With a solid offensive line, the all-star oncology team at The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center at Englewood Health is bringing home more victories for patients in their care. The VIPs on the team include generous philanthropic partners who help make wins possible.
Facing a tough opponent, cancer patients and their families experience many challenges. Treatment can generate an overwhelming volume of bills, which can quickly result in financial barriers to care for many families.
Thanks to a leadership-level investment from Jonathan and Robyn Lefcourt, there is a new playbook designed to tackle this financial burden. The Jonathan and Robyn Financial Navigation Program will launch later this year to help patients better understand insurance coverage, interpret bills and identify financial resource opportunities from external partners and organizations. The program will also serve as a steward for The Alice Youngman Fund, established by Bruce Youngman in memory of his late wife. The Fund underwrites the cost of unreimbursed medicines, treatments, services and other needed therapies that promote healing and recovery.
Thanks to these visionary benefactors and many other game-ready donors, Englewood Health cancer patients are sacking this disease and running up the score on survivorship.
To make a gift in support of programs like these, scan this QR code.
of patients with cancer worry abouttheir ability to pay for care and aretwo and a half times more likelyto file for bankruptcy. Those whodeclare bankruptcy face aconsiderably higher risk of deaththan those who do not.
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When Annette Scharf started experiencing shortness of breath, she did not think much of it. After all, as a wife and mother of four, she was always busy and on the go. The symptom persisted however, so she decided to make an appointment for the CT scan she pushed off for too long. Just an hour after completing the scan at Englewood Health, her doctor called and asked Annette to go to the Emergency Care Center right away.
Myxoma is a rare tumor inside the heart. Like 75% of cases, Annette’s tumor was in the left atrium. Although benign, the large tumor was obstructing blood flow and required surgery. Englewood Health cardiothoracic surgeon Robert Ferrante, MD, and our team performed a complicated eight-hour surgery.
“No one likes to learn they need heart surgery, but I gained a very high comfort level thanks to the time Dr. Ferrante spent explaining the process to me,” says Annette. “I woke up from surgery incredibly grateful for the care I received at Englewood Health. Everyone from diagnosis to surgery to cardiac rehab – this was my amazing team of VIPs!”
Dr. Ferrante returned to his hometown state of New Jersey and joined Englewood Health in 2019. “The Englewood Health Physician Network allows me to be part of a team of specialists who are committed to providing impeccable care for patients, close to home,” explains Dr. Ferrante. “An important aspect of treating my patients is the ability to collaborate with physicians across the network. This provides for an effective and personalized continuum of care and ultimately results in greater patient outcomes.”
To learn more about Annette’s story, scan this QR code.
ROBERT FERRANTE, MD cardiothoracic surgeon
Annette and her husband, David Scharf
View the ribbon-cutting ceremony by scanning this
Physicians, local leaders and members of the community rooted for the home team with the recent ribbon-cutting celebration of Englewood Health ZT Systems Outpatient Center. This 75,000-square-foot signature medical complex is the health system’s largest investment in Hudson County thanks to a $4 million pledge from Secaucus-based ZT Systems.
The three-floor outpatient center delivers all the award-winning expertise and resources of Englewood Health to families throughout Jersey City and beyond. Convenient access to urgent care, primary care, imaging and over a dozen specialty care services is the result of careful planning and delivers a winning approach for ensuring healthier communities.
