44.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Kaminsky, City Council to host hospital forum on Monday
Health Department, South Nassau officials to discuss future of healthcare services
Two and a half years after Hurricane Sandy shuttered the Long Beach Medical Center, State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky and the Long Beach City Council will host a public forum with representatives from the state Department of Health and South Nassau Communities Hospital on Monday, April 13, a town-hall style meeting where officials will discuss the future of healthcare services in Long Beach.
Officials said that the meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. on the sixth floor of City Hall, is also an opportunity for residents to ask questions and express their concerns.
Health Department officials expected to attend include Daniel Sheppard, the deputy commissioner of Primary Care and Health Systems Management; Richard Murphy, president and chief executive officer of South Nassau; and Dr. Josh Kugler, SNCH’s emergency services director. Nassau County officials are also expected to attend the hearing.
“The loss of our hospital after Sandy was an incredible challenge for us as a community, and we’ve been fighting for a meeting of this kind for a very long time,” City Council Vice President Fran Adelson said in a statement. “Monday night's meeting is what we have been requesting — a chance for Long Beach residents to have their voices heard and their questions answered.”
Each resident will be given three minutes to speak and ask questions, officials said.
Monday’s forum will follow two public engagement sessions that South Nassau has held in Long Beach — including one at the library on Thursday — where residents heard from hospital representatives about SNCH's plans to build a new off-campus, hospital-based emergency department on the former Long Beach Medical Center property that would operate 24/7 and accept ambulances. The sessions also featured a series of detailed visual displays for the planned Medical Arts Pavilion that residents could view while they spoke one-on-one with South Nassau medical and administrative staff.
While the feedback from many residents regarding the sessions was positive, local officials and residents had also been calling for a town-hall style public forum with the state, especially after South Nassau acquired LBMC last year.
