Hudson County, the most densely populated county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in the country, was one of the worst hotspots early in the COVID-19 pandemic. And Jersey City Medical Center occupied a front-line position during those frightening weeks and months. With the crisis seemingly under control – for the moment – CEO Michael Prilutsky can turn his attention back to serving a community that is home to vulnerable populations.
In this installment of NJBIZ Conversations, Editor Jeff Kanige spoke with Prilutsky about his priorities, the hospital’s expansion plans and how it can help the community stay healthy.
“I’m sitting in a budget meeting last year and we’re talking about what new positions we need and how we’re going to conduct business in 2020, obviously not thinking about COVID but here we are, and we’re talking about having to hire farmer. So I can tell you the business school I went to for health care, we didn’t talk about hiring farmers,” he said. “But it’s because we are working with the city and AeroFarms to create greenhouses throughout Jersey City and support them. For example, we’re going to create a greenhouse in our own cafeteria where we’ll farm those vegetables and serve them in our own cafeteria. And we’ll go out to high schools to teach kids about eating healthy. … Already we have those outreach programs.” Watch the full interview here.
