By GREGORY ZELLER //
Good news for South Shore residents having their worst days: Mount Sinai South Nassau’s ginormous new Emergency Department is on its way.
The Long Island flagship of the New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System broke ground Tuesday on its $130 million, four-story addition, which represents one of Nassau County’s largest construction projects and a cornerstone of the Oceanside-based hospital’s $400 million capital-improvements effort.
When completed in 2023, the 100,000-square-foot “J Wing” – designed by NYC-based architecture/engineering firm HOK and built by Maryland-based general contractor Whiting-Turner, which has offices in Woodbury and White Plains – will double the size of South Nassau’s Emergency Department, adding 40 critical-care beds and nine state-of-the-art surgical suites to the hospital’s mix.
Currently, the ED – which is designed to accommodate roughly 35,000 annual patients – treats upwards of 65,000 patients from across the South Shore and beyond.
Mount Sinai Health System President and CEO Kenneth Davis said the massive construction project was an important part of the system’s efforts to “serve the Long Island community as a healthcare leader.”
Kenneth Davis: Answer man.
“Every day, our world-class experts are finding new answers to the most challenging health problems, creating greater access to advance medicine and scientific breakthroughs, growing programs locally and making important investments like this one,” Davis said Tuesday, adding the new Emergency Department will “better serve this community and improve overall health and outcomes for patients.”
The Mount Sinai Health System is covering about 10 percent of the construction costs, with the lion’s share coming from a $158 million Federal Emergency Management Agency stipend the health system received in 2015.
While those funds were, ostensibly, earmarked to help the hospital deal with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, FEMA’s “alternative use” provision allowed the health system to apply a portion of the funds to the new J Wing and other facility-expansion efforts.
The 2015 FEMA grant also partially funded Mount Sinai South Nassau’s new 15,400-square-foot Medical Arts Pavilion in Long Beach, which broke ground in November and is slated to open next spring, and is being applied to other construction efforts.
Suite rewards: Nine cutting-edge surgical suites are part of the new Emergency Department’s mix.
Anthony Cancellieri, chairman of the Mount Sinai South Nassau Building Committee and co-chairman of the hospital’s Board of Directors, said South Nassau and its parent health system have been judicious in their deployment of the FEMA funds.
“With this new patient wing, an expanded Emergency Department and a new Central Utility Plant, the hospital will be able to better serve the more than 900,000 residents of the South Shore who depend on us for critical services,” Cancellieri said in a statement.
A bevy of Mount Sinai Health System dignitaries turned out for Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, including Mount Sinai South Nassau President and CEO Richard Murphy, who noted “a proud and historic day in Mount Sinai South Nassau’s 93-year history.”
“This hospital has a legacy of serving our community and providing our patients with extraordinary healthcare,” Murphy added. “This once-in-a-generation project will allow us to meet the future needs of the communities we serve along the South Shore of Nassau County for years to come.”
