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At 9 a.m. on the dot Monday, South Nassau Communities Hospital Emergency Department at Long Beach received its first patient.
The barrier island's free-standing emergency department was officially open for business.
Standing an hour later in the radiant sun outside the $8 million facility, politicians and hospital officials celebrated the opening, which had been delayed since July 1 by federal and state regulatory snags.
Long Beach residents have been without an emergency department offering 24/7 care since superstorm Sandy flooded Long Beach Medical Center in October 2012. South Nassau purchased the bankrupt hospital two years later. Months before that, in July, it opened a $5 million urgent care center -- the site of the upgraded free-standing emergency department.
"This is a banner day," said Assem. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), who added that the opening "signaled the comeback of the barrier island."
Kaminsky's predecessor, Harvey Weisenberg, who showed up tanned, in T-shirt and shorts, called the 6,300-square-foot building "a wonderful achievement."
William Allison, senior vice president of health policy and planning at South Nassau, said the new emergency department "is another key step in South Nassau's ongoing commitment to residents of this barrier island."
But not everyone was convinced that the new ED, or even future plans are enough. 
A woman who brought her mother to the emergency department for an ultrasound yesterday morning, said they "were not overwhelmed" by the level of care. 
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said the personnel seemed confused -- although she said her mother eventually received excellent care from Dr. Josh Kugler, chairman of emergency medicine at South Nassau, who was there to oversee the opening.
Still, she said, Long Beach needs a full-fledged hospital. "If the hospital [South Nassau] wants to have branches, that's fine, but we still need a hospital," she said. 
She is not the only one who feels this way. Dr. Martin Gruber, active in the Beach to Bay Civic Association, which has been outspoken in its call for reopening a hospital on Long Beach, called the new emergency department "inadequate." 
"They cannot solve the problem of geography," said Gruber, a former head of orthopedics at Long Beach Medical Center who served on the hospital's board of trustees in the 1980s. "Without a hospital, health care [on the barrier island] is crippled compared to the rest of Nassau County."
In March, the Oceanside hospital announced plans to build a two-story, 30,000-square-foot medical arts pavilion on the site of the former Long Beach hospital. It would be funded by some of the $154 million the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would give South Nassau to redevelop regional health services for Long Beach and the South Shore.

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Post-Sandy emergency medical facility opens in Long Beach

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The freestanding emergency department at Long Beach has been given the final go-ahead by the state.
The state Department of Health confirmed Tuesday night that it had approved the plan.
"Today I am proud to announce that barrier island residents will now have the emergency care they both deserve and need," Assemb. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said in a statement.
Earlier Tuesday, South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, which needs state approval for the Long Beach stand-alone emergency department's laboratory before it can open, said it was still waiting for a letter from the health department.
"We are awaiting final, written confirmation that we have all the regulatory approvals we need to open the emergency department in Long Beach and begin receiving ambulances there via the 911 system," the Oceanside hospital said.
Once it has the letter in hand, the hospital said, it will need 48 hours to activate its staffing plan for round-the-clock coverage.
That means that if all goes well, the emergency department could open Friday or Monday.
Health department spokesman J.P. O'Hare credited the opening of the emergency department to "notable collaboration between DOH, South Nassau Communities Hospital and our state and federal partners."
The $8 million emergency department expansion was completed July 1, but opening it was delayed by a federal requirement for a higher-grade backup electrical system and by state approval for the lab.
On July 23, the federal Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services gave the Oceanside hospital a one-year, renewable waiver for the backup electrical system.
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) said she was "proud to have helped cut through the red tape and get this facility up and running during Long Beach's busy summer season."
Long Beach City Council president Len Torres said the council was "thrilled that thanks to the hard work of Assemblyman Kaminsky and Congresswoman Rice, the red tape at the state and federal levels has cleared."
Long Beach residents have been without an emergency department since superstorm Sandy flooded Long Beach Medical Center in October 2012. Two years later, South Nassau purchased the bankrupt hospital for $11.8 million, and in January this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would give South Nassau $154 million to redevelop regional health services for Long Beach and the South Shore.
Construction -- on the same site as the current South Nassau Urgent Care Center at Long Beach -- began in early April. The 6,000-square-foot urgent-care center, which opened last July, was expanded to 8,200 square feet.
The new facility, one of only four freestanding emergency departments statewide, has six treatment rooms as well as an observation area with three patient beds.When it opens, at least eight staff members will be available around the clock, the hospital has said. Patients who require hospital admission will be transferred by ambulance to South Nassau.

