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Overcast Residents call for hospital reopening
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Barbara Bernardino, a co-founder of the group, cited the 2006 Berger Report, a sweeping set of recommendations to restructure hospitals and nursing homes throughout the state. Though the report recommended that LBMC downsize and reconfigure as a smaller facility, it also took into account the community’s unique needs, such as its geographic location, she said, and concluded that LBMC “must” remain open.
‘Not enough’
Bernardino said that an urgent care or a free-standing emergency department isn’t enough. She said the group is advocating for “nothing less than what we had before,” including services like a trauma unit, pediatric care, surgical unit and the dialysis center.
“The opening of a new hospital, using the FEMA funds originally earmarked toward this end, will address the community’s concerns regarding emergency medical needs, a medical home, the financial impact on the local economy and real estate,” Bernardino said.
The full-service emergency department would accommodate walk-ins as well as ambulance service and be staffed 24 hours a day by emergency-room physicians and nurses. But it would not operate as a full hospital, SNCH officials said. Patients who required more extensive care would be treated by emergency-room doctors until they were stable enough to be transferred. However, Murphy said that officials are considering establishing hyperbaric, dialysis and other treatment programs at the facility.
Murphy said that he is looking forward to working with city officials and community members and providing the “highest quality healthcare services.” He added that public forums are being planned to gather input from residents.
When asked whether South Nassau would consider opening a full-service hospital, Murphy said that the future of healthcare “is large regional medical centers with ambulatory care and free-standing emergency departments.”
“Hospitals, even the strongest, are having a difficult time in this financial environment,” he said. “It’s the nature of the business — more and more is being done in outpatient care.”
‘Not enough’
Bernardino said that an urgent care or a free-standing emergency department isn’t enough. She said the group is advocating for “nothing less than what we had before,” including services like a trauma unit, pediatric care, surgical unit and the dialysis center.
“The opening of a new hospital, using the FEMA funds originally earmarked toward this end, will address the community’s concerns regarding emergency medical needs, a medical home, the financial impact on the local economy and real estate,” Bernardino said.
The full-service emergency department would accommodate walk-ins as well as ambulance service and be staffed 24 hours a day by emergency-room physicians and nurses. But it would not operate as a full hospital, SNCH officials said. Patients who required more extensive care would be treated by emergency-room doctors until they were stable enough to be transferred. However, Murphy said that officials are considering establishing hyperbaric, dialysis and other treatment programs at the facility.
Murphy said that he is looking forward to working with city officials and community members and providing the “highest quality healthcare services.” He added that public forums are being planned to gather input from residents.
When asked whether South Nassau would consider opening a full-service hospital, Murphy said that the future of healthcare “is large regional medical centers with ambulatory care and free-standing emergency departments.”
“Hospitals, even the strongest, are having a difficult time in this financial environment,” he said. “It’s the nature of the business — more and more is being done in outpatient care.”
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