South Nassau Appoints Joel Schneider As Chair of Its Emergency Department Expansion Capital Fundraising Campaign

South Nassau Communities Hospital has named Joel Schneider – a local real estate developer and owner of a real estate company – as Chairman of its five-year, $10 million Capital Campaign to help fund a $60 million renovation and expansion of the hospital’s emergency services department.

Mr. Schneider is a member of South Nassau’s Board of Directors and a member of the hospital’s building committee who has been active in raising funds for the Emergency Department expansion, which will nearly double the size of the hospital’s Oceanside Emergency Department to accommodate a projected 70,000 visits a year.

“There is no one more qualified and committed to take on the task of campaign chair than Joel Schneider,” said Richard J. Murphy, president and CEO. “He is a natural and enthusiastic leader who is well respected and well-known in the business and civic communities along the South Shore. He shares a passion for expanding South Nassau’s ability to provide high-quality, compassionate healthcare services.”

“Since being named a member of the hospital’s board of directors, Joel has been deeply committed to ensuring that South Nassau provides the highest quality emergency medical services to the people and communities of the south shore of Nassau County,” added Joseph J. Fennessy, Chairman of South Nassau’s Board of Directors. “He has the undivided support and commitment of his fellow board members to achieve the goal of the campaign.”

As chair of the expansion campaign, Mr. Schneider will spearhead the prospecting and cultivation of major donors and assist the hospital’s Development Office with the planning and execution of fund raising strategies and initiatives. The capital campaign chair is a voluntary position.

“It is a great honor and privilege for me to serve South Nassau in this capacity,” said Mr. Schneider. “South Nassau’s Emergency Department is the only Level II trauma center on the South Shore of Nassau County and it was built to handle about 35,000 visits a year, so this renovation and expansion is sorely needed and it will benefit all the communities the hospital serves along the South Shore – from the Rockaways to the Massapequas. I am confident we will be able to reach our goal.”

The expansion project will increase the Emergency Department’s square footage from 16,000 to 30,000 square feet, increasing its overall size by 87% and giving it the necessary room to accommodate in excess of 80,000 patient visits each year as well as establishing dedicated areas for behavioral health, geriatric and pediatric emergencies.

Mr. Schneider is founder, president and CEO of Joel Schneider Construction Corp. (JSCC), Joel Schneider Management Corp. (JSMC), J. Schneider Group, LTD (The Schneider Group), and JS Restoration Corp. (JSRC). His firms have successfully completed dozens of projects during the last quarter of a century in business, including helping to restore properties that were damaged during Superstorm Sandy. Mr. Schneider has more than 35 years of experience in the commercial and residential real estate and construction industries. He started his career as a laborer and bricklayer in his home state of Vermont and went on to build one of Long Island’s most successful construction firms and management firms.

Mr. Schneider also is as an elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Hewlett Bay Park and serves on the Nassau County Police Foundation Center for Law Enforcement & Intelligence Advisory Board. He also is on the Board of Directors of the City of Boca Raton Police Foundation in Florida. Mr. Schneider assists with fundraising efforts for Make-A-Wish Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Suffolk County, New York. From 2012 through 2014, Mr. Schneider served as the Co-Chair of Sibs Place, a free therapeutic program of South Nassau Communities Hospital which serves children ages 5 - 17 who are living with a sibling or a parent with cancer or another devastating illness. Mr. Schneider is a resident of Hewlett Bay Park, NY.

South Nassau’s Emergency Services Department is the busiest community hospital emergency room in Nassau County, realizing an 8.5 percent increase in patient visits in 2013. Praised for its efficiency and responsiveness to the needs of patients, the 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 is a New York State Department of Health regional Stroke Center and is southern Nassau County’s only Trauma Level II Center. The department has over 35 large independent treatment bays, specialty treatment areas as well as its own dedicated Computerized Radiology Suite for rapid access for testing and results.

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 southnassau.org.