third Tuesday of the month and at the First United Methodist Church in Toms River on the corner of Old Freehold Road and Chestnut Street that means the “Paula Brown Soup Kitchen” will be in operation from 2-6pm. The monthly gathering is open to everyone and as times get tougher more and more are taking advantage of a free hot meal. When volunteers started last year they would feed about 15 and that’s increased to about 40 each month. In addition to a meal a woman shows up with a trailer to give out free clothing to those in need. Organizers of this and other soup kitchens are concerned that donations will not keep up with demand for their services. This is just another program that people can support and help make a difference in their communities.