South Nassau opens Emergency Department on Long Beach

South Nassau Communities Hospital

The Long Beach Emergency Department of South Nassau Communities Hospital opened last week.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by local elected officials, including Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford and Island Park Mayor Michael G. McGinty, as well as local EMS officials and business leaders.

The South Nassau Communities Hospital Emergency Department at Long Beach (SNCH ED at Long Beach) occurred more than 1,000 days after superstorm Sandy struck the region, forcing the closure of the former Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC).

The newly renovated facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives ambulances via the 911 system. It is Long Island’s first off-campus, hospital-based emergency department.

The opening fulfills a promise made by the SNCH board of directors and administration after it acquired the assets of LBMC last Oct. 15 to re-establish 911 ambulance receiving emergency medical services for residents of the barrier island.

Located at 325 East Bay Dr., adjacent to the Komanoff Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center,  SNCH 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 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.