Basking Ridge RN and Hospice CEO Receives Statewide Honor

Lorraine Sciara, RN, of Basking Ridge, who is President and Chief Executive Officer of Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Centers (BHHPCC), recently was last week awarded the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award, the second such award ever granted by the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NJHPCO).

Each year the NJHPCO presents awards to recognize outstanding hospice professionals as role models for their counterparts statewide. Sciara also is certified as a Fellow American College of Healthcare Executive.

The second Lifetime Achievement Award given out by the NJHPCO since the organization was founded in 1979 was presented to Sciara at the NJHPCO’s Hospice Team Awards. The awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, June 6, at the Sheraton Hotel in Eatontown.

Sciara received a nursing diploma from the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing in New Jersey and a master’s degree in Public Health from Columbia University in New York. She has been leading Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center for more than 30 years, according to an announcement from the center.

According to the NJHPCO, the Lifetime Achievement Award may be presented to a distinguished individual whose long and exemplary leadership of the hospice movement in New Jersey is, in the opinion of the NJHPCO Board of Trustees, worthy of singular honor. The recipient’s record of stellar achievement merits emulation by all leaders in the hospice community.

The news release from the NJHPCO said Sciara has transformed what began in 1981 as a 10-person hospice to an organization with approximately 300 employees and 450 volunteers at Barnabas Health’s four hospice and palliative care sites. The sites include Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Centers in West Orange, at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark and Van Dyke Hospice and Palliative Care Center at Community Medical Center in Toms River.

The centers, accredited by The Joint Commission, provide exceptional hospice and palliative care services to New Jersey residents facing an end-stage illness, and their families.

In addition, the NJHPCO recognized five Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center professionals with Hospice Team Awards. 

BHHPCC is the leading care provider for patients in New Jersey who are facing advanced illness. It is licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, The Joint Commission accredited, Medicare and Medicaid certified, and is an active member of several national and state health care organizations.

The New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization educates professionals and consumers about hospice and palliative care. Its membership includes over 90 percent of the state’s licensed hospices, which together serve over 20,000 patients with end-stage illness and their families each year.

For more information about Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center, visit the center's website.