Keeping track of hospital's, patients' progress

The Joint Commission has not made its visit. But NUMC has maintained its vigilance.

Maureen Shannon said she still regularly sends out nurses as "tracers" to do mock Joint Commission surveys, a practice Walerstein said he intends to continue after the commission comes.

The hospital still routinely brings in consultants for an outsider's view. And Walerstein continues to hold his 7:30 a.m. meeting Tuesdays and Thursdays on quality issues for heads of staff. As a result, Walerstein believes many of the changes have been "hardwired" into the staff. "It's really been drilled in by the nursing administrators," he said.

Walerstein cited one example: Recently, the hospital was recognized by the National Association of Public Hospitals for reducing by 25 percent the number of patients who got ventilator-assisted pneumonia from 2007 to 2008; in fact, for two months, no patients got the disease.

Reducing these kinds of hospital-acquired infections is one of many Joint Commission goals.

RENE CASTRO The Hempstead carpenter hit by lightning has been back at work since January. He said he still feels some pain in his foot and the doctors have told him he may need another skin graft. He is also waiting to hear whether he qualifies for insurance.

STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ The 9-year-old scalded on her neck was able to start third grade four weeks late at Smith Street School in Uniondale. She had physical therapy for three months to help stretch her neck, though she said it still hurts "a teeny, little." She faces reconstructive surgery to reduce the scarring.

VICENTE SOBREDO Daughter-in-law Andrea Sobredo said her family returned recently from visiting him in Uruguay. He has no scar on his temple from his fall and was so hardy he was carrying his 12-year-old granddaughter piggyback, she said. He also took the "kamikaze run" at a local water park. "I said to him, 'If you break one bone, I'm not taking care of you,' " she said with a laugh.