Anyone who knows Jack Morris, knows he loves competition.
“If we’re having a contest to do pushups, I’ll be determined to do one more than you,” he’ll say.
When it comes to fighting cancer, Morris said he welcomes all comers to the competition. It’s the one contest wherever everybody wins.
Morris, speaking exclusively to BINJE before Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, said he hopes the billion-dollar facility will spur more systems in New Jersey to up their game.
Fighting cancer is that important to Morris.
“Nothing would make me happier if someone came along and said, ‘We’re going to invest two billion dollars in cancer care to try to outdo you,’” he said. “That would be awesome.”
Awesome because The Morris has raised the bar so high.
Located in New Brunswick, the Morris Cancer Center will be the state’s first and only freestanding cancer hospital and one of just thirteen such facilities across the nation. The 12-story, 520,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility houses inpatient and outpatient cancer services coupled with research laboratories, retail space and ancillary services devoted to patient health and wellness.
The Morris Cancer Center will include the wide-ranging, advanced cancer care services offered by New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health – all under one roof.
And, Morris points out, the center also will work in conjunction with two other cancer centers in the RWJBarnabas Health system: At Cooperman Barnabas in the North and at the Specialty and Cancer Care Pavilion at the Vogel Medical Campus.at Monmouth Medical Center in Central New Jersey.
“We’re a system: So, what we’re doing in Livingston and Tinton Falls is all part of our cancer strategy,” he said.
Morris said it’s time for residents to realize that they don’t have to leave the state for cancer care.
“We know cancer doesn’t travel well,” he said. “We need to let New Jersey residents know that they don’t have to go to New York for themselves or their loved ones to get high-quality care.”
And while he encourages everyone to stay in New Jersey – he also hopes they will go to an RWJBH facility.
“No one can match what we have,” he said.
And if one day they could?
“Nothing would make me happier,” he said. “This is not about ego. This is about what’s best for the people we serve. That’s why this is so important.
“Does The Morris raise the bar. Absolutely. I hope people say, ‘We have to out-do The Morris.”
In New Jersey – and beyond, Morris said.
“Don’t forget, people are looking at us nationally, too,” he said. “People are looking at us because we’re recruiting from all around the United States of America. What we’re doing will improve cancer care in the United States of America.
“That we’re doing it here in my hometown of New Brunswick and in Middlesex County, just makes it better.”
