Mayor Murray receives lifetime achievement award

Friends of Mercy honors Mayor Francis X. Murray at the 86th annual Mercy Ball

Posted

Hundreds gathered at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Saturday, Dec. 3, for the Friends of Mercy Hospital’s 86th annual Mercy Ball.

Each year, three honorees are selected by the Friends of Mercy Hospital based on their ongoing commitment to improve and advance the level of care provided by Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital.

In recognition of his years of support, charity, service, and leadership, the Friends of Mercy Hospital presented this year’s Bishop John R. McGann Lifetime Achievement Award to Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray.

“I am truly humbled by this recognition and award,” Murray told the Herald. “Mercy Hospital and its staff continue to be a big part of our community and consistently provide tremendous service and care to our residents.”

The hospital and its staff have always been very special to Murray, who has continued his commitment to the medical center where he, his father, siblings, children, and grandchildren were all born, by serving on several of the hospital’s boards.

This year, the Friends of Mercy Hospital also honored Dr. Aleem Ali, who was presented with the Theodore Roosevelt Award for Outstanding Achievement, for contributing to the development of Long Island’s community hospitals, and Helen Helkowski, who was presented with the Sister Mary Nadine Casey CIJ Award for her efforts to honor the values of the hospital and its founders.

Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital was founded in 1913 by the Nursing Sisters of the Congregation of the Infant Jesus, and has remained devoted to the charitable care of the underserved throughout the surrounding communities.

Over the last 86 years, the Friends of Mercy organization has proudly supported their mission to deliver passionate medical care in an ever-changing climate.

In recent years, the organization’s efforts have helped with upgrades in the Neonatal ICU, labor and delivery units, and the construction of a family room at the Good Shepherd Hospice at Mercy Hospital.

Proceeds raised this year will also help go towards the construction of two new facilities at the hospital including the Pain Management Center of Excellence, and the new state-of-the-art Pre-Surgical Testing Facility, which are both expected to open next year.