Chilton Medical Center Foundation
We help support the people, programs and technology that strengthen care in the community. Learn how giving can fund vital services, hospital improvements and future-focused initiatives.
Generosity ignited
It's been said that charity begins at home, and that home is where the heart is. Those well-known proverbs certainly ring true at Chilton, which was built upon the benevolence of its community.
Chilton Medical Center Foundation, the fundraising arm of the hospital, was established in 1991. But its charitable roots date back to Chilton's inception. Long before the Foundation's Board of Trustees was formed, a local doctor by the name of Forrest S. Chilton II, and his wife, Elizabeth, donated a tract of land on Newark-Pompton Turnpike to construct a hospital in memory of their son.
That single philanthropic act, in 1947, launched a campaign to care for the sick while providing a medical facility to address the post-war baby boom. As soldiers returned home from World War II, area residents needed a nearby hospital for their expanding families. The Chilton legacy was born.
Indeed, Dr. Chilton’s generosity ignited the region’s humanitarian spirit and ultimately inspired the longstanding mission of Chilton Medical Center Foundation.
A growing legacy of success
Chilton Medical Center Foundation is solely dedicated to supporting the capital needs of Chilton Medical Center and its family of affiliates. Much like our founding benefactors, the Foundation raises money to enhance the quality of health care available to those we serve — funding clinical services, state-of-the-art technology, facility construction and modernizations, outreach initiatives and other vital programs.
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Foundation is led by a volunteer Board of Trustees that oversees the use of philanthropic donations and directs the organization in partnership with the hospital and representatives of our community.
Since its founding, the Foundation has raised more than $60 million for Chilton Medical Center, contributing to every major campaign or initiative aimed at improving the hospital’s facilities. This includes our Cancer Center, Adult and Pediatric Clinics, Mother Baby Center, Total Joint Center, Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Lobby, and Children’s Center.
Charitable gifts to the Foundation have also helped strengthen hospital programs and services like cardiology, oncology, telestroke, palliative care, behavioral health and many others.
As the hospital continues advancing, we invite you to step into Chilton’s history — and future — with a charitable donation that will impact generations to come.
Our current fundraising campaign
Chilton Medical Center Foundation launches $1.4M campaign to support family caregivers
The Chilton Medical Center Foundation is in the midst of a $1.4 million fundraising campaign to establish a dedicated Patient and Family Caregivers Center at Atlantic Health Chilton Medical Center, aiming to provide comfort, privacy, and essential resources for those supporting loved ones during medical treatment.
Family members and caregivers play a critical role in patient care, often spending hours at the hospital while navigating complex medical information and coping with emotional stress. Currently, many wait in busy public areas with limited access to quiet space, privacy, or amenities.
The proposed Patient and Family Caregivers Center will transform an underutilized area of the hospital into a welcoming, supportive environment designed specifically for caregiver and patient wellbeing.
Planned features of the center include private seating areas for rest and conversation, a calming environment to reduce stress, and access to educational and wellness resources. Caregivers will also be able to connect with trained staff or volunteers for emotional support and assistance navigating hospital services.
Additional amenities will include a real-time patient status communication board, light refreshments, and space for supportive programming such as caregiver support groups, mindfulness sessions, and stress-reduction activities.
“This project is about honoring caregivers with dignity while strengthening the overall care experience for patients and families,” said Chilton Medical Center Foundation Director Russell Miller. “By supporting those who give so much of themselves, we’re advancing a more holistic and compassionate approach to healthcare.”
Donors will have opportunities to contribute to the campaign through individual gifts, as well as naming opportunities for select rooms and areas within the new center.
The Foundation expects the center to directly benefit thousands of families who pass through Chilton Medical Center each year and invites the community to join them in caring for the caregivers and investing in those who give so much of themselves.
Caregivers are the silent heroes in every patient’s journey, and they deserve a space offering dignity, peace, and support. We look forward to seeing this meaningful vision become a reality!
To learn more or to make a gift, please contact Chilton Medical Center Foundation Director Russell Miller at 862-309-2462.
Additional funding priorities
Opportunities to support our mission through your philanthropy. Each day brings astounding new possibilities in health care, from clinical breakthroughs to innovative models of delivery. With continued donor support, Chilton Medical Center can sustain and grow its role as a leading provider of exceptional care, shaping the future of medicine and bringing the most promising advancements to our hospital and community.
Transforming intuition into insight
Chilton’s nurses are among the best in the nation. Each day, they care for patients using science and soul, meeting the full range of medical and emotional needs.
