Deborah Heart & Lung Center

Deborah Heart and Lung Center was established in 1922 as a tuberculosis sanitarium and pulmonary center.Legend has it that Deborah's rural Burlington County location was the key to recovery because of its therapeutic Jersey pine barren air. In reality, thousands of TB patients were medically treated and successfully cured by Deborah physicians.With the development of antibiotic medications, which eradicated TB, Deborah began expanding its focus to other chest diseases. In 1958, Dr. Charles Bailey, a pioneer in heart surgery, performed the first open heart surgery at Deborah. The specialty of cardiac diseases was immediately embraced and Deborah evolved into the only cardiac and pulmonary specialty hospital in New Jersey. Today, Deborah offers the latest surgical techniques and non-surgical alternatives for diagnosing and treating all forms of cardiac, vascular and pulmonary diseases in adults, and congenital and acquired heart defects in neonates and children. The Deborah campus consists of Deborah Heart and Lung Center, a 161-bed hospital with a full-service ambulatory care center and Deborah Hospital Foundation, the fundraising arm for the Center with approximately 68,000 volunteers supporting the Deborah mission. In 2001, Deborah was awarded accreditation by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), effective for three years, which is the longest period of accreditation awarded. Since JCAHOs inception, Deborah has always received the maximum time allowed before an institution must be re-accredited. (Less)