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973-829-4665EmailHackettstown and Newton Medical Centers receive 1st Emergency Nurses Association Lantern Award®
HACKETTSTOWN & NEWTON, NJ – JULY 23, 2025 – The Emergency Departments at Hackettstown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center have been selected to receive the Emergency Nurses Association’s 2025 Lantern Award® for demonstrating outstanding leadership, practice, education, advocacy and innovation in emergency care. This is the first Lantern Award for Hackettstown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center.
“The Emergency Department teams at Hackettstown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center always aim to provide the highest quality patient care, demonstrating compassion and clinical excellence,” said Bethany Lichtenwalner, RN, Interim Chief Nursing Officer, Hackettstown and Newton Medical Centers. “I congratulate our incredible physicians, nurses and other team members for all of the work that has led to receiving this Lantern Award, as it truly serves as a testament to their exceptional dedication and impact.”
Hackettstown and Newton’s Emergency Departments are two of 96 EDs nationwide recognized by the ENA in 2025. The Lantern Award recognizes the Emergency Services at Hackettstown and Newton for exceptional work, commitment to quality, and consistently demonstrated patient-centered care. This award considers a variety of quantitative factors that focus on performance, as well as qualitative examples of noteworthy practices and attributes of an Emergency Department. The award serves as a visible symbol of Hackettstown and Newton’s commitment to quality, safety and a healthy work environment.
“We are incredibly proud of the Emergency Departments at Hackettstown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center for earning their first Lantern award,” said Bob Adams, President, Newton Medical Center and Hackettstown Medical Center and Senior Vice President, Atlantic Health System. “This outstanding recognition affirms that the services we provide to our community every single day meet the highest standards of emergency care, and we are truly honored to receive it.”
Every medical center within Atlantic Health System now holds this honorable recognition, with Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, CentraState Medical Center, and Chilton Medical Center all being Lantern Award recipients as well. The award lasts for a three-year cycle, after which Emergency Departments are eligible to apply again.
“Nurses are the backbone of care across Atlantic Health System. In our Emergency Departments, they consistently provide expert clinical care while also offering so much nurturing support for each and every patient,” said Trish O’Keefe, PhD, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive, Atlantic Health System, and President, Morristown Medical Center. “Their incredible commitment to excellence helps make this systemwide accomplishment possible, and we are deeply grateful for the exceptional emergency services they provide.”
Hackettstown and Newton Medical Centers’ Lantern Awards will be on display in their Emergency Departments. As Lantern Award recipients, Hackettstown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center’s Emergency Services will be recognized in upcoming ENA publications, on the ENA website and during Emergency Nursing 2025, the association’s annual conference in New Orleans, Sept. 17-20. For more information on this year’s Lantern Award recipients, visit the Emergency Nurses Association website.
About the Emergency Nurses Association
The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With nearly 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.
The Emergency Nurses Association bestows the Lantern Award on Emergency Departments that exemplify exceptional practice and innovative performance in the core areas of nursing leadership, practice, education, advocacy, and research.
About Atlantic Health System
Atlantic Health System is at the forefront of medicine, setting standards for quality health care in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New York metropolitan area. Powered by a workforce of 24,000 team members and more than 7,779 affiliated physicians dedicated to building healthier communities, Atlantic Health System serves more than half of the state of New Jersey including 14 counties and 7.5 million people.
The not-for-profit system offers more than 550 sites of care, including its eight hospitals: Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ, Newton Medical Center in Newton, NJ, Chilton Medical Center in Pompton Plains, NJ, Hackettstown Medical Center in Hackettstown, NJ, Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, NJ, Atlantic Rehabilitation Institute in Madison, NJ and CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, NJ.
The system includes Atlantic Medical Group, part of a physician enterprise that makes up one of the largest multispecialty practices in New Jersey with more than 1,700 physicians and advance practice providers. Joined with Atlantic Accountable Care Organization and Optimus Healthcare Partners they form part of Atlantic Alliance, a Clinically Integrated Network of more than 2,500 health care providers throughout northern and central NJ.
Atlantic Health System provides care for the full continuum of health care needs through 30 urgent care centers, Atlantic Visiting Nurse and Atlantic Health Virtual Visits. Facilitating the connection between these services on both land and air is the transportation fleet of Atlantic Mobile Health.
Founded by Atlantic Health System, the Healthcare Transformation Consortium is a partnership of seven regional hospitals and health systems dedicated to improving access and affordability. Atlantic Health System has a medical school affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University, is home to the regional campus of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Morristown and Overlook Medical Centers, and is the official health care partner of the New York Jets.