Left to right: former NFL football player and Tigger House Foundation board member Christian Peter is pictured with the Foundation’s founders Lisa and Rick Stavola, in front of the Alton A. Hovnanian Emergency Care Center at Riverview Medical Center.
Press release from Riverview Medical Center Foundation
The nonprofit Riverview Medical Center Foundation has announced a gift of $120,000 from the Tigger House Foundation that will support the addition of an Addictions Counselor in the hospital’s emergency department.
The addition of a licensed chemical dependency counselor to the Alton A. Hovnanian Emergency Care Center would provide timely and critical assessment and outreach to patients during severe times of need. Funding from Tigger House will be instrumental in helping Riverview create this new position, ensuring a licensed Addictions Counselor will be available in the hospital’s emergency department to address patients’ needs in a timely manner, seven days a week.
Tigger House Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving a positive impact by reducing the death rate of heroin and opiate addiction. The organization was founded by Lisa and Rick Stavola in 2013 after they tragically lost their 25 year-old son, Rick Jr. (also known as Tigger), to a heroin overdose.
“Losing Rick Jr. was absolutely devastating and heartbreaking for our family,” shares Lisa and Rick. “His memory inspires us every day to do whatever it takes so others don’t have to suffer a similar loss. Making this gift to Riverview gives us hope and promise for a future where fewer people are impacted by the horrific realities of addiction.”
“The addiction epidemic in New Jersey, and specifically Monmouth County, cannot be ignored,” says Timothy J. Hogan, FACHE, president of Riverview Medical Center and Bayshore Community Hospital. “The generosity of the Tigger House Foundation will impact so many in our immediate community who turn to Riverview for care. This is a huge first step to achieving our long-term mission to reduce the deadly impact of substance abuse.”
The Booker Behavioral Health Center at Riverview currently offers comprehensive services and follow-up for people who need treatment for substance abuse and addiction. To learn more about how you can support behavioral health services at Riverview Medical Center, go here or contact Jennifer Smith, senior executive director, at (732)751-5115 or [email protected].
The Tigger House Foundation is hosting their second annual fundraising event, A Night Under the Stars, on October 1 at the Edgewater Beach & Cabana Club in Sea Bright. Funds raised during the event will be dedicated to Tigger House Foundation, and will be used to combat the opiate epidemic and help recovering addicts receive rehabilitation, as demonstrated through the Foundation’s impactful gift to Riverview. For more information, visit tiggerhouse.org.
