Community Corner

LBMC: Urgent Care Center 'First Phase' of Renewed Services

Merger negotiations continue between Long Beach hospital and South Nassau.

A spokeswoman for the Long Beach Medical Center called a $6.6 million federal grant that South Nassau Communities Hospital received last week to rebuild an urgent care center at the LBMC campus a first step toward renewing services at the hospital that has remained closes since Hurricane Sandy last year.

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Since June, LBMC and South Nassau, a hospital in Oceanside, have been in negotiations about a potential merger, the details of which remain undisclosed, after the 162-bed Long Beach hospital sustained $56 million in damages during storm, was subsequently rebuilt and prepared to reopen but the state Department of Health blocked that action, citing the facility’s loss of more than $2 million each year since 2008 and the lack of a sustainable business model and plan.

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“Long Beach Medical Center and South Nassau Communities Hospitals have been in negotiations to effect a merger of the institutions consistent with the objectives of the New York State Department of Health,” Sharon Player, LBMC’s director of public affairs, told Patch in a statement. “Long Beach Medical Center has been working with South Nassau Communities Hospital towards the opening of an urgent care center on its campus as a first phase of reestablishing other services, including a 911-receiving emergency room in Long Beach, consistent with a memorandum of understanding executed by both institutions.”

Governor Cuomo’s office announced last Thursday that South Nassau was among more than 450 human service providers and community-based organizations impacted by Hurricane Sandy to receive $200 million through the federal Superstorm Sandy Social Services Block Grant.

The grant to South Nassau will provide support for staff, clinical services, equipment, supplies and other expenses for the hospital to start and operate a comprehensive hospital level urgent-care facility on the LBMC campus, including 12 exam rooms, an ambulance triage, a laboratory, and radiology imaging services, all of which will provide care on a walk-in basis without an appointment, according to South Nassau. The hospital stated that the grant would also allow for studies to assist in the long-term redevelopment of LBMC.

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LBMC officials have maintained that an acute-care hospital with emergency services is necessary on the barrier island, given its isolation from the Nassau County mainland and distance from neighboring hospitals.


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