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Welcome to Red Bank, Home to a Powerhouse Hospital
When severe pain from a kidney stone interrupted this
woman’s Thanksgiving, she found herself extremely grateful
for the exceptional comfort and care provided at the
award-winning Riverview Medical Center.
As the executive director of Red Bank
RiverCenter, Tricia Rumola is very
familiar with Riverview Medical Center.
She is also fully aware that Riverview is
a two-time recipient of the J.D. Power
and Associates "Distinguished Hospital"
Award. But she did not truly appreciate
what this award stands for until she
became a patient at Riverview.
"I was getting ready to go to my
parents’ house when I felt terrible —
I mean horrible — pain," recalls Tricia.
"I really didn’t want to have to go to
the emergency room on Thanksgiving —
I didn’t want to ruin the holiday
for my family — but I knew
something was wrong."
A Real Team Effort
When Tricia arrived at the Alton
A. Hovnanian Emergency Care Center
at Riverview, she was afraid that all of
the doctors would be at home celebrating
with their families and that she would
have a long wait. Not the case.
"Dr. Roma, the attending physician,
Pat Crocker, the triage nurse, and Julie
Hendrickson got my pain under control
very quickly and got me through to x-ray
quickly as well," reports the Red Bank resident. "And they did it all with
such compassion. Julie actually put
me at ease by joking that I was doing
the ‘kidney stone dance’ — and
that’s exactly what was wrong."
The team kept Tricia comfortable
while the urologist confirmed the
diagnosis. As it turned out, Tricia had
a rather large kidney stone, one that
had calcified and could not be
treated with lithotripsy, a procedure
used to shatter simple stones with
ultrasonic waves. This procedure is
often used to treat kidney stones, but
in Tricia’s case, surgery was the best
way to remove such a large stone.
"I had arrived at the emergency
room at 10:00 that morning, and
I was in surgery by 6:00 that
evening," Tricia says. "Everyone —
from the emergency room team to
the transport team to the doctors —
was so accommodating. It seemed
like a real team effort."
It’s no surprise that Tricia felt this
way at Riverview because that’s
what the J.D. Power "Distinguished
Hospital" recognition is all about.
When J.D. Power and Associates
surveys a hospital’s patients to
determine inpatient satisfaction,
they address the various members
of the team, including nurses,
physicians, and food/nutrition and
environmental services personnel.
At Riverview, every member of the
patient care team is dedicated to
surpassing expectations, and the survey reflected this philosophy.
For the second year in a row,
the hospital exceeded the national
benchmark study score for
overall patient satisfaction by
a notable margin.
No Stone Left Unturned
After her surgery, Tricia spent a few
days recovering at Riverview. She
was continually impressed with
everyone she encountered there.
"The doctor had such a great bedside
manner," Tricia comments, "and
I never felt nervous about asking
him questions because he was so
patient, knowledgeable, and kind —
and not just with me, but with the
entire staff."
Now that she’s back on track
and feeling good, Tricia is making
a concerted effort to drink more
water and watch her caffeine intake.
She’s researched the causes of
kidney stones and has vowed to do
everything she can to avoid another
incident because the pain is still
fresh in her mind. Luckily, so are
the names of all the nurses she met
along the way, for she recently
stopped back in to thank them
all for their personalized and
compassionate care.
 – Tria Deibert
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