Both at the bedside and beyond, they’re often in clinical situations that spark questions, ideas, and theories. These — together with their training and experience — create an intellectual space where innovation can flourish.
Chilton’s Nursing Research Program will provide a framework for bringing this type of creativity into practice through the rigors of academic inquiry. By engaging with doctoral-level researchers, up to 10 nurses per year will be empowered to test their own patient-care theories by experimenting, analyzing, and publishing.
They will build on a tradition of scholarship that began in 2019, when Chilton’s first nurse-researcher published a scholarly article on the calming effects of animal-assisted therapy in an inpatient setting. This project, and those that will follow, share the same core objective: to benefit patients through the discovery of new knowledge.
Funding is needed to support Nursing Research Program participants’ mentorship, materials, and academic instruction. Charitable gifts will also enable Chilton to augment its nursing team to balance clinical and research endeavors.
Transforming survivors into supporters
Growing an innovative program that puts behavioral health patients on the road to recovery. The emergency department at Chilton sees approximately 800 behavioral health patients each year. While the urgent care they receive is often lifesaving, it represents just one step on a long road to recovery. That’s why these patients frequently experience anxiety in connection with their discharge from the hospital and the corresponding transition to settings without intensive services. In fact, research shows that this anxiety can lead to relapse, readmission, and even attempted suicide.
What if there was a better way? Are there guardrails that can prevent these potentially catastrophic outcomes? Can Chilton support ongoing recovery after an acute crisis?
Chilton’s behavioral health leaders believe so, which is why they’re seeking philanthropic support for an innovative care team framework that includes Peer Recovery Specialists. These individuals, who — by definition — are living with a mental health condition themselves, have completed specialized training that equips them to support others using a unique and highly effective blend of education and lived experience.
By leveraging their personal credibility as survivors, Peer Recovery Specialists are uniquely well-positioned to support those emerging from an acute mental health crisis. They are trained to help navigate the continuum of care, decipher clinical terminology, articulate plans for recovery, and develop a long-term wellness strategy.
Peer recovery specialists also serve patients by monitoring their progress, modeling effective self-help techniques, providing vocational and housing assistance, linking them to educational opportunities, facilitating medication support, and coordinating social services that meet childcare, transportation, and nutritional needs.
Funds raised for Chilton’s peer recovery specialists program will be directed to training, educational materials, and assistance for patients at the beginning of their own journey to recovery.
Helping our community members overcome financial barriers to cancer care
Financial barriers to cancer care can have devastating consequences for patients, families, and communities. While government and nonprofit agencies aim to help, resources available to those in need are limited and narrowly defined, leading to lower rates of treatment compliance, completion, and recovery among underserved oncology patients.
Averaging 40 needy cancer patients each year, Chilton Medical Center is seeking to combat this inequality by establishing an expanded Oncology Patient Assistance Fund, which will support the community’s most vulnerable.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought these issues into sharper focus than ever before, as record-numbers of underserved cancer patients lost access to volunteer-based transportation programs that made it possible for them to access radiation, chemotherapy, and other forms of treatment delivered in a health care setting. At the same time, lost wages due to widespread economic fallout heightened food and medication insecurity, and put many at risk of disconnected household utilities and even homelessness.
With well-established protocols already in place to assess patients’ financial circumstances in parallel with their clinical needs, Chilton is perfectly positioned to provide meaningful assistance to those who need it most, when they need it most. This has inspired the effort to develop a resource that reduces delays in care and ensures accountability.
Definition
Chilton Medical Center’s Oncology Patient Assistance Fund will support patients experiencing financial hardships that represent either direct or indirect barriers to care. A collaboration between the Chilton Medical Center Foundation and Cancer Center Executive Committee, this resource was created to meet the physical and emotional needs that enable patients to comply with and complete cancer treatment along the care continuum.
Funds are disbursed on the basis of need (as determined by social work and financial assessments) for:
- Clinical purposes (medication, physical therapy, at-home medical supplies, specialized prosthetics and garments, etc.).
- To meet basic needs related to treatment (transportation, nutrition, child-care, utilities, clothing, etc.) that would impede care if unmet.
Charitable giving
Chilton Medical Center Foundation offers a flexible philanthropic program that welcomes a myriad of personalized donations, from commemorative gifts that honor a loved one or caregiver, to endowments that create an inspiring family legacy. We encourage you to give in a way that supports your charitable goals as well as the programs that are meaningful to you, whether it's a donation to our Mother Baby Center or Special Care Nursery that nursed your newborn to good health, or perhaps our Cardiovascular Interventional Lab because a loved one suffers from heart disease.
