SOMERS POINT - Mike Monichetti knows firsthand just how frightening it can be for an autistic child to visit the hospital for treatment.
He and his wife, Jeannie, have two autistic children, Kara, 24, and Michael Jr., 22.
“To go to the hospital, it took every bone in our body to get them in the room,” Monichetti recalled.
But the Monichettis have teamed up with Shore Medical Center for a new “sensory-friendly” outpatient testing facility to make it easier for children with autism and other mental disabilities to receive bloodwork and other essential testing in a calming environment.
Mike Monichetti, who owns the Mike’s Seafood restaurants in Sea Isle City and Ocean City, joined with officials at the Somers Point hospital on Monday to celebrate the grand opening of the exam rooms.
“This is all good stuff. For a parent – and looking at it from my view – you couldn’t have done a better job,” Monichetti told hospital officials during a tour of the facility.
Money for the testing facility came from the Mike’s Seafood Run-Walk for Autism fundraiser that Mike and Jeannie Monichetti sponsor each February in Sea Isle during Presidents Day weekend.
During its 17-year history, the Mike’s Seafood Run-Walk for Autism has raised more than $1 million for autism support groups, special services schools and families of special needs children. Monichetti said $195,000 was raised this year.
Mike Monichetti points to a sign at one of the exam rooms that bears his name and his wife Jeannie's name.The Monichettis have four children, including two with autism. Having autistic children and knowing the challenges that parents with autistic children face on a daily basis served as their inspiration for starting the fundraiser.
Monichetti told Shore Medical Center officials that he is as determined as ever to continue raising money for autism awareness. He promised them that more donations will be made to the hospital, as well as to other organizations that help autistic children and their families.
“I will back you full, the best I can,” he said.
David Hughes, Shore’s chief executive officer, thanked the Monichettis for their support and generosity.
Hughes and other Shore officials noted that a hospital visit is scary for any child, but can be overwhelming for kids with autism. The new outpatient testing facility, though, will go a long way to make hospital visits less frightening, they said.
“It really makes a difference in people’s lives,” Hughes said. “When you think about how scary the situation is to come into the hospital, come into the emergency room, or any of these areas, and especially when you have this opportunity for the sensory rooms, to be able to provide this service is absolutely amazing for our community.”
Sherri Richmond, director of emergency services at Shore Medical Center, gives Mike Monichetti an overview of the new testing facility.The new testing facility for autistic children is the second major component of Shore’s sensory-friendly emergency pediatric care program, which started in 2021. Shore plans to open a new sensory care testing room in June to serve adults. It will be funded by donations from the Philadelphia Eagles Autism Foundation.
The testing rooms for autistic children include an array of special features to help kids stay calm during their hospital visits.
There are, for instance, sensory toys, a “vibroacoustic” lounger for relaxation, white noise machines and kid-friendly video projections on the walls.
“The emergency department is very busy, as you can expect. This area allows us to treat the patient in a quiet, sensory-friendly area,” said Sherri Richmond, Shore’s director of emergency services who launched the pediatric testing facility.
Richmond pointed out that the Monichettis were Shore Medical Center’s first advisors for the pediatric sensory program.
The program continues to grow in terms of the number of children who are treated at the hospital’s sensory-friendly pediatric department. In 2024, there were 260 pediatric patients.
“That’s a big number. We started around 110 prior to the program and now we’re up to 260. I would expect that 2025 will be greater than that number,” Richmond said.
Shore Medical Center is located in Somers Point.Shore received help from the Atlantic County Special Services School District in setting up the facility and training the staff. Based in Mays Landing, the Special Services District is a school for disabled students ranging in age from 3 to 21. There are currently 360 students enrolled in the school.
Jen Cruickshank, supervisor of the child study team at the Special Services School District, said Shore’s new testing facility will be “a major game-changer” for special-needs children and young adults in the area because it will help them cope with the challenges they face each day.
“We know in the ER, time is of the essence. Really, it can take a second for a situation to go from positive to negative. Our goal, when we do our training, is to teach the staff to have enough tools, to be able to keep pulling tools out, to make that situation stay positive,” Cruickshank said.
Appointments for the outpatient testing lab can be set up in advance by calling Shore Medical Center at (609) 653-3737.
