South Nassau Communities Hospital will build four-story addition with $130 million expansion project

Architect’s rendering of South Nassau Communities Hospital’s proposed Southwest Addition.

South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York has announced plans to construct a four-story, 58,000-square-foot addition to the southwest corner of the hospital, which will feature a new and improved critical care patient unit with up to 24 additional beds. The project will also double the size of the Emergency Services Department, and modernize and expand its operating rooms.

The initiative, estimated to cost $130 million, also includes an upgrade of the hospital's emergency electrical system, as well as the construction of a new, energy-efficient central utility plant with back-up heating and air conditioning systems.

The four-story addition would increase the number of treatment spaces in the Emergency Department, with expanded and improved waiting areas and separate treatment areas for pediatric, geriatric and behavioral patients. The new structure would house additional critical care beds to meet the growing demand for critical care services and new operating suites.

The new operating rooms also would allow for the renovation of existing operating rooms, some of which are 40 years old and do not meet current spacial demands for operating suites.

Richard Murphy, hospital president and CEO, said the proposed additions would help the facility better serve the needs of the community.

"We are seeing increased demand for emergency services, as well as for critical care beds," he said. "The addition will benefit the entire southern tier of the county, including residents of Long Beach and the barrier island."

South Nassau's emergency department currently sees about 65,000 patients a year, but is designed to handle just 35,000. Housing 35 patient treatment bays, the department is a New York State Department of Health regional stroke center, and the only Level II Trauma Center located in southern Nassau County.

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If approved, the emergency department's square footage will increase from 16,000 to 30,000 square feet. The increase in private patient treatment bays will give the department the capacity to accommodate in excess of 80,000 patient visits each year.

The design of the department allows for separate entrances for walk-in patients and patients transported by ambulance, as well a larger ambulance docking bay to facilitate the triage of patients from ambulances to the ED. Its waiting area will be larger as well.

A key design element of the expanded operating rooms will be a dedicated elevator connecting them to the new critical care patient unit. There will also be a centrally located, larger surgical equipment sterilization unit with direct connection to the operating room suites, facilitating the transportation of patients as well as scheduling of surgeries.

The combined impact of these features will allow the hospital's staff of surgeons to increase its surgical scheduling capacity.

The Southwest addition will feature modernized operating suites, and will allow the hospital to meet the growing demand for critical care services. While the demand for medical-surgical beds is generally decreasing, the number of patients in need of highly specialized care provided in critical care units is on the rise. South Nassau projects a need to nearly double the number of critical care beds available.

The southwest addition project is one of the key components of the "alternative use application" that South Nassau will soon be submitting to the state as part of their plans for use of $171 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, which the agency had agreed to allocate to South Nassau in the fall of 2014.

The FEMA funds were appropriated by Congress after South Nassau demonstrated sufficient financial strength to restore medical services to the South Shore following Superstorm Sandy, which forced the closing of the former Long Beach Medical Center. The New York State Office of Emergency Management oversees administration of the FEMA funds.

The whole proposal is in addition to a planned $40 million Medical Arts Pavilion that also is being eyed for Long Beach, at the site of the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center. South Nassau currently operates a free-standing emergency department in Long Beach.

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The Medical Arts Pavilion would serve as the permanent home of the Long Beach Emergency Department and potentially house other services needed in the community, like primary care, dialysis treatment and occupational and physical therapy.

More than $30 million has already been spent in Long Beach to acquire the former Long Beach Medical Center, and to open Long Island's first free-standing emergency department on the barrier island.

"At the completion of these projects, the residents of the communities served by South Nassau will have a hospital that has been almost completely renovated – floor by floor – in recent years and that will be able to continue to attract top surgeons and clinicians to practice here," said Murphy.

South Nassau has briefed local community, civic and elected leaders -- more than 60 of them --  about its expansion plans. That process will continue in the weeks ahead, as hospital officials seek additional input from the communities it serves along the South Shore.

The proposed plans still face a series of formal review procedures at the local and state levels.

[Also: Updated list of hospital construction and expansion projects in 2016]

Some local leaders are expressing support for the projects, which they said would benefit residents of nearby communities such as Oceanside, Long Beach, Rockville Centre, Island Park and Freeport.

Mayor Michael McGinty of Island Park called South Nassau the finest regional hospital on the Island, saying it is "at the forefront of service and technology" and commending its medical staff for their expertise and compassion for their patients.

Maria Heller, president of Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, praised South Nassau for investing in the Oceanside campus to meet projected future needs.

"We are proud to support our local hospital and its continued goals to provide exceptional care to our community," she said.

Twitter: @JELagasse