By GREGORY ZELLER //
A $1 million donation will help Glen Cove Hospital purchase its first magnetic resonance imaging machine and create its first-ever in-house MRI suite.
All told, the 247-bed North Shore hospital will spend $3 million on new MRI technology and related infrastructure needs, according to the New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health system, which called the noninvasive imaging technology “critical for detection, diagnosis and treatment of many medical conditions.”
The seven-digit donation was made by philanthropists John and Diana Colgate, longtime supporters of Glen Cove Hospital and its Oncology and Emergency departments. The couple decided to make this donation, Northwell said Monday, after Diana Colgate – an honorary trustee of the Northwell Health Board of Trustees – was treated at the hospital last year for an undisclosed condition that required an MRI exam.
“I thought to myself, ‘There are so many more people here who are sicker and older than I am who need an MRI,’” she said. “We want to bring this technology on site to enhance efficient, convenient care for patients.”
Image conscious: After requiring an MRI herself, philanthropist Diana Colgate and her husband, John, decided to help Glen Cove Hospital purchase its own MRI machine.
Roughly 350 patients needing MRI assessments are treated each year at Glen Cove Hospital, according to Northwell Health. Currently, those patients are transported by ambulance to a nearby Northwell imaging center.
The proposed four-room MRI suite – including the testing area, a waiting room, a patient dressing room and spaces dedicated to pre-screening protocols – will allow the hospital to provide on-site MRIs for three times as many patients per day than the remote MRI program.
In addition to its business-hours professional staff, it will also feature an on-call staff during nighttime hours “to reduce or eliminate overnight waits,” according to the health system.
John Colgate, the great-great-grandson of the founder of the soap and candle company that became the New York-based Colgate-Palmolive Co., said the MRI suite “would make a meaningful difference in [Glen Cove Hospital’s] continued success.”
Kerri Scanlon: Critical technology.
“An MRI is important for all patients, but when this happens to your own family, it really gets your attention,” he added.
The Colgates’ gift was made through Northwell’s Outpacing the Impossible campaign, a comprehensive $1 billion fundraising effort designed to advance healthcare throughout the vast Northwell Health system. Launched in 2018, the campaign – which supports capital projects, clinical programs and teaching initiatives – has so far raised more than $900 million, according to Northwell.
“We are so grateful for this gift from the Colgates, which will elevate the care and comfort of all our patients,” Registered Nurse Kerri Scanlon, executive director of Glen Cove Hospital, said in a statement. “As the hospital looks forward to its centennial next year, this MRI will likely be the technology most critical to our strategic growth and expansion.
“We hope the Colgates’ generosity inspires others to help us fulfill this goal,” Scanlon added.
