A conversation about Franklin Hospital

Franklin Hospital welcomed more than two dozen local residents and leaders for dinner and discussion on Nov. 9 as part of its Community Conversations series. The initiative is designed to improve communication between hospital officials and the community.

Executive Director Joseph Manopella began by talking about the history of Franklin Hospital, which opened in 1963, and its incorporation into the North Shore-LIJ health system in 2002. He said that merger, which actually began as a partnership in 1996, is credited with saving the hospital.

In two years, Franklin Hospital will mark its 50th anniversary. Manopella said that a grand celebration is planned for 2013.

But the hospital has many reasons to celebrate now, he said, citing the Gold Award it received for its care of stroke patients. Franklin also was named the best hospital for joint replacement surgery on Long Island and the seventh best in New York state.

Manopella also boasted about the dinner guests got to enjoy, the same food served to hospital patients. He said that Franklin Hospital has the “highest rated” food in the health system.

About the hospital

Franklin Hospital has 305 beds, though typically about 180 are filled at a time. Manopella said that less patients are being admitted to the hospital. “That’s going to be the trend for hospitals in the future,” he said.

The hospital has nearly 1,200 employees and about 700 doctors associated with it. In 2010, there were more than 42,000 emergency visits. Many of those patients come from southeast Queens, Manopella explained, not just from Valley Stream and western Nassau County.

Community outreach programs include an annual health fair, flu shots, health lectures and quarterly blood drives.

Orzac and North Shore

The Orzac Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation, attached to Franklin Hospital and where the Community Conversation was held, is a skilled nursing facility with 120 beds. Most patients are there for short-term rehabilitation, explained Barbara Southard, the deputy executive director.

The facility had nearly 1,500 patients admitted in 2010, and it has been ranked in the top 18 of more than 15,000 nursing homes in the country. Southard said that Orzac was built in 1989 on the site of an old lumber yard.

Jeff Kraut, senior vice president of strategic planning for North Shore-LIJ, spoke about many of the trends in health care. A crowd of elected officials, past and present hospital board members, representatives from local Chamber of Commerce chapters and residents heard about the health system’s plans to meet the future needs of the community.

Kraut explained that there is a growing population of residents 65 years and older, and North Shore-LIJ officials are aware of the impact it will likely have on the system’s hospitals. He said that as people get older, they are more likely to be hospitalized because of a fall.

He also preached the importance of preventative health care, noting that only 5 percent of the $2.7 trillion spent on health care annually is for the prevention of diseases. Kraut said the most expensive place for people to receive care is at the emergency room. In fact, he said, nearly half of emergency room visits are unnecessary.

North Shore-LIJ is working to identify areas of the community that have the highest emergency room use, and develop educational programs in those areas about medical care. He also said that hospitals are working together to share medical record electronically. This partnership, a $400 million investment, includes many hospitals outside the North Shore-LIJ system as well.

Substance abuse was a major topic of discussion, and many guests in attendance said they are concerned about the lack of treatment facilities on Long Island. Kraut said that Nassau University Medical Center is the only hospital with an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility in the area.

Kraut said he wants to continue the Community Conversations program. Some residents suggested taking the program on the road to fire departments, PTA meetings and local organizations.

Manopella said the goal of Franklin and North Shore-LIJ officials is to help the community. “Whatever we can do, we will do,” he said.