Express your support for Chilton
Members donate $1,000 or more annually while enjoying an array of privileges, such as an invitation to the fall President's Club Reception with Chilton Medical Center's president and other exclusive events, along with private hospital tours and special amenities if admitted to Chilton. These valued philanthropic stewards rally support for the hospital's growth, modernization and technological innovation, keeping Chilton on the leading edge of health care.
Searching for a special way to honor the memory of a loved one, a wedding anniversary, graduation or other special occasion? Perhaps you wish to recognize a caregiver who touched your heart during a recent stay at Chilton, or a doctor who saved your life. Our Commemorative Gift Program offers the opportunity to thoughtfully express your affection or gratitude while also enhancing the care Chilton provides to patients and the community.
You can even honor the birth of your new baby or celebrate your child's birthday with a gift to our Mother Baby Center. Gifts of $1,000 or more are recognized with a special plaque on the Mother Baby Center Donor Wall located on the hospital's second floor.
The Women’s Vision for Health Care Council was formed to give women in our community a role in shaping the programs and services available to their families. Members make a two-year gift commitment of $1,000 annually, which they designate to a project or service line that inspires them. To join this council of informed women, or for more information, please call the Foundation office at 973-831-5165 or contact by email.
While some donations address the needs of today, others look toward the promise of tomorrow. The Chilton Medical Center Legacy Circle, which was established in 1995, honors individuals who support our hospital's future through estate planning, such as bequests, charitable gift annuities, gifts of life insurance and other vehicles. Planned gifts are often structured in partnership with a financial advisor to optimize tax and income benefits for the donor and/or designated beneficiaries as well as the charitable organization. Over the past 13 years, more than $6 million has been donated to Chilton through bequests and gift annuities.
Would you like to recognize a caregiver who went above and beyond to make your experience at Chilton Medical Center a positive one? Our Gift of Gratitude program helps you honor that individual with a donation to our hospital in his or her name.
The Foundation hosts several fundraisers throughout the year, from our annual golf outing and wine tasting to the much-anticipated charity ball.
Learn how your group can support a hospital's initiative by contacting the Chilton Medical Center Foundation.
You may have something to tell your doctor: thank you.
That's why the Chilton Medical Center Foundation invites you to honor your favorite physician(s) by making a charitable gift this Doctors' Day.
Chilton’s nurses don’t just care for their patients. They also care about them.
This year, during National Nurses’ Week, show them you care, too, by making a charitable gift in their honor!
Foundation Officers
Craig Montanaro
Chair
Anthony Christiano, Jr.
Vice Chair I
Linda Husti
Vice Chair II
Douglas Schwartz, CPA
Treasurer
John Prol
Secretary
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Megan Sandow
Board of Trustees
Interim President, Atlantic Health Chilton
Douglas Cook
James Cramer
Thomas Delleart
Brian Donnelly
Mitchell Leibowitz
Andrew Lucchesi
Margaret Nolan
Daryl Rogers
Frank E. Scangarella, Esq.
Thomas Shara
Kevin Van Schepen
Rob Ward
Community Connections
Stay informed with Chilton Foundation news through Community Connections, featuring updates, highlights and ways to stay engaged with your community. Keep up to date with the latest Foundation news and highlights by viewing our bi-annual community e-newsletters:
A tradition of health care excellence
The first chapter of Chilton Medical Center’s history was written in 1947. Forrest S. Chilton II, MD, and his wife, Elizabeth, an RN, donated a tract of land on Newark-Pompton Turnpike to build a hospital in memory of their son whose life was lost in World War II.
Their action sparked a successful drive to build a facility that would serve the health needs of the community and became a reality with a 50-bed facility in 1954, and expanded to 119 beds in 1961.
In August 1968, a 40-acre tract was purchased one mile west of the Newark-Pompton Turnpike site and another building, the West Parkway facility, was dedicated November 20, 1971. The next goal was to combine the two buildings on West Parkway and construction of an expanded hospital began in 1981. This included a new patient wing, new ground floor facility, and a complete remodeling of the original building. The “new” Chilton Memorial Hospital was dedicated in June 1984 and renamed Chilton Hospital in November 2010. The hospital merged with Atlantic Health in January 2014 and became Chilton Medical Center.
Today, Chilton Medical Center is a 260-bed, acute-care, nonprofit community hospital with approximately 1,350 employees. It features some of the most sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic equipment available. Our compassionate health care professionals provide advanced, cost-effective care, and all of our resources, including the staff you will meet, as well as those you may not, are dedicated to one purpose —— returning you to the best possible health.
