NUHEALTH CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF NEW $36 MILLION EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AT NUMC, LATEST MILESTONE AND SIGNATURE PROJECT IN HOSPITAL’S MODERNIZATION PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2011

PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055

NUHEALTH CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF NEW $36 MILLION EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AT NUMC, LATEST MILESTONE AND SIGNATURE PROJECT IN HOSPITAL’S MODERNIZATION PROGRAM

New emergency department, on first floor of NUMC, will serve Long Island residents with latest diagnostic technology, state of the art monitoring equipment, safer care, in a modern, spacious, convenient and aesthetically pleasing environment

East Meadow, NY……On May 23, 2011, board members of the NuHealth System, employees, medical staff, and administrators, along with local officials and community leaders, celebrated the completion of the first phase of the Nassau University Medical Center’s new $36M emergency department, the latest milestone and the signature project of the hospital’s modernization program, with a tour and a “State of the Hospital” address by NuHealth’s President/CEO, Arthur A. Gianelli.

Craig V. Rizzo, chair of the NuHealth System board of directors, extended the board’s congratulations on the significant accomplishment of a new emergency department at NUMC: “This is a wonderful day for the staff and the residents of Long Island. I am delighted that our patients will be cared for in this impressive new emergency department. Our communities can be confident that they will have access to trusted clinical expertise and advanced technology, from NuHealth’s dedicated staff providing the best possible emergency care experience.”
 
Following his address on the “State of the Hospital”, Gianelli stated: “Today, I feel a sense of pride, honor and gratitude in celebrating the completion of our signature project, our emergency department with the area’s most talented physician and nursing staff providing quality emergent and trauma care, helping to fulfill our critical role in treating the region’s worst victims of accidental or acute disease. This latest milestone in our modernization program, encapsulates our transformation and marks the culmination of planning and hard work by many, ensuring that Nassau’s community hospital with a progressive public mission, serves all patients with the latest diagnostic technology in a 320 slice CT scanner, state of the art monitoring equipment, safer care, in a modern, spacious, private and pleasing environment.” Gianelli added: “I extend a sincere thank you to our board, our state and local officials, our medical leadership and our staff who have all contributed to our successes to date in helping us provide quality care to a vulnerable population. Our planning department, under vice president Michael Ade, our emergency department, under the leadership of chairman, Anthony Boutin, MD, and our radiology department, chaired by Victor Scarmato, MD, each deserves accolades for overseeing the construction of such an impressive project by Cannon Design, TRO Design, Plaza Construction and by our project manager, Gilbane Construction.

Nassau County Executive, Edward  P. Mangano, offered his congratulations, “I would like to congratulate NuHealth on the completion of the first phase of the new emergency department at NUMC.  Projects of this magnitude require dedication, cooperation and coordination on many levels and I commend NuHealth for persevering and providing our residents excellent emergency care in a modern, spacious and state of the art facility.”

“Plaza Construction is proud to have partnered with Nassau University Medical Center to build this state-of-the-art emergency department,” said Richard Wood, Plaza Construction President.  “Nassau County residents deserve world-class emergency care services and NUMC is leading the way with the construction of this brand new facility.  We’re honored to have been a part of this important modernization project and congratulate NUMC and all of our partners on its successful completion.”

The $36M total was obtained from three sources, NYS Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law (HEAL), Tobacco Securitization and NUMC’s capital projects. $16M was obtained from HEAL funds. These HEAL funds required a hospital match of $7M which was funded from the tobacco securitization funds. The remaining $13M was provided from the hospital’s capital project fund.

The new ED holds 32 private treatment rooms, a large trauma room, and two resuscitation rooms in 27,000 square feet on the first floor, triple the size from its previous location on the ground floor of NUMC. The second phase to include the ground floor renovations, will comprise 18,000 for a total of 45,000 square feet for both floors. The ED, with approximately 73,000 visits a year, will have the ability to handle increased visits in future years.

Some of the key features of the new emergency department include:

• The first phase, on the first floor will include adult and pediatric care in 32 glass enclosed treatment rooms, three triage rooms, Level I critical care trauma room, imaging areas, two resuscitation rooms, twelve bath rooms, seven isolation rooms, a cast room, crisis intervention unit area, an OB/GYN room and an indoor/outdoor decontamination showers.

• Each treatment room is sized to have the ability to hold two patients in times of mass casualty or catastrophic events, thus allowing for the potential to double the treatment spacing, allowing the facility to respond to a variety of events that may occur regarding potential threats/mass casualty scenarios. Each room will have three walls, with sliding doors or swinging doors for visual as well as acoustic privacy.

• New ambulance drive and entry for acute patients, on the north side with parking spaces for seven ambulances.

• A separate walk-in entry for ambulatory patients from Hempstead Turnpike upper level will be dedicated to emergency department use.

• A new 320 slice CT scanner offers state of the art radiographic and diagnostic capabilities. The PACS system will be utilized throughout the new emergency department and will allow for potential staff utilization throughout other areas of the hospital. In addition to the CT room, there is a radiology room as well as an ultrasound room.

• Two new elevators were constructed to allow for dedicated transport for ED use. The helipad will remain in its existing location on the ground floor.

• The ground level, phase II expected to be completed in late 2011, will include the adult pediatric fast track program, along with the prisoner treatment area and an expanded behavioral health emergency/intake unit.

• Expanding from 28 computers to 120 computer stations will allow staff immediate access to patient information.

Steven J. Walerstein, MD, FACP, executive vice president for medical affairs and medical director, added his congratulations on the opening of the new emergency department: “We now have a world class facility, worthy of historic first class care that our clinical staff has provided to the residents of Long Island for decades.”

Dr. Boutin, added: “The residents of Long Island deserve the best in emergency services available anywhere and our clinical staff and employees have worked very diligently to ensure that NUMC is the hospital of choice. This new $36M investment gives us an opportunity to increase the number of patients that we can care for—safely, conveniently, with the latest diagnostic and monitoring technology, with privacy and in a most impressive environment.”

Dr. Scarmato, stated: “The radiology wing of the new emergency department will provide the residents of Long Island with the latest equipment in radiographic and diagnostic technology, leading to more accurate diagnosis, better patient outcomes and improved care. Our communities will be the beneficiaries of such advanced state-of-the-art equipment, especially with our $2 million 320 slice CT scanner.”

ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life.  Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community.  By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.

For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.