2016 Annual Carnation Ball Raises $707,217 in Support of Emergency Department Expansion

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. - Nov. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- More than 630 supporters of South Nassau Communities Hospital attended the Hospital's 2016 Annual Carnation Ball held Saturday, November 5 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Westbury.

Participants helped raise a gross total of $707,217 (a net of $587,325), which will support South Nassau's Emergency Department Expansion Campaign.  The campaign is a five-year, $10 million fundraising initiative to help support a $60 million renovation and expansion of the Oceanside Emergency Department, serving all residents of the South Shore from Queens to Suffolk.  South Nassau administrators, board members and medical staff members, as well as many of the region's healthcare executives, state and local public officials and business and community leaders were among the hundreds of guests who attended the event.

Two South Nassau health care leaders were recognized: Dr. Luke K. LiCalzi of Rockville Centre, and Trauma Program manager Margaret Puya, RN, of Long Beach, were presented the hospital's Community and Cupola awards, respectively.

South Nassau established the Cupola Award in 2015 to be presented annually to a deserving hospital employee who goes above and beyond their duties and lives by the hospital mission to promote excellence in healthcare.  Ms. Puya was a catalyst in South Nassau's achieving Trauma Center verification from the American College of Surgeons this past spring, which included upgrading the hospital's trauma care capabilities to meet a more rigorous on-site review and standard.

South Nassau's inaugural Community Honoree, Dr. LiCalzi, recently retired after a decades-long exemplary career in medicine.  An accomplished vascular surgeon, Dr. LiCalzi joined South Nassau in 1982 and has served as director of the Vascular Surgery Division in the Department of Surgery since 1992.  Recently retired, Dr. LiCalzi was also in private practice with South Nassau Medical Group, P.C. in Rockville Centre.

Paul M. Black, chief executive officer of Allscripts, a global leader in healthcare information technology solutions, was the Corporate Honoree of the event, while former LIRR President Helena E. Williams was presented South Nassau's Mary Pearson Award.

"The Carnation Ball celebrates the teamwork, selflessness and commitment to excellence that fuels South Nassau's tradition of meeting the communities' needs for high-quality, patient-centered healthcare services," said Richard J. Murphy, president and CEO of South Nassau. "The money raised this evening will support the expansion and modernization of the hospital's Oceanside Emergency Department so that it increases its capacity to serve residents of the communities along the South Shore with the highest level of emergency medical care."

The expansion and modernization project will increase the Emergency Department's square footage from 16,000 to 30,000 square feet, increasing its overall size by 87% and giving it the necessary room to accommodate in excess of 80,000 patient visits each year, as well as establishing dedicated areas for behavioral health and pediatric emergencies. The Emergency Department currently sees some 65,000 patients a year, but was designed to handle just 35,000 annually.  The renovated Emergency Department will also have separate areas for behavioral health, pediatric and geriatric patients.

As CEO of Allscripts, Mr. Black provides the strategic leadership that the company needs to fulfill its global commitment to build open, connected communities of health.  Prior to joining Allscripts in 2012, Mr. Black spent more than 13 years with Cerner Corporation in various executive positions, retiring as Cerner's chief operating officer in 2007. During his tenure with Cerner, he helped build the company into a market leader in healthcare information technology with more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue. He also spent 12 years with IBM Corporation in a variety of leadership positions in sales, product marketing and professional services.

He has served on several boards of directors of private and nonprofit companies in healthcare information technology, healthcare services and consumer Internet marketing. He is currently immediate past chairman and an officer of Truman Medical Centers, a 400-bed safety net academic hospital in Kansas City, MO.

South Nassau's Mary Pearson Award is presented annually to an individual for extraordinary effort and individual contributions that significantly advance South Nassau's commitment to compassionate care and standard setting healthcare services.  Ms. Williams, Chief Development Officer for RATP Dev America, served as a South Nassau board member and remains on the hospital's advisory board.  Ms. Williams, a transportation industry leader, served as the first female president of the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's busiest commuter rail system, and as President of Long Island Bus (currently the NICE bus system).  She also served as a Deputy County Executive for former Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi.

Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), South Nassau® Communities Hospital is one of the region's largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees.  Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services.  In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies.  A Level II Trauma Center verified by the American College of Surgeons, South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons, and is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program.  In addition, the hospital has been awarded the Joint Commission's gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific care for hip and joint replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit www.southnassau.org.