More than 550 physicians representing more than 60 different specialties hold staff privileges at Chilton Medical Center. They are supported by allied health professionals who utilize the most current technologies and on-going education in treatment, while never losing sight of the importance and dignity of each individual patient. Our hospital serves residents from more than 33 communities and provides care for people of all ages. It has been recognized for excellence for programs from obstetrics to geriatrics.
The hospital is licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and is a member of the Voluntary Hospital Association of America, American Hospital Association and New Jersey Hospital Association.
Protecting your information
Chilton Medical Center Foundation (the “Foundation”) is a public foundation that primarily supports the mission of Chilton Medical Center (the “Medical Center”). The Medical Center is one of five (5) medical centers of Atlantic Health, each of which has its own supporting foundation. The Foundation is committed to protecting the privacy of its donors.
The Foundation collects and maintains the following types of donor information:
- Contact information, including name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
- Donation information or history, including giving vehicle
- Information on events attended, publications received and special requests for program information
- Information provided by a donor in the form of comments, suggestions or general communication
- The Foundation does not collect personally identifiable information about individuals except when expressly and knowingly provided by such individuals (e.g., credit card numbers).
The Foundation uses donors’ information to understand their interests in its mission and to update them on the Medical Center’s plans and activities. For administrative efficiency and coordination of foundation activities, the five (5) foundations affiliated with the Atlantic Health medical centers may share donor information on a “need to know” basis with staff, board members, volunteers, vendors and consultants, all of whom are bound by confidentiality requirements.
Other than as set forth above, no matter how information is collected by the Foundation, the Foundation does not provide, sell or lease your personally identifiable information to any parties unless otherwise stated at the time of collection.
The Foundation does not send out unsolicited e-mails to anyone whose e-mail address is not in its records. It does not include attachments in the group e-mails it sends out. All of the Foundation’s website visitors are encouraged to use antivirus software and to make sure their antivirus software is up-to-date. If you chose to make a donation through the Foundation’s website, the Foundation will forward your information to a third party for credit card processing and fulfillment.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding what the Foundation does with your information, please email us for answers or call 973-831-5165 and wait for a response before you decide whether to submit any information. The Foundation collects anonymous, aggregated data from its website for internal market research and statistical purposes only, such as website usage.
More information
Foundation’s website to receive updated and personalized information via email or regular mail. Users who have elected to register may opt out of the Foundation’s online community at any time. The information that a user provides during registration is used only to send email, online group mailings, or mail to the user from the Foundation.
If you wish your name and personal information to be removed from our list, please email us or call 973-831-5165.
The Foundation currently does not utilize cookies on its website. Should the Foundation implement cookies, it will be noted in an updated and amended version of this Privacy Statement.
The parts of the Foundation website that collect information about a person (name, address, email address, etc.) are not intended for use by children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, please ask your parents to help you use this website, and ask your parents for permission before you send any information about yourself (name, address, etc.) to the Foundation or anyone else over the Internet and before making any online purchases.
The Foundation encourages parents to be involved with their children’s online usage and to be aware of the activities in which children participate.
Any personally identifiable information collected by the Foundation with parental permission from children under 13 years of age (that we are aware are children under 13 years of age) will be used only for the Foundation’s internal purposes such as market research or fulfilling one-time requests for information or materials and may sometimes be included in the Foundation’s database.
However, such information will not be posted or published by the Foundation or provided to any third party without prior parental consent.
Accordingly, parents should discourage children from providing personal information. Should parents have any concerns about their child’s or their own use of the Foundation website, please email us or call 973-831-5165.
When you follow a link from the Foundation’s website to any third-party site, you are no longer protected by the Foundation’s Privacy Policy. The Foundation may make changes to this Privacy Policy. Changes will be posted on this website.
Contact us
Megan Sandow
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Russell Miller
Foundation Director
Lisa Dimiceli
Foundation Communications Manager
Patty Dunn
Data Analyst
Dawn Sullivan
Operations and Data Manager
Kim Walsh
Foundation Event Manager
Mailing address
Planned giving
You can extend your support to make a lasting impact that helps us continue to care for you and your neighbors.
Special events
Socialize and relax while supporting a worthy cause at one of our charitable events.
Join our charitable initiative
Recent advancements in minimally invasive robotic technology are revolutionizing surgery. More patients than ever before can now benefit from shorter recoveries, less, pain and better clinical outcomes with the da Vinci Xi. We launched a $625,000 charitable initiative to support the hospital’s vision for a next-generation operating room.
