Deborah Specialty Physicians Office Opens Toms River

By Bob Vosseller

The Jersey Shore now has a large cardiology practice based in Toms River Township on Route 37 that will provide a wide variety of necessary services at a convenient location.

Deborah Specialty Physicians officially opened with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony and showcased its new office located at 599 Route 37 West. The township-based facility will provide advanced diagnostic and treatment options in cardiac and vascular care and a convenient community setting for accessing high-quality cardiovascular care and is affiliated with Deborah Heart and Lung Center based in Browns Mills, Burlington County. Deborah Specialty Physicians operates several satellite offices in various counties.

In attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill, Deborah CEO and President Joseph Chirichella, Cardiologist Dr. James Pasquariello, Ocean County Health Department Director of Administration and Program Development/ 9th District Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce representative Monique Speedy, Ocean County Business Development, Tourism Division Director Sandra Lazzaro and Ocean County Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea.

Dr. Pasquariello said, “it is an assembly of a number of very experienced physicians in the area. We can provide for the patient everything from the basic initial evaluation all the way to a full examination and with proximity to Deborah, we can access additional cardio-surgical capabilities.”

“The mission here is to have access to the best cardiac care from soup to nuts. I’ve been in practice in the area for over 40 years and many of us on the primary cardiology side have an average experience of 30 years,” Dr. Pasquariello added. He said, “this gives us both a presence here in the community and is convenient for our patients who don’t have to go all the way to Deborah for follow up care or even initial care. For some who are older it is difficult to get around, they don’t want to drive as far so we have all of that right here.”

Dr. Pasquariello said that the office has four to five primary cardiologists and many specialists.

Chirichella said opening the new office took “about a year between the design process, the approval process and construction. We had our share of supply chain issues.”

“One of the things I am most proud of as CEO is our staff. They are very engaged, very well-trained, both the physicians and support staff, be it the technical staff doing procedural testing or the office staff, I am very proud of the work they do,” he added.

“This is a great location, and is our largest and most full-service office. We have eight offices in Ocean, Burlington, Mercer and Atlantic counties. We are wide spread and have a good coverage area. It takes 20 doctors to staff those eight offices,” Chirichella said.

He noted that patients, “want their care locally available. They want to call and get an appointment in a relatively short period of time. They don’t want to wait months to get in and that is what this is really all about, our being in the community and being part of the community.”

“We are here to provide comprehensive quality care in the community. We have many physicians here that have all come together to provide that really high-quality care close to home,” Janet Bennett, Deborah Vice President of Cardiology Services said.

“We are really growing and adding more and more for our patients. The staff is really excited. We’ve been open for about a month now but this is our celebration to make it official,” Bennett added, The event featured tours of the new facility and an opportunity to meet the physicians who will staff the office. The office has diagnostic testing including EKG, echocardiograms, holter monitoring, pacemaker device management, exercise stress testing, nuclear testing and vascular ultrasound.

The 6,894 square foot office features 10 exam rooms, seven cardiovascular diagnostic testing rooms, easy visitor access through two sets of elevators and ample parking.

The team of Deborah specialists practicing at the new facility include cardiologists Dr. Victor Bacani, Dr. Joseph Guarino, Dr. James Pasquariello and Dr. Kock-Yen Tsang.

Dr. Burak Arkonac serves in interventional cardiology while Dr. Raffaele Corbisiero and Dr. Johnathan Krathen serve in the electrophysiology department.

Dr. Cynthia Kos serves in the Advanced Heart Failure department and the Vascular department is staffed by doctors Gregory Domer, Vijay Kamath and Saman Safadjou.

Rumpf remarked, “Deborah, thank you so much for choosing to locate here in Toms River. We understand the critical nature of cardiac care and the value that you are going to provide to our communities, not that you haven’t already by virtue of the hospital being a stone’s throw away in Burlington County but thank you for the close access for our residents in Ocean County.”

“We are very excited to have you,” Speedy said as she presented a certificate to the office.

“I am not new to Deborah as I trusted my father’s life to the fabulous Dr. Pasquariello. We welcome you to this new one stop location,” Lazzaro said.

Commissioner Crea said, “on a personal level let me thank you for all that you have done. My history too is that my husband was a patient in your hospital in Browns Mills - you took excellent care of him.”

Toms River Mayor Hill reviewed the hospital’s history noting, “Deborah was originally founded in New York City by philanthropist Doris Shapiro in 1922 and interestingly it was for tuberculous and was a sanitarium. She was looking for an area where there would be open pine air and found a site in Browns Mills that was within driving distance from New York City.”

The Deborah Specialty Physicians at Toms River office combines the talents of 11 specialists who have staff privileges at Deborah Heart and Lung Center.

The office is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Appointments can be made by calling 609-836-6622 or by going online at DeborahSpecialists.com.