Kaminsky leads rally for a hospital

Joins civic group in push for 911-receiving emergency room

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State Assembly candidate Todd Kaminsky, joined by members of the Beach to Bay Central Council of Civic Associations and city officials, held a press conference at the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center on Tuesday, calling on the state Department of Health to authorize a free-standing emergency room at the site and reminding attendees that the barrier island has been without one for almost 700 days.

The hospital has been closed since Hurricane Sandy flooded its basement, causing widespread damage. While repairs were made and the hospital was set to open last June, the Health Department barred it from doing so, citing its poor financial management, and demanded that it merge with another hospital.

LBMC filed for bankruptcy in February, and in May a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved the sale of the LBMC to South Nassau Communities Hospital for $11.7 million.

While South Nassau did open an urgent care center in June, in order to restore some medical services to the area, the facility does not receive ambulances. Kaminsky and the Beach to Bay Council are pushing the Health Department to allow South Nassau to start work on a 24-hour, 911-receiving emergency room.

“Until there is an official timetable for an emergency department that is open 24/7, that receives ambulance, I, and we, will not rest,” Kaminsky said. “The process of obtaining one must begin. Yesterday would’ve been too late.”

He added that the geography of the barrier island, the vulnerability of the population and the tripled post-Sandy ambulance response time were compelling reasons to restore emergency services to Long Beach.

He referred to the Berger Report, a sweeping set of recommendations from 2006 to restructure hospitals and nursing homes across the state. The report concluded that because of the geographic isolation of the area — it is accessible only by bridges that are sometimes impassable and sometimes clogged by beach traffic — there must be a hospital on the island, for public health and safety reasons. Additionally, Kaminsky said, 30 percent of the Long Beach population is under 18 or over 65, and children and seniors are vulnerable populations that need better access to care.

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