Our History

Overview

It was the dedication of two Teaneck surgeons and the leadership of a Catholic Sister that made Holy Name Medical Center a reality in 1925.

Recognizing the need to serve the sick and indigent of the community, Dr. Frank McCormack and Dr. George Pitkin appealed to Mother General Agatha Brown of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace for help in finding a suitable hospital site and in providing administrative and nursing staffs. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace had been a presence in New Jersey since 1885, one year after the order was founded in England with the goal of fostering worldwide peace and justice.

The Sisters purchased the estate of the late William Walter Phelps and erected the hospital, staffing it with members of their Order. They also welcomed their first class of students to the School of Nursing only weeks before the hospital opened. When the first patient, a woman with acute appendicitis, came through the hospital doors in October 1925, Holy Name had 115 beds and less than a dozen physicians. Only five years later, a unit with 70 beds was built to meet the needs of area residents who had been impoverished by the Great Depression.

Teaneck was little more than a rural village then; in all of Bergen County there were some 250,000 inhabitants. With the completion of the George Washington Bridge in 1931 and Route 4 only a few years later, the familiar cornfields and apple orchards began to disappear. A surge of development followed World War II, and the area soon became a prosperous residential and business community.

Holy Name thrived as well. In 1955 the hospital completed its second addition: the four-story 110-bed Marian Pavilion. Less than 10 years later, Holy Name added to the Pavilion; first with two stories that housed three units and then three additional floors on the other side of the building.

Increasing patient demand continued to accelerate Holy Name's growth, leading to another major expansion project. By the late 1970's, the Medical Center had added two more nursing units and the main building that serves as the centerpiece of the campus today. With each advancement, Holy Name has grown, not only in size but in reputation. Among the specialized services are the Patricia Lynch Cancer Center, the Alfiero and Lucia Palestroni Foundation Multiple Sclerosis Center, the Russell Berrie Institute for Simulation Learning, and the Institute for Clinical Research.

Holy Name Medical Center is still sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and remains committed to a ministry of healing. It continues to take innovative steps to remain a fully accredited, dynamic medical center by implementing advanced technologies and best practices in patient care, facilities management and emergency preparedness. These pursuits for new advances will always be accompanied by an unwavering commitment to superior patient care in a culturally sensitive environment - the hallmark of Holy Name Medical Center.

Our Mission

We are a community of caregivers committed to a ministry of healing, embracing the tradition of Catholic principles, the pursuit of professional excellence and conscientious stewardship. We help our community achieve the highest attainable level of health through prevention, education, and treatment.

Leading-Edge Care

Holy Name Medical Center is a comprehensive, 361-bed acute care facility providing technologically advanced and leading-edge care across a continuum that encompasses education, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and wellness maintenance. Nearly 1,000 physicians, representing dozens of medical specialties, provide personal attention in a culturally sensitive environment, creating an exceptional health care experience for every patient.

Clinical Highlights:

• Asian Health Services
• Bariatric Services
• Cancer Care and Specialty Services
• Cardiovascular and Stroke Care
• Center for Sleep Medicine
• Clinical Research
• Emergency Care
• HNH Fitness
• Hospice and Palliative Care
• Interventional Radiology
• Institute for Wound Healing
• Maternal/Child Health
• Minimally Invasive Gynecology
• Multiple Sclerosis Center
• Orthopedics, Bone and Joint Center
• Physical Rehabilitation
• Renal Dialysis
• Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing
• Simulation Learning
• Surgical Specialties/Minimally Invasive and Robotics
• Villa Marie Claire - Residential Hospice

Accomplishments

Holy Name Medical Center has been treating patients with innovative and best-care practices and distinguishing itself in the medical community for nine decades. On multiple occasions, it was the first in the region, state or world to use a new medicine, device, therapy, or procedure.

• 2021 - Holy Name is the first healthcare center in the US to provide the CERTUS® myHealth Pass secure digital platform to patients to ensure forgery-proof medical records that meet the highest levels of data security and personal privacy protection.
  
  
• 2021 - Holy Name is the first hospital in New Jersey to offer needle-free blood draws for inpatients using the PIVO™ device from vascular access technology pioneer Velano Vascular.
  
  
• 2021 - Holy Name opens its best-in-class 19-bed Serviam Foundation ICU, comprising advanced technology, innovative safety features and novel infection control safeguards.
  
  
• 2021 - Holy Name debuts Hospital at Home, providing acute, hospital-level care to individuals in their homes, rather than in a traditional inpatient setting.
  
  
• 2021 - Holy Name launches one of New Jersey's largest and most efficient COVID-19 vaccination "mega sites," with locations in Teaneck, West New York, HNH Fitness, and mobile clinics throughout Bergen County.
  
  
• 2020 - Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Holy Name is the first site in the world to use Regeneron's antibody cocktail and Pluristem's placental therapy to treat patients with the virus.
  
