E.C. Hazard, MD & his Hospital …

Dr. E.C. Hazard, 1949.

This forgotten city charity healthcare institution — known as the “Hospital with a Heart” — was opened in December 1920 at Washington and Dewey Streets by Elmer Clarke Hazard, MD, PhD, ScD. Beginning with 10 beds in an old two-story frame barn, by June 1923 the E.C. Hazard Memorial Hospital was incorporated with 150 beds.

For  the next “quarter century, the hospital never refused admittance to a patient on financial grounds,” according to the 1949 Long Branch Daily Record. “It never demanded payment in advance and never sued a patient because of inability to pay.”

As matter of fact — no other hospital in the whole nation cared more for its patients. This small city hospital once led the entire country in the percentage of charity patients treated. Hazard Hospital also led the state and the county in charitable care cases for decades. During Great Depression times, more than 90% of patients paid nothing for their treatment. For a longtime Dr. Hazard funded the hospital out of his pocket — kicking-in an average of $35,000 annually from 1920 to 1950.

The facility mostly operated as a general hospital and ER with a nursing school; it specialized in pediatrics and obstetrics. At peak operation, just after World War II, the hospital was “crowded to capacity” with a patient-days occupancy rate at 98%. A $250,000 expansion wing was opened in September 1956; former heavyweight boxing champions Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano were both on hand for the dedication ceremony, according to a Long Branch Daily Record report.

And MMC

The eldest son of a tomato/ketchup factory owner and fancy groceries magnate, Dr. Hazard was born in NYC in December 1879. Highly educated and trained in healthcare, he earned his MD degree from Maryland Medical College at Baltimore in May 1904 after getting a doctorate in pharmacy from Columbia University in NYC in 1902. He earned a third doctorate in Science in 1907. “Life is far more valuable then money,” was the good doctor’s healing philosophy. Much-admired around the city, Dr. Hazard “created a place where the poor, suffering, and needy” could go for free healthcare, according to a June 1958 Long Branch Daily Record editorial.

Dr. Hazard — after devoting “his life and fortune” to the hospital — died in November 1954 after a long illness. His brother, Bowdoin Hazard, was the hospital’s administrator for over decade. He died in 1957 after his car was hit a by a train at the Joline Avenue crossing. It changed names becoming Doctors’ Memorial Hospital in October 1957.

In February 1959, the facility was acquired by the Home for the Chronic Sick of Irvington, NJ for $300,000; Joseph Fox, PhD was the executive director. The facility was damaged by a fire in May 1968 and Dr. Hazard’s original house was torn down in 1969. The facility ceased all healthcare operations in 1974.

Today, the only hospital left in Long Branch is Monmouth Medical Center on Third Avenue. Founded in 1887, it is part of the RWJ Barnabus Health network. No longer a modest city hospital, MMC is now part of a billion-dollar healthcare conglomerate. It’s also leaving the city going to former Fort Monmouth property in Tinton Falls. With it goes a century-plus of loyalty to the city, compassion for all patients, community interest and involvement, and neighborliness and overall good will.

New E.C. Hazard Memorial Hospital sketch proposal, Long Branch Daily Record, January 1954. Ferrenz & Taylor were the architects. “In all its years of operation, Hazard Hospital has never asked about a patient’s origin, race, color or creed. If you were ill — if you were needy — the benevolence of the institution restored you.”

Hazard Hospital, 1954. “Known as the poor man’s hospital,” Long Branch Daily Record.

Hazard Hospital, 1950s. Such was the reverence and regard for Dr. Hazard that his improved health details made the front-page of the Long Branch Daily Record in June 1937.

Dr. Hazard (l) and his brother Bowdoin (r) outside the hospital, Long Branch Daily Record, 1948.

New Hazard Hospital plan, 1953. For 30+ years Long Branch saw Dr. Hazard’s “skill, competence and charity.”

Hazard Memorial Hospital, 1958. When the three-story brick addition opened in September 1956, it included 14 patient rooms, an ER, two ORs, and X-ray and exam rooms. At the time, top orthopedic surgeon Dr. Anthony J. Pisani was hospital chief of staff and Florence Murphy was hospital administrator.

Hazard Hospital, 1950s. For receiving treatment during the Great Depression years, 90% of the patients paid nothing.

Hazard Hospital story. Asbury Park Press, June 1923.

Hazard a Drink? — The good doctor was against the “Prohibition” movement paying for this Long Branch Daily Record ad, June 1918. The city  voted to “stay wet’ by 1,711 to 625.

The Other Hospital — Monmouth Medical Center on Second Avenue, 1966 — MORE INFO.