Hospital emergency care, affordable housing and parks are among a list of priority community projects in New Jersey Congressional District 11 that are expected to receive more than $17.7 million in new federal funding, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-Montclair, said Wednesday.
Amounts ranging from $300,000 to more than $3 million for 14 projects in Morris, Essex and Passaic counties were included in this year's House appropriations bill, which has passed committee and will go to the House for a vote later this year.
"The projects include infrastructure investments to improve water quality and mitigate flood risks, health care facility upgrades, programs to address the affordability of housing and college tuition, public health support, and funding for law enforcement," Sherrill said.
Two hospital systems in the district stand to receive $1 million each to improve emergency response and care.
Morristown Medical Center plans to use its funds to renovate and expand the busiest emergency room in Morris County, which has not undergone a major renovation since 2011. Atlantic Health officials hope to replace existing patient monitors, increase monitoring capability in the hallway areas of the Red Zone, construct additional negative pressure rooms to control airborne pathogens and modernize triage space.
The Morristown emergency room handled more than 101,000 visits in 2019 and more than 93,350 in 2021.
The RWJBarnabas Health Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston will use its funds for a project that will incorporate "lessons learned" from U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq into "an innovative care concept that involves physician-directed and provided care at the scene of emergencies in the community in order to enhance health outcomes and save more lives."
The funding will specifically be used to expand and enhance the existing EMS Physician Training and Mobile Health initiative currently based in Newark, with a goal "to deliver immediate lifesaving interventions while also enhancing triage capabilities, providing the right resources to the right patient at the right time," hospital officials said.
Another highly anticipated project — a 7.7-mile recreation trail planned to go around the Boonton Reservoir, announced in 2018 — would get $600,000 to build key security improvements, including 3,100 feet of site fencing, three new vehicle gates, three pedestrian gates, 18 cameras and extensive lighting at two areas slated for the most immediate site improvement.
Officials hoped to begin construction on the long-delayed project this year, but a spokesperson for the Morris County Park Commission said there is no timetable in place.
Other District 11 projects expected to receive funds through this year's appropriations bill include the following:
"All of these local projects address pressing needs raised by communities without burdening local taxpayers," Sherrill said. "I am ready to do all I can to secure this funding as this bill moves through the House and Senate."