St. Francis Hospital plans emergency department expansion

The expanded emergency department at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center in Flower Hill will have 25 rooms dedicated to emergency care. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Catholic Health is expanding the emergency department at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center in Flower Hill.
The nearly $5 million, 5,600-square-foot expansion will include four new treatment bays and 11 observation bays, said Dr. Charles L. Lucore, the hospital’s president. The new emergency department will be 16,500 square feet and have 25 rooms dedicated to emergency care.
The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter.
"This really is about the demand for care that we see for our emergency and observation services," he said. "The last time we completed an emergency room project, it was in 2012, and we were seeing about 22,000 annual visits."
Lucore said the emergency department had 32,000 visits in 2019, and was on pace for between 32,000 and 34,000 visits in 2021.
He added that the expanded department will allow for an average shorter length of stay for patients.
Rockville Centre-based Catholic Health is also undertaking a much larger expansion at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip. That $525 million project includes a six-story expansion on the grounds of the hospital on Montauk Highway.
Catholic Health said it plans to add a 16-operating room surgical suite and a 36-bed, private-room inpatient floor at Good Samaritan. It would also relocate the emergency department.
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