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Long Beach's freestanding emergency department OK'd by state, says Assemb. Kaminsky

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A free-standing emergency department in Long Beach has received a federal waiver permitting it to operate without installing an upgraded backup electrical system -- but the facility still needs state approval of its laboratory before it can open.
The federal Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Thursday sent a letter to South Nassau Communities Hospital chief executive Richard Murphy, saying it will grant the hospital a one-year waiver allowing the emergency department to operate with its state-approved "Type 3" backup system, instead of a higher-grade "Type 1" system typical in emergency departments.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had been pushing for the waiver, called it "great news for the hospital."
"To have not been given the waiver would have delayed the opening of the emergency room and would have cost them millions of dollars," he said.
Hospital spokesman Joe Calderone said the hospital was "very pleased" with the waiver.
The barrier island has been without an emergency department since Long Beach Medical Center was flooded during superstorm Sandy in October 2012.
Though South Nassau Communities Hospital, which purchased that facility last year, opened an urgent-care center there last July, it cannot receive ambulances via the 911 system like an emergency department can.
The letter from the federal agency cited several "unique" factors in its decision to grant the waiver, including the time it takes to travel to the nearest off-island emergency department and the fact that the new Long Beach emergency department probably will see only a small number of patients -- about 20 per day, increasing to 50 or more per day during the summer.
Though the waiver is valid for only one year, it is renewable, the letter said.
The hospital plans to operate the freestanding emergency department temporarily for three years, after which it hopes to have built a new medical arts pavilion at the former Long Beach Medical Center site, complete with a permanent emergency department.
Although the federal issue is resolved, hospital officials said they still need state Health Department certification of the facility's on-site laboratory.
The state approval would be "the last regulatory approval we require in order to open the emergency department in Long Beach," Calderone said.
The hospital has "responded in detail to all of the state's concerns and are awaiting final approval to open the lab," he said.
The state Department of Health did not provide comment Thursday.
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), who also had been pushing for the waiver, issued a statement praising the federal agency for not letting "an irrelevant regulation" stand in the way of opening the emergency department.
"The last remaining hurdle is for the state to review the results of South Nassau's laboratory testing, and we'll keep working with our partners at the state level to get that done quickly and get this facility open and fully operational as soon as possible," she said.
Assemb. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said he also would press the state for the necessary approval.
"Today we are closer to having a safer community," he said. "I will continue to work closely with the New York State Department of Health to ensure that emergency medical services are restored to the barrier island as quickly as possible."
Long Beach City Councilman Anthony Eramo called the news "a great victory for our barrier island, and a necessity for everyone to get our 911-receiving emergency room reopened." 
Calderone said the facility would be ready to go as soon as it receives state approval. The emergency department had been slated to open July 1, but that date was pushed back because of the federal and state issues.
"We have a beautiful, gleaming brand-new facility that's ready to go," he said. "We're anxious. We have all the pieces in place we think we need to provide really good-quality emergency medical care to residents and visitors on the barrier island."

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Long Beach emergency department moves step closer to opening with federal waiver on backup electrical system

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The hoped-for opening Wednesday of a free-standing emergency department in Long Beach will be delayed at least a month pending final federal and state approvals, South Nassau Communities Hospital officials said.
Instead, the facility will reopen Wednesday temporarily as an urgent-care center, which cannot accept ambulances via the 911 system.
Hospital officials said Tuesday the $8 million emergency department expansion is complete but the federal Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services requires a higher-grade emergency electrical backup system.
Hospital spokesman Joe Calderone said Tuesday that the hospital was still trying to figure out how much money and time it will take to install the new system. 
"We're hopeful that we can persuade the federal government to issue a waiver," he said. 
In addition, the hospital is awaiting certification from the state Department of Health for the new emergency department's laboratory, which should take several weeks, hospital officials said.
"This project was completed in record time," South Nassau chief executive Richard Murphy said in a statement. "We hope the Long Beach community will continue to use the urgent-care center while we undergo these additional regulatory reviews, which are required before we can open as a full-fledged, off-campus emergency department. Our goal is to open as an emergency department as soon as we are legally able to do so." 
Politicians were upset by the postponement and called for the federal government to allow the facility to open. 
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) called the delay "very disappointing" and said she was going to "invite officials from CMS to come here and see for themselves that this facility is ready." 
Assemb. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said, "The bureaucracy standing in the way of this emergency room reopening must be swiftly dealt with." 
And Long Beach City Councilman Anthony Eramo asked that "the federal government grant South Nassau the necessary waiver."
Construction for the emergency department -- on the same spot as the current South Nassau Urgent Care Center at Long Beach -- began in early April. The $5 million, 6,000-square-foot urgent-care center, which opened last July, was expanded and upgraded to 8,200 square feet. 
The upgrade includes installation of a "Type 3" emergency backup electrical system, which provides battery backup power for up to 90 minutes and a natural-gas powered, stand-alone generator. But CMS requires a "Type 1" backup, which is capable of providing uninterrupted power -- using diesel or propane -- to someone on life support. 
The new facility -- which will be one of only four free-standing emergency departments statewide -- has six treatment rooms that can handle up to 17 patients, as well as an observation area with three patient beds. 
It includes a negative-pressure room designed to protect others from possible infectious diseases, a treatment area that can accommodate obese patients, a behavioral health room for those in mental health crisis, a medical laboratory and a medical imaging department with an X-ray, portable X-ray machine and a 64-slice CT scanner.
The 4-foot-wide corridors have been doubled to accommodate gurneys, and the emergency department has a triple air filtration system and a special room for decontamination with its own entrance.
When the emergency department opens, at least eight staff members will be available around the clock, said Dr. Joshua Kugler, chairman of South Nassau's department of emergency medicine, including a doctor, nurse, respiratory therapist, pharmacist, lab technician, social worker and registration/business person. 
Patients who require hospital admission would be transferred by ambulance to South Nassau in Oceanside.

