Each year, approximately 1 in 750 children is born with a cleft lip or palate which can have an impact on a child’s speech, dental health, hearing, educational advancement and swallowing. The mission of the Regional Craniofacial Center at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is to provide quality specialized team care to the evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents with cleft and other congenital and/or acquired anomalies. At St. Joseph’s Craniofacial Center, a premier multidisciplinary team of pediatric subspecialists provides consultation, diagnosis and treatment for patients with craniofacial disorders as well as education and support for their family members. Approximately half of parents referred to our center have a fetus identified as having a cleft or facial and ear anomaly. These families utilize our services themselves for prenatal counseling and to be educated at the Center.

Last year, more than 2,000 craniofacial patients traveled to the Center seeking evaluation and treatment from audiology, surgery, dental, genetic, neurology, speech, radiology, ENT, opthamology and family counseling. Many of our families have no means of private transportation.

Craniofacial deformities are particularly difficult because of their immediate impact on function, appearance and parent-child bonding.  Finding the right clinicians, and physicians for our craniofacial families to communicate and collaborate with for the treatment of their child is a fundamental goal of the craniofacial team.  Team care is recognized as the standard for affected children and adults. A cleft palate/craniofacial team is a committed group of specialists who collaborate using their shared experience and expertise to make treatment timely, efficient and as comfortable as it can be for the patient. Each clinician has a role to play, but the major benefits of team care are realized when we all work together. Unique to this Center is a subgroup of team clinicians dedicated to prosthetic and/or biologic reconstruction of the ears and other parts of the face. 

Through our Family-to-Family Network, an outreach support group, parents/caregivers of children whose craniofacial anomalies were treated at the Center are matched with parents of children born with similar conditions. This allows parents to share their experiences and support one another.

The Regional Craniofacial Center at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital not only meets, it exceeds standards set by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association for designation as a Craniofacial Team.  The team is also a member of the New Jersey Federation of Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Teams and is funded in part by the Department of Health and senior Services, Special Child Health and Early Intervention services.

Diagnostic testing is the foundation of a patient’s health record and a key driver of the health care decisions made collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team composed of the medical staff, nursing staff, and allied health professionals. St. Joseph’s University Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center’s Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory is dedicated to delivering the best value services and solutions to our customers, you the patient. Our relentless focus on quality ensures our customers are offered the latest advances in laboratory science. When dealing with the Pathology Department you can be assured the patient always comes first: an individualized plan of care is developed based upon needs identified in collaboration with the patient, family, nursing staff, medical staff, laboratory scientists, and clinical care technicians.

The Department of Pathology at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center are a local leader in the study and treatment of human disease. The state of the art laboratory offers a diverse and full range of diagnostic services for both inpatient and outpatient populations including chemistry, hematology, coagulation, immunology, serology, microbiology, histology, cytology, pathology, blood bank, Flow Cytometry and phlebotomy.

In addition to meeting individual patient needs the Pathology Department proudly services many physicians’ offices, home care services, nursing homes, surgical centers and wellness fairs.

The Pathology & Clinical Laboratory Department of St. Joseph’s University Medical Center consists of the following divisions:

• Surgical Pathology and Cytology
• Clinical Laboratory
• Blood Bank

The Department is directed by Pathologists who are physicians, Board-certified in Clinical and Anatomical Pathology. In addition, all laboratory sections are managed and staffed by highly qualified, degreed clinical laboratory scientists

The Department is licensed by the State of New Jersey for both the Clinical Laboratory and the Transfusion and Donor Services (Blood Bank).

Accreditations for the Department include:

• College of American Pathologists (CAP)
• American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
• Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (Federal CLIA 88).
• Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI)

The Pathology Department provides the following services:

• Automation Lab (Hematology, Chemistry, Coagulation, Urine Analysis)
• Microbiology
• Serology/Immunoloy
• Blood Bank (Transfusion and Donor Services)
• Special Coagulation
• Flow Cytometry
• Histology
• Cytology
• Certified testing site by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for Sweat Chloride testing

In its first year of operation, St. Joseph's served 102 patients. Today, more than 145 years later we serve over 1.6 million patients. To respond to St. Joseph's vision of providing excellent healthcare to all people, with a special concern for the poor and underserved, St. Joseph's has:

• One of the only Feeding and Swallowing Centers in the United States, treating patients from around the country,
• Collaboration with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital,
• The largest hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the state of New Jersey,
• Received the Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence four times,
• The Alfiero and Lucia Palestroni Birth Defects Center, the area's only comprehensive center to prevent and treat a broad spectrum of disorders.

