About Us | History
Our History
 Constructing a Community of Caring
Perth Amboy, the first incorporated city in New Jersey (1718) was fertile soil for the rapid industrialization that marked the 19th century. With its harbor and waterways, shipping, fishing and factories began springing up. And, as factories were built, workers were in high demand. Single men, engaged in perilous work, is a dangerous combination.
Because there was no one to care for these men and injuries were on the rise, interested citizens and city leadership met in 1888 to discuss plans for building an emergency hospital. From this meeting emerged a tentative resolution to seek funds - funds to build a 12-bed hospital which, though perhaps unimaginable at the time, would later become Raritan Bay Medical Center, a two-campus 501-bed healthcare facility serving Central New Jersey.
After fourteen years of false starts and capital deficits, Perth Amboy City Hospital was dedicated on May 2, 1902. Years of tireless fundraising and personal sacrifice by women's groups, local benefactors, ethnic groups and civic organizations built and furnished what was considered a state-of-the-art facility at the turn of the century. A six-member medical staff was appointed and a nurse matron and assistant were put in charge. Five weeks later and Perth Amboy City Hospital had treated its first 12 patients. One year later and the hospital had its own school of nursing!
By 1913, the board of governors realized that 12 beds could no longer support the healthcare needs of the city's burgeoning population. From that time until right before the onslaught of the Great Depression, Perth Amboy City Hospital experienced tremendous growth. Additions made room for maternity services, an advanced laboratory and x-ray department, additional operating room space and expanded living quarters for the nurse residents.
Despite the increasing need for additional treatment space, December 7, 1941 halted plans for expansion. Immediately following the war in 1945, Perth Amboy City Hospital treated its first patient using a new wonder drug, penicillin, which was brought to the hospital under police escort. War-delayed additions were then rapidly undertaken during the next 15 years, significantly increasing bed capacity and the space necessary to offer advanced techniques that were once only available in major medical centers.
By the 1960's, the stage was set for the hospital to enter into an era of "firsts," where innovation was fueled by continuing renovation and expansion. In 1964, surgeons performed one of the first successful pacemaker implants. By 1968, scientists in the hospital's Institute of Laboratory Medicine had linked a small refrigerator sized computer to a set of automatic analyzing machines and came up with a completely new kind of hospital service…Computerized automation.
During the 1970's the hospital found itself at the forefront of cardiac medicine, recording New Jersey's first successful implant of the rechargeable pacemaker in 1974 and using one of the very firsts CAT Scanners in Middlesex County in 1979. Patients and physicians increasingly gained exclusive access to world-class health care right in their own backyard.
By 1976, a new building program was in the works. Extensive construction plans were created for Perth Amboy, but the most ambitious part of the program was the building of an 80-bed affiliate hospital on a 30-acre lot in Old Bridge Township. Old Bridge Regional Hospital was completed in just under two years, opening its doors on January 2, 1979! Through its affiliation with its Perth Amboy sister facility, for the first time residents south of the Raritan River could take advantage of all of the advanced medical services and techniques usually reserved for hospitals in urban centers.
Raritan Bay Health Services Corporation, the new name for the combined hospitals in Old Bridge and Perth Amboy (later changed simply to Raritan Bay Medical Center), saw advancements in surgery and non-surgical therapies, diagnostic testing, education and continued physical expansion throughout the 1980's. In fact, Old Bridge Regional Hospital became the home to the first laser knee surgery performed in New Jersey in 1988! The construction of the Old Bridge Medical Arts Building then brought a new level of convenience to physicians and patients, further upholding the medical center's pledge to provide the highest quality health care to its Middlesex County family.
Never resting on our laurels, in 1990 the hospital submitted a certificate of need to the State of New Jersey detailing its plans for expansion. Significantly named, "Renewal 2000," the request outlined an aggressive $53.6 million reconstruction plan that would affect most key service areas in Perth Amboy, including building a new outpatient center and adding a patient floor to the Old Bridge campus.
While extensive reconstruction changed the face of the both hospitals, patient care progressed at optimum levels. Participation in advanced clinical trials increased and affiliations were developed with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network. Increased specialized services such as the Marion Tanzman Diabetes Center, the Jacqueline M. and Robert N. Wilentz Cancer Center, the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, the Birthing Center and Center for Women were but a few of the many exciting happenings to add to Raritan Bay's growing list of accomplishments.
After Renewal 2000 was completed in 1997, post-construction relaxation was short-lived as the hospital unveiled its new plans for improving emergency care, called "Project ER." So as not to sacrifice patient care, Project ER was designed as a multiphase construction, renovation and revitalization of emergency department services at both hospitals. 2001 saw the final stages of renovations progressing in Perth Amboy, and the successful completion of the Old Bridge Division expansion. And, although it should be no surprise, with Project ER finished, plans for future expansion are on the drawing board!
Looking back over the more than 100 years that Raritan Bay Medical Center has been bringing the latest advancements in health care to Central New Jersey in a supportive and caring atmosphere, it is no wonder why, in 2001, readers of the Home News Tribune voted us the "Best Hospital in Central New Jersey."
Our history speaks for itself.
"Perth Amboy has always taken pride in the City Hospital. It is an institution that has grown with the city; it has grown faster than the city in some respects. It is recognized as one of the best in the state. It is something that every citizen should be glad to support in order that it may continue its good work and achieve still greater things"
- Editorial, Perth Amboy Chronicle (1924).
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