Mount Sinai South Nassau Offers Antibody Screening at 10 Sites Across South Shore

New and existing patients of Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside may now access antibody screening blood tests at a number of the hospital’s ambulatory locations across Long Island. These antibody tests are authorized by the FDA and have a high degree of reliability. The presence of COVID-19 antibodies in your system is an indication that you were probably exposed to the virus, even if you did not have any symptoms, and that you may have some degree of immunity to the virus, although this is not proven yet.

Testing is available for existing or new patients at the following locations:

• Mount Sinai Doctors - Baldwin Primary Care, 2280 Grand Ave., Ste 208, Baldwin, (516) 623-4800
  
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Bellmore Primary Care, 2750 Merrick Rd., Bellmore, (516) 409-2000
  
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Freeport Primary Care, 155 W. Merrick Rd., Ste 101, Freeport, (516) 379-3139
  
• Mount Sinai Doctors Long Island - 1436 Broadway, Hewlett, (516) 360-2962
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Hewlett Cardiovascular, 1420 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Hewlett, (516) 374-8682
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Long Beach Cardiology & Primary Care, 325 W. Park Ave., Long Beach, (516) 432-2004
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Center for Primary Care Long Beach, 761 Franklin Boulevard, Long Beach, (516) 544-2351
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Lynbrook Primary Care, 185 Merrick Rd., Ste 1B, Lynbrook, (516) 887-0077
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Oceanside Primary Care, 2965 Long Beach Rd., Oceanside, (516) 593-8953
• Mount Sinai Doctors - Oceanside Family Medicine, 196 Merrick Rd., Oceanside, (516) 255-8400
  

“The results and information gained from antibody testing will help the medical community determine and understand the spread of the virus, establish public health recommendations and reduce the risk for future surges of the virus in our communities,” said Aaron E. Glatt, Chair of the Department of Medicine, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau.

Antibody testing is also used to determine if a patient’s blood is suitable for donating convalescent plasma (a blood product from someone who has recovered from COVID-19). If you have developed antibodies to the virus, you may be eligible to help others by donating antibody-rich plasma at the New York Blood Center, which has established a plasma bank that hospitals can access immediately to treat patients with serious or life-threatening COVID-19 infections.

Known as convalescent plasma therapy, COVID-19 patients are transfused with recovered patients’ antibodies that have proven successful at fighting the virus. Mount Sinai South Nassau and other hospitals within the Mount Sinai Health System have been treating patients with this promising therapy. A single donation of antibodies can be used to treat one to two patients struggling with severe cases of COVID-19.

“Plasma transfusions have long been used to fight epidemics,” said Dr. Glatt. “In addition, whether or not an individual agrees to be a donor, testing will help identify that you have developed antibodies to COVID-19, which can be of great personal health benefit.”

Medical researchers also believe that antibody testing could be used to return people with immunity safely to the workforce, regardless of industry or profession. It could also help reduce the rate of COVID-19 infections at nursing homes by staffing them with immune workers.

Antibody testing and convalescent plasma therapy is an essential component of the Mount Sinai Health System’s race to defeat the coronavirus outbreak. It has established a multidisciplinary team that is testing several hundred patients a day to determine what they call an “end-to-end” diagnostics solution for COVID-19.  The approach includes diagnosis, treatment selection, and protocols for monitoring the course of the disease.

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, 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 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 mountsinai.org/southnassau.