St. Joseph's is an exciting place to work. Opportunities abound for employees and no matter the position you have at St. Joseph's, you are an important part of our Mission, Vision, and Values to provide excellent patient care.

The Child Care Center at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center provides quality child care to children between the ages of 2 months and 5 years whose parents are employees of St. Joseph’s. During the summer months and school holidays, we also provide care to children ages 6 to 13 years. We are open from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday, 52 weeks a year, closing only for major holidays and conveniently located across from the St. Joseph's University Medical Center, 800 Main St. in Paterson, NJ 07503. Children may be enrolled for five or fewer days.

The Child Care Center is licensed by the State of New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families. We are also Nationally Accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

We provide a program designed to foster the child’s development in a comfortable and encouraging environment. Our classrooms are engaging, safe, and nurturing, and support all areas of development. We ensure that each child develops physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually, and is able to meet his or her full potential. Children leave us to enter Kindergarten fully prepared to meet the complex demands presented to them.

The teaching faculty is among the most highly qualified in New Jersey. They have each studied child development and early childhood education, and receive ongoing training while employed with us to increasingly strengthen their understanding and pedagogy.

We work closely with each child’s family, so that a relationship of mutual support is developed. In this way, a partnership is created to ensure the wellbeing of the child and family.

The St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Sleep Center, is located at our St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center campus in Wayne, NJ. The Center is dedicated to the evaluation of cardiorespiratory and sleep disorders in infants, children and adolescents It is equipped with a new state-of-the-art comprehensive polysomnographic monitoring system, which is staffed by pediatric sleep technologists. The Sleep Center consists of a multidisciplinary team of board certified sleep specialists, pediatric epileptologist and neuromuscular specialists and otorhinolaryngologists.

An overnight sleep study or polysonogram is a tool that can help in the evaluation and management of children with symptoms that include:

• Snoring
• Mouth breathing
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Behavioral problems that include inattentiveness in school and hyperactivity
• Cyanotic or choking spells
• Obesity-related sleep disorders
• Narcolepsy
• Neuromuscular diseases
• Hypoventilation
• Pre and Post-operative evaluation for scoliosis, spina bifida, cleft palate and other neurosurgical and craniofacial disorders
• Determination of respiratory needs for oxygen and ventilatory Support

Contact information

Phone: 973.754.2550
Fax: 973.754.2548

Roberto V. Nachajon, MD, Medical Director
Michael Blechner, MD, Associate Director

The Valerie Fund Center at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital provides state-of-the-art family-centered care for children with blood disorders and cancer.

The staff includes physicians who are Board-certified in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, a dedicated nursing staff with expertise in administration of chemotherapy and other therapies, and a psychosocial team that includes a social worker and child life specialist. The outpatient area is decorated in a bright and child friendly manner.

The Valerie Fund Center at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is a full member of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), an international organization supported by the National Cancer Institute, which provides research protocols for the advancement of a cure for all pediatric cancers. Pediatric oncology patients are enrolled in the current treatment protocols available.

As part of our collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, patients benefit from individual case review through high-definition telemedicine meetings with St. Jude. These meetings allow our cases to be reviewed by leading experts in the country. Our team attends weekly conferences via the telemedicine suite on a variety of hematology and oncology topics.

In addition, we offer an Integrative Therapies Program for Children and Adolescents, which provides specialized services to parents, families and all pediatric patients being treated at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. These services include acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, aromatherapy, massage and guided imagery.

Our team is an integral part of the Pediatric Palliative Care Team, also known as Comfort Care, in the Children’s Hospital. This team provides specialized care for all children with life limiting illnesses.