Mount Sinai South Nassau Unveils State-of-the-Art Trauma Unit and New Emergency Treatment Rooms

New Trauma Center Unit Capable of Surging for Mass Casualty Events, New Area Includes Eight Patient Treatment Rooms, Including Two Dedicated Pediatric Rooms

Mount Sinai South Nassau is set to open a new Trauma Unit and eight patient bed treatment areas in its Emergency Department, completing the second phase of a five-phase, multi-year expansion of a critical area of the hospital.

Upon its completion, the $50 million expansion project, which started in 2016, will nearly double the size of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Emergency Department and increase its capacity from 65,000 annual emergency patient visits to an estimated 80,000. The total cost of this phase of the expansion is $5 million.

“The new, larger trauma unit and emergency treatment area will help us provide even better, more advanced treatment to our patients in more comfortable surroundings,” said Adhi Sharma, MD, President of Mount Sinai South Nassau. “The new trauma unit includes advanced equipment to diagnose and treat the most critically ill patients who come to our Emergency Department.”

The new Trauma Unit includes three spacious trauma care bays to facilitate the flow of trauma team members as they care for patients with life-threatening injuries. Each trauma bay is equipped cutting-edge technologies, including imaging systems that provide unobstructed viewing for intubations, difficult and emergent airway management, and bronchoscopy procedures. The unit can surge to six treatment areas in the event of a mass casualty incident.

The new patient care unit, referred to as ED Central, features eight patient treatment rooms, including two for pediatric patients, as well as one negative pressure room to treat patients with contagious, airborne disease.



“The entire South Shore of Nassau County depends upon our Emergency Department during a medical crisis and these new units will help fulfill our mission to provide the best, most modern level of emergency care,” said Anthony Cancellieri, Co-Chair of the Mount Sinai South Nassau Board of Directors. “This is yet another milestone in our $400 million construction campaign.”

Approximately $13 million of the $50 million cost of the Emergency Department renovation is being funded by private donations and fundraising efforts.

“This is another significant step in our mission and vision to remain the region’s leading provider of emergency medical care, 24-hours-a-day, 365 days a year,” said Jay Itzkowitz, MD, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine.  “When the expansion is completed, our neighboring communities will have an Emergency Department and a Trauma Center that will provide a more streamlined and efficient flow of care, improving outcomes and patient experience.”

Phase 1 of the expansion was completed in the first quarter of 2017 with the opening a 16-bed, $4.5 million extension to the ED that has been designed to reduce wait times, while maintaining service capacity as other parts of the department are renovated and expanded.  The extension features a floor design that facilitates communication between patients and companions and Emergency Department staff.  The unit’s station faces the semi-private treatment bays that allows doctors and nurses clear lines of sight. The treatment bays are equipped with monitored beds, cardiac monitors, bedside laboratory testing capability and are furnished with high-definition, flat-screen TVs.  Additional features of the extension include a dedicated waiting area for families and loved ones, restrooms and access to free Wi-Fi.

When the multi-phase expansion is completed, the 16,000-square-foot Emergency Department—which was built to accommodate 35,000 patients a year—will nearly double in size to the size of a football field and have the capacity to see approximately 80,000 patients annually.  Expansion plans call for a centralized nursing station for direct oversight of patient rooms; bedside triage; an adjoining radiology area; expanded decontamination treatment facility; dedicated observation area for behavioral health; and an enlarged waiting area.  Part of the funding for this expansion came from the hospital’s successful Emergency Department capital campaign, which raised $13 million from private donors.

The Emergency Department’s staff includes board certified, residency-trained emergency medicine physicians as well as nurses and physicians' assistants who have been specially trained in emergency medical care. The department also is a New York State Department of Health regional Stroke Center. In addition to 35 treatment bays, the department has specialty treatment areas as well as its own dedicated computerized Radiology Suite with rapid access to testing and results.



The Emergency Department expansion is the cornerstone of the hospital’s $130 million, four-story, 100,000-square-foot J Wing expansion. Expected to be completed in 2025, in addition to the new emergency department, the wing will also house an expanded Intensive and Critical Unit to meet the region’s rising need for critical care services and nine new operating suites with the latest surgical technologies and equipment designed for best in class care.

Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Level II Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons. The verification confirms that the hospital is committed to ensure that patients with severe injuries receive priority access to its full array of trauma care resources, including in-house coverage for trauma surgery and anesthesia. The hospital’s Trauma Team consists of a multidisciplinary group of specially trained health care experts that includes specialists in emergency medicine, trauma surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, and anesthesiology, as well as emergency certified nurses, social workers, and rehabilitation therapists.

Time is critical in traumatic injuries. Once the ED is alerted of an impending arrival, the Trauma Team is mobilized through an efficient paging system to immediately receive the patient. From admission to rehabilitation, the goal is to make the patient’s journey to recovery as seamless as possible. The trauma team provides expertly coordinated care that focuses not just on the treatment of the injury, but on the emotional and financial needs of the patient and family. Other services, such as critical care, radiology, cardiology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, vascular and thoracic care, are also available.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, New York, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health, and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence. For more information, go to www.mountsinai.org/southnassau.