[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 20, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2147-E2148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRATULATING PASCACK VALLEY HOSPITAL ON ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 20, 1999

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Pascack Valley 
Hospital on the 40th anniversary of its founding. Located in Westwood, 
Pascack Valley is one of the finest medical institutions in the State 
of New Jersey. Its story is one of a local community in desperate need 
of a hospital ready accessible to everyone and the people who worked 
through two wars and nearly two decades to achieve that goal.
  Pascack Valley Hospital had its beginnings in May 1941 when Westwood 
resident Louise Bohlin was shocked that a Hillsdale friend died after 
waiting three weeks for admission to the nearest existing Bergen County 
hospital because of a shortage of beds. Mrs. Bohlin vowed that the 
Pascack Valley would have a hospital of its own and organized local 
physicians, mayors and concerned citizens into the Pascack Valley 
Hospital Association. The association held its first meeting November 
27, 1941. Unfortunately, that meeting came only 10 days before the 
bombing of Pearl Harbor, and plans for a hospital were put on hold for 
the duration of World War II.
  The end of World War II brought an influx of returning veterans and 
expanding families, and intensified interest in the need for a 
community hospital. The Pascack Valley Hospital Association was 
reorganized in 1946 but the Korean War intervened it was not until June 
1 1959--18 years after the idea was born--that the single-story, 86-bed 
hospital opened its doors and welcomed its first patients. The hospital 
has grown tremendously since then. Today, it is a full-service, 291-bed 
hospital providing a wide range of the most advanced, technically 
sophisticated health care services available anywhere. The PVH medical 
team consists of nearly 450 physicians, 1,000 nurses and other health 
professionals and 1,000 dedicated volunteers. Pascack Valley Hospital 
serves 16,000 inpatients and 70,000 outpatients a year, yet maintains 
its strong dedication to personalized care--making each individual feel 
he or she is the most important patient in the hospital.
  As part of Well Care Group Inc., Pascack Valley Hospital itself is 
supplemented by an outpatient dialysis center, a community health care 
center, a hospice, a preventative medicine institute, a reproductive 
assistance center, a psychiatric institute and an MRI facility, among 
other services. In addition, it is affiliated with Westchester Medical 
Center, Hackensack University Medical Center and New York Medical 
College, further enhancing the expertise and facilities available to 
benefit PVH patients.
  I would like to take this occasion to enlist the Congress in giving 
special thanks and recognition to some of the extraordinary individuals 
who will be honored at the hospital's 40th anniversary celebration this 
weekend. Perhaps most prominent is philanthropist Lillian Booth, whose 
generosity has helped fund an oncology center and a dialysis center 
bearing her name--along with two ambulances and a specialized 
ultrasound scanner--during her 20-year involvement with the hospital. 
In addition, Bernice Alexander, widow of the late Dr. Stewart 
Alexander, one of PVH's best-known physicians, will be honored for her 
many contributions. Mrs. Alexander served as a lieutenant colonel and 
director of nursing in the Mediterranean Theater during World War II 
and was decorated for her wartime work in epidemiology. President of 
the Women's National Republican Club in the 1950s, she was a prime 
organizer of Project Hope, raising funds for medical supplies for 
crippled nations after the war. Also being honored is Richard Galgano, 
whose position as hospital janitor might make him seem an unlikely 
honoree. Mr. Galgano, however, is the only employee of the hospital who 
has been with PVH throughout its entire 40-year history. His long 
employment is a testimony to loyalty and he is well known to 
generations of patients, doctors, nurses and staff.
  Also being honored are six physicians affiliated with PVH from the 
beginning and still on the active staff: Dr. Joan Barrett, Robert 
Boyer, Frank Ferraro, Theodore Goldberg, Anthony Salerno and Arnold 
Sobel.
  Recognition must also go to all board members and PVH President Louis 
Ycre, whose extraordinary leadership skills and compassionate concern 
for the well being of the patients set the standard for the entire 
staff.
  A local hospital is one of the most basic protections for health and 
safety a community can be expected to offer, as vital as police and 
fire departments, clean drinking water, good roads and good schools. 
Those of us who remember what life was like for the injured or ill 
before Pascack Valley Hospital was founded don't have to imagine what 
life would be like without it. Pascack Valley Hospital has made a 
tremendous difference in our community.

[[Page E2148]]

  I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in 
expressing our appreciation for the work done by all associated with 
Pascack Valley Hospital and wishing them many years of continued 
success.

                          ____________________