South Nassau Commences Demolition of Three Main Structures of the Former Long Beach Medical Center

South Nassau Communities Hospital is taking another step in its ongoing effort to restore vital healthcare services to the residents of Long Beach and surrounding communities with the start of the demolition of the Central, Founders, and East buildings of the former Long Beach Medical Center.

This past fall the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed that the Central, Founders and East buildings should be demolished as the cost of repairs necessary to bring them into code compliance was cost prohibitive. The structures are part of South Nassau Communities Hospital’s acquisition of the former Long Beach Medical Center’s assets, which included land, buildings and equipment. SNCH formally acquired the properties in October of last year.

A complete abatement of each structure was conducted prior to the start of the demolition. The abatement included the complete removal of asbestos, lead, paint and mercury containing materials such as exterior siding, roof shingles, tar paper, pipe wrap and interior floor tiles. The abatement was approved by the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) and air monitoring was conducted as required by the DOL. The buildings have also been cleared of all equipment and furniture and the exterior has been secured to guard against intruders. A portion of E. Bay Street has been closed off to vehicular traffic as part of the demolition.

South Nassau officials have been working closely with City of Long Beach and regulatory agencies on the demolition. Cranes equipped with grapple claws will be the primary machinery used for the demolition of the Central, Founders and East buildings. To prevent machinery and construction vehicles from kicking up dust, the properties will be watered down during the demolition work. The path that will be used for hauling debris from the properties will be Lincoln Boulevard to Harrison St., then a right onto Long Beach Rd. Residents can expect some noise during work hours (such as the crackling of wood, the breaking of concrete, and the rumble of construction vehicles) as building materials are crushed or hauled away to a recycling facility.

As mandated by the City of Long Beach noise ordinance, the demolition work will begin no earlier than 8AM each day, with work occurring from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday. Funding for the demolition project is approved and obligated through the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) process.

South Nassau opened Long Island’s first free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach on Aug. 10th and has been receiving patients and ambulances there around the clock, seven days a week. The facility underwent an $8 million upgrade and has received praise from elected officials, community leaders, patients and first responders.

The first facility of its kind on Long Island, South Nassau Emergency Department at Long Beach has six private treatment rooms, including an observation unit with three beds where patients can be held for up to 23 hours, a special room for infectious disease cases, a medical laboratory, a triage area, a behavioral treatment area, a decontamination room, a trauma room and advanced medical imaging department that includes an X-ray machine and a 64-slice CT scanner, which is the only operational CT scanner of any type in Long Beach and on the barrier island. The 6,300-square-foot facility has the capability to surge to meet increases in volume if needed. South Nassau also has ambulances stationed at the Long Beach facility, ready to transport patients to its main campus in Oceanside as the need arises.

Located at 325 East Bay Dr., adjacent to the Komanoff Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, the facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and receives ambulances via the 9-1-1 system. As per existing New York State Department of Health protocol, all acute strokes, heart attacks and trauma patients transported by the 9-1-1 Emergency Medical System will by-pass the Long Beach Emergency Department and be brought to the appropriate state-designated hospital. Patients treated and stabilized at the Emergency Department who require hospital admission or advanced levels of treatment will be transferred by on-site ambulance service to South Nassau or the appropriate hospital.

In May, South Nassau established a partnership with the City of Long Beach to augment the City’s existing ambulance fleet by providing secondary backup for 9-1-1- ambulance calls. Under the agreement, South Nassau ambulances stationed at the Long Beach facility have been responding when needed as backup for 9-1-1 calls. South Nassau ambulances are staffed by paramedics who are able to communicate with physicians trained in emergency medicine to ensure proper treatment on the scene or while a patient is en route to the appropriate medical facility.

The agreement was preceded by South Nassau’s announcement in March to build a two-story, 30,000 square-feet Medical Arts Pavilion on the site of the former LBMC. In addition to serving as the future home of the emergency department, the facility could house suites for family medicine, behavioral health, ambulatory surgery, sports medicine and physical rehabilitation, dialysis and other medical services needed by residents of Long Beach and surrounding communities. South Nassau has commissioned a study – based on discharge and other data – to determine which services are most needed on the barrier island in the wake of SuperStorm Sandy. The study is ongoing and includes outreach to the barrier island communities and civic leaders. The projected cost of the Medical Arts Pavilion is $30 million and will represent another major investment by South Nassau in Long Beach.

For more information, call Damian Becker, South Nassau Communities Hospital’s External Affairs Office, at (516) 377-5370, or go to www.SouthNassauLongBeach.org. South Nassau is a recipient of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Target: Stroke Honor Roll-Elite Quality Achievement Award as well as the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Silver-Plus Quality Achievement Award.

Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), South Nassau® Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, 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. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons and is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program. In addition, the hospital has been awarded the Joint Commission’s gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific care for hip and joint replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit www.southnassau.org.