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Long Beach emergency department delayed by 'bureaucracy'

South Nassau Communities Hospital plans to build a two-story, 30,000-square-foot medical arts pavilion on the site of the former Long Beach Medical Center. 
The Oceanside hospital, which is formally announcing the plan Wednesday, said it estimated it would spend $20 million to $40 million for the center. It is to include a 24/7 emergency department and an array of other services, which could include family medicine, behavioral health, dialysis and ambulatory surgery. The hospital said it has commissioned a study to determine which services are most needed. 
The pavilion will also mean 50 to 75 more medical and technical jobs on the barrier island, South Nassau chief executive Richard Murphy said. 
Residents and officials have been seeking an emergency department on the barrier island since the 162-bed Long Beach Medical Center was closed after flooding from superstorm Sandy in October 2012. This past October, South Nassau purchased the bankrupt hospital for $11.8 million, and in January the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would give South Nassau $154 million to redevelop regional health services for Long Beach and the South Shore. 
Murphy said the pavilion is "essentially a 'hospital without beds' and will go a long way to addressing the community's medical needs." 
"We want to be good stewards here," he said. 
Assemb. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) called the plans "an important and overdue first step -- but what is inside will be most critical to the health and safety of barrier island residents." That, he said, is why South Nassau should appear at a forum with the state Department of Health in Long Beach on April 13. "South Nassau must hear the community's health concerns in public and provide answers," he said. 
Murphy said the hospital would be there. 
Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman said the study the hospital has commissioned is critical to determine the medical needs of the barrier island's 38,000 residents. 
"The City Council is very much looking forward to reviewing the plans," he said. 
Legis. Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) praised the proposal, including the added jobs. "This will provide a beginning for a renewed and revitalized medical campus," she said. 
The new emergency department will eventually replace the one still scheduled to open July 1. South Nassau opened a temporary urgent care center on the site last July. Last month the hospital announced plans to upgrade the center to an off-campus, hospital-based emergency department by the summer. 
The pavilion is to be built on the south side of East Bay Drive on land formerly occupied by houses now abandoned because of Sandy. Murphy said bidding for the demolition of three wings of the former hospital -- central, "founders" and east -- is in the final stages. As for the newer west and main wings, their future is still unclear. The chief executive said one possibility is that business offices could be relocated there. 
The pavilion would include a full-service, 16-bay, 911-receiving emergency department and provide a diagnostic imaging suite with CT-scan, MRI and X-ray machines, South Nassau said. 
The hospital must first get approval from the state Health Department and other agencies, which could take anywhere from eight to 12 months, Murphy said. Once approved, he said construction would take from 18 to 24 months. 
The pavilion, to be designed by Blitch Knevel Architects of New Orleans, will include family and patient waiting areas situated around landscaped courtyards, an energy-friendly "green" roof and lounge spaces in patient care areas that incorporate natural light and exterior views of Reynolds Bay as well as about 250 parking spaces. 
The emergency department at the new pavilion is to be staffed by specially trained nurses and physicians and will be able to handle all urgent cases. But all acute strokes, heart attacks and trauma patients will be taken to the appropriate state-designated hospital, as required by the Department of Health. 
"Even before the Long Beach Medical Center closed, such cases routinely bypassed the former hospital as per protocol," South Nassau said.

