Big stride for Nassau University Medical Center
Athrur Gianelli, president of Nassau University Medical Center, tours the new emergency unit at the hopsital on Thursday, May 19 Credit: Howard Schnapp
Nationally, 25 percent of all cities and suburbs have lost hospital emergency departments, just as visits to emergency rooms are soaring. Fortunately, the opposite is happening at Nassau University Medical Center.
On Monday, a modernized emergency department -- triple the size of the old one, with more capacity and flexibility to handle large-casualty events, and new diagnostic equipment -- will be unveiled at the public hospital in East Meadow. It handles about 73,000 visits annually or 20 percent of the visits to emergency room in Nassau.
An American Medical Association study found closures were highest, 40 percent, among "safety-net" hospitals, which have larger numbers of poorer patients. That makes the success of this $36-million undertaking by hospital president Arthur Gianelli even more remarkable. hN
