Marci Natale, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, said that the application is still under review. "The State Health Department is continuing to work closely with South Nassau Communities Hospital to effectuate a viable solution regarding Long Beach Medical Center that ensures the residents’ health care needs are met," she said in a statement.

Becker said it was too early to say when it would open, and that the grant money has yet to be released. Asked whether the facility would provide both short- and long-term services, Becker said, “I think it all depends on the ultimate outcome of all the discussions that are being held.”

Still no 911-receiving

Ellmer said that he and other trustees learned about the bankruptcy proceedings from Chief Executive Officer Doug Melzer two months ago, at a monthly meeting. Ellmer said he, too, is bound by the nondisclosure agreement, but he added that he felt the need to speak publicly about the hospital’s status and the need for an emergency department that can receive ambulances on the barrier island. He claimed that SNCH and the state Department of Health had pledged to restore emergency services in Long Beach by this summer, when they signed the memorandum of understanding with LBMC, but are now instead focused on opening the urgent care center sometime next May.

Ellmer said he believes that South Nassau is focused not on reopening a hospital that could receive ambulances, but on maintaining an urgent-care center, which he said is part of a larger trend in which smaller, financially distressed hospitals across the state are closing.

“When we signed the memorandum of understanding with SNCH, they made assurances, as well as the state, that we would have an E.R. that could accept 911 ambulances,” Ellmer said. “There’s no question that the state and South Nassau would like to do away with LBMC — they’ve given us no indication that they would ever open an emergency department that can accept 911 ambulances.”