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Medical site with 24/7 emergency service to replace Sandy-ruined hospital in Long Beach

LI Sandy-ruined hospital to be replaced

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South Nassau Communities Hospital, after receiving a formal promise of reimbursements from the federal government, has purchased the bankrupt Long Beach Medical Center, the Oceanside hospital said Friday.
The $11.8 million purchase of the 162-bed Long Beach facility, closed since superstorm Sandy in October 2012, was completed Thursday, South Nassau chief executive Richard Murphy said.
Murphy said his hospital had been waiting for a letter of understanding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- which it received Thursday -- promising up to $176.9 million to South Nassau.
"That was the precondition to the closing," Murphy said. "We need to know that FEMA would be there to support our commitment."
The federal funds allow the hospital to move ahead with plans to open a freestanding emergency department and other outpatient facilities and programs on the barrier island. In May a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved the sale of the financially strapped Long Beach hospital to 435-bed South Nassau.
"Now that we have the funds, that's an exciting place to be," Murphy said. "This is a very unique opportunity."
Murphy said more than 450 former Long Beach hospital employees will be reimbursed for accrued vacation time.
"Over the coming weeks South Nassau will issue individual checks to the former employees in the cumulative amount of $1 million in recognition of the valuable service these individuals had provided," the hospital said in a statement.
Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman called the purchase deal "another good step forward."
"The City Council is looking forward to working with South Nassau to see that this money is spent here in Long Beach to re-establish 911-receiving emergency capabilities, as well as to rebuild all the medical facilities that our barrier island needs," he said. 
Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) said he was "appreciative that South Nassau is taking responsibility for paying those employees who weren't paid" by the bankrupt Long Beach facility.
State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said he also was "encouraged by these recent developments."
Calls to Long Beach hospital officials were not returned.
The next step is for a project work sheet to be developed. Murphy said an engineer's report due next month will determine whether the former emergency department can be used, or whether the entire Long Beach facility must be razed and a new emergency department built on the hospital grounds or elsewhere on the barrier island.

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South Nassau completes purchase of bankrupt Long Beach hospital

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Long Beach residents and officials Tuesday renewed their push to return an emergency room to the barrier island more than two years after the community's hospital was shuttered by superstorm Sandy. 
Ambulance service since the October 2012 storm has been diverted to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside or Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. Hospital officials have said the round-trip can take as long as an hour. 
Lido Beach-Point Lookout Fire Commissioner Chas Thompson said Tuesday that ambulance times from receiving a 911 call to a hospital for cardiac arrest patients in Lido Beach have more than tripled since Long Beach Medical Center closed. Arrival times have increased from seven minutes to more than 22 minutes, he said. 
"Some days with beach traffic and drawbridges, it's a horror show," Thompson said in an interview. "For patient care, it's a long time." 
Former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky, who is running for state Assembly, Long Beach city officials and about two dozen residents gathered at the Long Beach Medical Center site on East Bay Drive Tuesday and called on the state Department of Health and South Nassau hospital officials to improve emergency ambulance services in Long Beach. 
The planned $12 million sale of the 162-bed medical center has not been approved by the state attorney general's office, preventing South Nassau from taking over the property. 
South Nassau in June opened a $3.9 million urgent care facility next door to the center that is staffed with emergency care doctors but cannot take trauma patients or those transported by ambulance. 
In order to open an off-site emergency room, South Nassau must submit an application with the state Health Department. Kaminsky said state officials have told the hospital to wait to apply while the state is drafting regulations on how off-site emergency rooms should operate. 
Department of Health officials did not respond to a request for comment. 
South Nassau officials said in a statement that the hospital has been "working actively" with community leaders, city and state officials "to meet the need for hospital quality health care services in Long Beach and surrounding South Shore communities." 
Last spring, hospital officials estimated the emergency room could reopen by July. 
"While many of us thought something had been happening, that an emergency room on our barrier island was in the works, it turns out that very little has happened," Kaminsky said. "That is not acceptable." 
Immediately after Sandy, Long Beach was served by two temporary emergency facilities that have not been replaced, Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman said. 
He said the urgent care center is a start but added that the city would have kept the temporary facilities if officials had known it would take more than two years to replace the emergency room. 
"Here we are with our number one priority to our residents still not fulfilled, all these years later," Schnirman said. 
"There's no reason we shouldn't see a 911 receiving emergency room established as soon as possible. We're very lucky to make it through summer without a catastrophe."

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Long Beach officials, residents push for new hospital emergency room

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