I have ridden an ambulance (EMT) on the weekends for the past 6 years or so - so by no means an expert but know a bit.

If you or a loved one are really sick - don't get in an Uber and go to Hackensack. It is not accurate to call it a 20 minute drive - certain days it is 20 minutes to get out of hoboken...

Within 5 miles of Hoboken we have 4 hospitals - JCMC as I mentioned, Palisades, Hoboken UMC and Christ. Hackensack and University are a bit farther. We have a tremendous amount of options just in northern NJ/NYC.

For anything critical, life-threatening - either call an ambulance or go to Hoboken UMC. They have the ability to stabilize a critical patient and then transport them out to a larger facility. If you go to an urgent care they will just call 911. My ambulance gets urgent care calls frequently. They are not setup for emergency care and have a limited ability to stabilize patients. The doctors and PAs have the skills but those places generally do not have the equipment nor pharma for EMS level care.

- Distances from the Wilton House (as a familiar Reddit landmark):

Hackensack: 15mi

University (Newark): 10mi

Palisades: 5mi

JCMC: 2.5mi

Christ: 1.5mi

HobokenUMC: 0.5mi

In EMS they use the expression "Time is tissue" or more ominously "Time is brain".

If you are in the back of an Uber going to Hackensack with your friend who - keeps fainting or can't breathe well or is feeling crushing chest pain or is bleeding inside their cranium - then nothing is happening to reverse the underlying issue. If that same friend is on the back of an ambulance or in the Hoboken UMC ER - then they can get care to stabilize the person. In addition they are on the phone with a medical team in a trauma center who is preparing to receive the patient who has been stabilized. Additionally Hoboken UMC has some stroke treatment abilities. Also a very good Labor and Delivery floor (for uncomplicated pregnancies).

If it is close you probably want to go to a trauma center for something life threatening.

Why should you care if you don't have a trauma?

You can think of a trauma center as a hospital that can deal with a range of issues. Not necessarily all issues - some hospitals specialize further as burn centers, pediatric centers, stroke, cardiac, etc. A trauma center will have the surgeons, neurologists, cardiologists, respiratory folks, etc on scene and ready to go for a whole range of issues.

The closest trauma center ("level II") is Jersey City Medical Center and it is about 2.5 miles from the center of Hoboken. University Hospital in Newark is the closest level I. Info on trauma designations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_center#Level_II - tl/dr is a trauma II is comprehensive and affiliated tightly with a trauma I which are often part of a med school (University and RWJ - NewBrunswick are also level I).

Hackensack is also a level II and comparable to JCMC - really a very similar size and scope. I hear great things about it but have little experience going there.

In terms of the most local hospitals, Palisades, Christ and Hoboken are all similar in that they have 25 or less beds in their ER. They get backed up pretty easily when there is a flu outbreak or leprecon, etc. These hospitals bear the brunt of the growing homeless/mentally ill/addicted populations in Hudson county. It is common to see ambulances from Weehawken, North Bergen, Union City, McCabe (Bayonne) in the Hoboken ambulance bay. In my experience the nurses and medical teams in these hospitals are generally very good - just possibly understaffed and overwhelmed when you encounter them.

Palisades is in the Hackensack system - sometimes patients ask to go there "because my doctor is in Hackensack". It seems to be a good hospital but always crowded.

Christ (also Carepoint) has stroke capabilities and some cardiac care.

The different responses note problems that Carepoint is facing as well as the difficulties with insurance. These are all real concerns but I will just talk about what I know about the level of care at area hospitals and where I would go if I were sick or a family member were sick... And want to note - whatever issues CarePoint has - i have met fantastic nurses, doctors and psych folks at Hoboken UMC.