South Nassau eyes emergency department at LBMC

But 24/7 facility hinges on agreement between hospital and bankruptcy court

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South Nassau Communities Hospital is looking to build a round-the-clock, 911-ambulance-receiving emergency department at the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center, a facility that could open later this year.

The full-service emergency department, SNCH spokesman Damian Becker said, 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, Becker said. Patients who required more extensive care would be treated by emergency-room doctors until they were stable enough to be transferred.

“If it is approved, it would be a typical 911-receiving emergency services department,” Becker said. “[A patient would] be admitted, treated, stabilized and then — if the person needs to be admitted as an in-patient to the hospital — transported up to SNCH.”

In October, the state awarded a $6.6 million grant to SNCH to open an urgent-care center at LBMC. It would fund staffing, clinical services, equipment, supplies and other costs of opening and operating the facility, which would have 12 exam rooms and offer treatment for a wide variety of medical conditions. But it would not include an emergency department, so ambulances would still have to go elsewhere in emergencies, risking delays on bridges, a possibility that angers city officials as well as residents.

SNCH filed an application with the state Health Department on Oct. 16 for a certificate of need to build the urgent-care center, and city officials have called on state Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah to expedite the application. That facility is expected to open in the spring, said Becker, and then — pending state approval and an agreement with LBMC — the transition to an emergency department would begin.

“It’s been part of our ongoing discussions with the state and Long Beach Medical Center,” Becker said.

LBMC closed after 10 feet of water flooded its basement during Hurricane Sandy. The hospital spent months making repairs, and last June, officials said it had all major work done to allow two wings to reopen, including the emergency department.

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