Emergency facility opens in Long Beach, NY near site of hospital destroyed by Hurricane Sandy

The former Long Beach Medical Center was flooded by Hurricane Sandy (via Facebook)

Nearly three years after Hurricane Sandy essentially destroyed the Long Beach Medical Center, parent company South Nassau Communities Hospital is preparing to open a new emergency department near the site of the former medical center.

The Long Beach facility, located on Long Island, New York, officially opens on August 10.

The $8 million renovation is in addition to the $5 million South Nassau invested to build an Urgent Care Center on site which has been operating since July 2014.

[Also: Sandy devastates NYC hospitals, causes billions in damage]

South Nassau Communities Hospital acquired the assets and with $22 million in state grant funding and built the an urgent care facility.

Under rules from New York State Department of Health, patients suffering acute strokes, heart attacks or severe trauma will bypass the Long Beach Emergency Department and be brought to the appropriate state-designated hospital.

Patients treated and stabilized at the Emergency Department who require hospital admission or advanced levels of treatment will be transferred by on-site ambulance service to South Nassau or the appropriate hospital.

South Nassau, which serves about 900,000 residents of the South Shore, is a Level II trauma center and advanced cardiac center.

The new Long Beach Emergency Department has six private treatment rooms, including an observation unit with three beds where patients can be held for up to 23 hours.

The 6,300-square-foot facility has the capability to meet increases in volume if needed.

South Nassau's efforts to establish the emergency department began in March 2015, when it submitted a Certificate of Need to the New York State Department of Health to upgrade the Urgent Care Center to an off-campus, hospital-based emergency services department.

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South Nassau had planned to begin operating the Emergency Department at Long Beach beginning on July 1, but federal and state regulatory issues prevented the opening. The New York State Department of Health issued the final approvals for the facility to open earlier this week.

"When the emergency department's doors open, Long Beach residents will be safer and this community will be one step closer to fully recovering from SuperStorm Sandy," said U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, who was the county's district attorney when the storm hit in 2012.

Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN