Developer Bruce Ratner To Be Honored at South Nassau’s 2015 Carnation Ball

Emergency Department Chair Dr. Josh Kugler to Receive Hospital’s Mary Pearson Award

Bruce C. Ratner, Executive Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, has agreed to be the honoree of South Nassau Communities Hospital’s 2015 Annual Carnation Ball to be held Saturday, November 7 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY.

The hospital also named Joshua Kugler, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, South Nassau’s chair of the department of emergency medicine, as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Mary Pearson Award. Dr. Kugler has been deeply involved in the effort to open the Emergency Department in Long Beach while overseeing the hospital’s busy Emergency Department in Oceanside.

“Bruce Ratner is a visionary and one of New York’s leading real estate developers,” said Richard J. Murphy, president and CEO of South Nassau. “His firm has been at the forefront of a number of transformative projects, including Barclays Center in Brooklyn and now the redevelopment of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum site. We are grateful that he has agreed to lend his support to South Nassau for our biggest fundraising event of the year,” said Richard J. Murphy, President and CEO of South Nassau.

“And Dr. Kugler’s leadership of our Emergency Department has been instrumental during a time of tremendous growth in the number of patients who pass through the ER,” added Murphy. “The ER is really our front door. Patients come to us there usually in a time of great need and anxiety. Dr. Kugler sets the standard for compassionate and competent care. He is a true leader, always willing to go above and beyond to help patients. He also has been key in the successful effort to open an Emergency Department in Long Beach. He is very deserving of the hospital’s highest honor.” The money raised by the 2015 Carnation Ball will support South Nassau’s “Emergency Department Expansion Campaign.”

The campaign is a five-year, $10 million fundraising initiative to help pay for a $60 million renovation and expansion of the Oceanside Emergency Department, serving all residents of the South Shore from Queens to Suffolk. 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 and pediatric emergencies. The Emergency Department currently sees some 65,000 patients a year but was designed to handle 35,000 annually.

To purchase tickets or support as a sponsor of the 2015 Carnation Ball, call South Nassau’s Development office or Lynne Nordone at (516) 377-5360.

“It is an honor to be recognized by a medical center that is as impactful as South Nassau Communities Hospital,” said Bruce Ratner, Executive Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies. “With the number of patients seen on a daily basis, there is no question that this hospital serves a major need in Nassau County and it is imperative that we help it fulfill its vital mission.”

Mr. Ratner is executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), a real estate development firm he founded in 1985. Since then, FCRC has developed nearly 17 million square feet of residential, retail, office and sports and entertainment space.

Mr. Ratner is recognized as one of the foremost urban real estate developers in the United States. Crain's New York Business has named Mr. Ratner as the top New York City executive in the fields of real estate, finance and insurance as well as one of New York's most influential business leaders. In 1994, he was awarded the New York State Governor's Arts Award and in 2007, he was named “Developer of the Year” by Commercial Property News.

An agent of change, leading bold, transformative projects that have shaped and will shape the future of New York City and Long Island, Mr. Ratner and FCRC have played a crucial role in developing many of the region’s most innovative projects. This includes Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center, the New York Times Building, and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center arena, which is home to the Brooklyn Nets, the new home of the New York Islanders and host site of championship college basketball and world championship boxing. Mr. Ratner is an active philanthropist, generously lending his time and talents to a broad range of interests ranging from the arts to education to healthcare. Mr. Ratner, who lost over 100 members of his family in the Holocaust, is Chairman of the Board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Mr. Ratner also serves as a board member of the Weill Cornell Medical College and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Mr. Ratner graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1967 and received a law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1970. The hospital’s Mary Pearson Award is presented annually to an individual for extraordinary effort and individual contributions that significantly advance South Nassau’s commitment to compassionate care and standard setting healthcare services. Dr. Kugler’s 15-year tenure as chair of the department of emergency medicine at South Nassau is marked by leadership, innovation and advancements in emergency medical care.

“I am humbled by this award,” said Dr. Kugler. “I’ve dedicated a significant part of my professional life to South Nassau and to the communities we serve, so to be recognized in this way is a great honor. However, I have to acknowledge that it is a privilege to work at South Nassau and have the opportunity to lead a tremendously talented group of professionals who are dedicated to providing the highest quality emergency medicine possible, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. This award really belongs to the entire Emergency Department staff.”

South Nassau restored emergency medical healthcare services to the residents of Long Beach on Aug. 10th and surrounding communities with the opening of the South Nassau Emergency Department at Long Beach, located on the site of the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center. Long Island’s first off-campus, hospital-based emergency department, the facility’s opening fulfills a promise made by the Board of Directors and administration of South Nassau Communities Hospital to re-establish 9-1-1-ambulance receiving emergency medical services for the residents of the barrier island. Dr. Kugler helped oversee the $8 million retrofitting of the facility as well as the increase in staffing required for a 24/7 Emergency Department operation. In addition to his administrative duties, Dr. Kugler puts in regular shifts in the Emergency Departments, including overnight and weekend duties. He also has worked closely with the volunteer and paid first responders in Nassau County and in Long Beach in efforts to improve coordination between the EMS community in the field and emergency trained physicians who staff local Emergency Departments.

South Nassau ED 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 emergency department at South Nassau’s main campus in Oceanside, meanwhile, has cemented its status as one of Long Island’s most efficient and advanced under Dr. Kugler’s guidance. Staffed with highly skilled, 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 designated a regional Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health, and has also been awarded the Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award the past three years. Southern Nassau’s only Trauma Level II Center, the Oceanside Emergency Department has more than 35 treatment areas, including Pediatrics and Behavioral Health, as well as its own dedicated Computerized Radiology Suite for rapid access for testing and results.

In addition to his role as chair of emergency medicine, Dr. Kugler also serves as the co-chair of the ED Steering committee and serves actively across several other integral operational committees, including EMR steering, utilization and Emergency Management. He is the Medical Director for the Oceanside Fire Department and supports the Nassau County Police Department. Dr. Kugler is a graduate of Duke University (BS Physics/ Zoology), University of Pittsburgh (MD) and Harvard University (SM, MHCM). He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and American Academy of Emergency Medicine. He is the current Chair of the Nassau Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee(REMAC) and served as Nassau’s representative to the State Emergency Medical Advisory Council Committee (SEMAC) for eight years.

Dr. Kugler served in the United States Navy for nine years in both operational and clinical roles. He completed his service in 1999 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His naval medical training began in General Surgery at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda and continued at the Naval Aerospace and Operational Medical Institute. Upon discharge he completed a full residency, including the role of Chief Resident in Emergency Medicine at NYU/North Shore. In 2013, he was awarded both the prestigious New York State (NYS) Emergency Medical Services Council’s and Nassau County Regional Emergency Medical Services Council’s Physician of Excellence 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.