  
• 2020 - Congress passes the Supporting Graduate Medical Education at Community Hospitals Act, allowing Holy Name to expand its residency training programs for new physicians.
  
  
• 2019 - The Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing moves from the main Holy Name campus in Teaneck, where it has resided since 1925, to a fully modernized new campus in Englewood Cliffs.
  
  
• 2019 - Holy Name achieves "three-peat" Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence three consecutive terms (12 years) from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, placing it among only 6 percent of hospitals in the nation to have achieved Magnet status.
  
  
• 2018 - Holy Name is one of only five hospitals in New Jersey and New York to achieve a 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for overall quality.
  
  
• 2018 - Holy Name opens the Institute for Wound Healing, advanced care for non-healing, chronic wounds and their related conditions and diseases.
  
  
• 2017 - Holy Name is one of the only hospitals in the region to offer the medication, Ocrevus, through an ongoing clinical trial to patients with a particular type of multiple sclerosis, months before the FDA approved it for the public.
  
  
• 2017 - Holy Name is one of only eight hospitals nationwide to partner with Cancer Support Community, formerly known as Gilda's Club, to provide free educational workshops, social events and support groups to anyone impacted by cancer.
  
  
• 2017 - Holy Name continues to expand its Asian Health Services, which now includes Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Indian cultures.
  
  
• 2016 - Holy Name expands its Hispanic Program, now called Familia Y Salud, and offers free medical screenings, health lectures and special events in the Hispanic community.
  
  
• 2015 - Holy Name Medical Center celebrates 90 years of providing compassionate, high-quality care to thousands of patients in a culturally-sensitive environment, maintaining its independence and staying faithful to its mission & a ministry of healing.
  
  
• 2015 - Holy Name expands its Korean Medical Program to include other Asian cultures by launching a Chinese Medical Program and a Filipino Medical Program, all of which are now under the umbrella of Asian Health Services.
  
  
• 2013 - Holy Name opens the Institute for Simulation Learning, a multimillion dollar educational program using mannequins that breathe, blink and bleed, and specially-trained actors to teach hospital staff, EMT's, and medical and nursing students how to prepare for the unexpected. It is the only one of its kind in North Jersey.
  
  
• 2011 - Villa Marie Claire, owned and operated by Holy Name, opens in Saddle River. With its family-centered care, homelike ambiance, and overnight accommodations for loved ones, Villa is the only residential hospice in North Jersey.
  
  
• 2011 - Holy Name is the first hospital in northern New Jersey to implant an MRI-compatible pacemaker, allowing patients to undergo an MRI if needed without damaging the device or inhibiting its function.
  
  
• 2008 - The Korean Medical Program starts with 35 physicians and grows to include more than 90 doctors treating 45,000 Korean-Americans, becoming a national model for other hospitals.
  
  
• 2006 - Holy Name is the first hospital in New Jersey to use radiofrequency ablation (RFA), heat produced by radio waves, to kill cancer cells in lung tumors.
  
  
• 2006 - Prone breast radiation therapy is used at Holy Name, one of the first hospitals nationwide to use this technique to target tumors without affecting healthy tissue.
  
  
• 2006 - Holy Name is the first hospital in New Jersey to use cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) technology to perform cardiac stress testing, one of the most accurate diagnostic tools to assess blood flow to the heart.
  
  
• 2004 - A specialized cancer treatment that combines two technologies & PET/CT scans and respiratory gating - is used at Holy Name and only a few other hospitals worldwide. The treatment allows for movement caused by the patient's breathing, delivering radiation only to tumors and sparing healthy tissue.
  
  
• 2003 - Holy Name successfully treats the first SARS patient in the United States, a pregnant woman who later delivered a healthy baby girl. SARS, a viral respiratory illness, affected 8,098 people worldwide and killed 774. The U.S. had 29 cases, but all recovered.
  
  
• 1985 - Holy Name opens the first MS Center in the region, drawing patients with multiple sclerosis from across the tri-state area.
  
  
• 1968 - Holy Name is the first hospital worldwide to give a patient RhoGam Rh (D) immune globulin, the prescription drug used to prevent life-threatening Rh disease in newborns.
  
  
• 1927 - Two years after Holy Name opened its doors, Dr. George P. Pitkin, one of the founders, introduces controllable spinal anesthesia, an alternative to inhalation anesthesia and related complications.
  
  

Recognition

Holy Name Medical Center has received a number of awards and accreditations recognizing its high quality patient care, innovative treatments, and revolutionary technology.

The Medical Center is accredited by The Joint Commission, which also recognizes Holy Name as a Primary Stroke Center and awarded certification for its Total Hip and Knee Replacement programs.

Holy Name consistently earns the distinguished Magnet Recognition for outstanding nursing practice, placing it in the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide.

The Medical Center is also accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, the American College of Radiology, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission for echocardiology and other organizations dedicated to maintaining high patient care and safety standards for clinical services.