LIJ Valley Stream hospital welcomes new chief

We are not only serving our patients as they come in our doors, but getting involved with our service outside, not just within these four walls.”

Jason Tan, Executive director

A new wave of leadership has come to Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital. The hospital started the year by welcoming Dr. Hsiang-chi “Angel” Meng as its medical director. A few weeks later, Jason Tan, 42, became the facility’s executive director, after two years as deputy executive director of administration.

Tan is hardly an unfamiliar face to the hospital staff, having spent seven years getting to know the faces on the hospital floor and forging strong relationships with the health care team. But now he will face new pressures and demands as its chief, tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the 284-bed facility and its roughly 1,300 employees, while ensuring a high-quality standard of care for the large volume and diversity of patients his hospital serves.

LIJ Valley Stream’s Emergency Department alone takes care of over 40,000 people a year.

The hospital executive director’s role involves making daily rounds of its many departments and round-the-clock meetings focusing on everything from patient post-discharge follow-ups to the expansion of service program. Colleagues who’ve worked closely with Tan say  he is more than up to the task. 

“With his extensive clinical and administrative knowledge, he has provided leadership to nearly every aspect of the hospital,” said David Seligman, deputy executive director of Northwell Health’s Western Region, who served as the hospital’s executive director before handing the reins to Tan. “Jason Tan has the experience, demeanor and dedication needed to lead LIJ Valley Stream through this next phase of advancement and growth.”

“He’s able to work with people across the entire spectrum of health care, from the people that keep the building functional and clean to the highest-level chairman of the big systemwide departments at Northwell,” said Steve Bello, a former LIJ executive director who is now senior vice president and executive director of the system’s Eastern Region.

But this will be an exceptionally challenging year, because Tan must lead the hospital out of one of its most difficult periods, the two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Staff shortages and burnout have continued to affect hospital employees’ morale, taking a psychological toll on them.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, the public made every effort to show their gratitude through food deliveries and drive-bys,” Tan said. “But since then, it’s not been as present. That’s our responsibility as administrators, to make sure that [the hospital staff] understand that we see you, appreciate you, and acknowledge you’ve been working tirelessly to provide care to patients, and that appreciation should never stop.”

Tan has various ideas in store for a campaign centered on employee appreciation and gratitude, which will kick off on Friday. It may include a potential Wall of Honor, wellness treatments, a company barbecue, and even Tan swapping places with another employee for a day as “a sign of respect to another person’s role, showing them how much I appreciate them and understand their hardships.”

As the coronavirus loosens its grip, he also aims to steer the hospital as close to a return to normal as possible despite the “uncertainty” and “fear of what tomorrow may bring.” One of his top priorities will be to re-establish the hospital’s strong community presence and resume many of its outreach efforts and events that were disrupted or postponed by Covid.

“We are not only serving our patients as they come in our doors, but getting involved with our service outside, not just within these four walls,” Tan said. “I want to make sure I’m accessible to everyone and continue the great work and upward trajectory that David [Seligman] has started.”

Tan became a registered nurse in 2006. He started his Northwell career as a critical care fellow in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. He was promoted to nurse manager, and later went on to a leadership role managing quality for the cardiology department.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Stony Brook University, a nursing degree from Molloy College, a master’s in business administration and quality management from Hofstra University and a master’s degree in health care delivery science from Dartmouth College. He is also a graduate of Northwell’s High Potential leader-development program.

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