Thanks to “an extraordinary gift” from Saul Katz, Chairman of the North Shore-LIJ Health System and president of the New York Mets, and his wife Iris, a graceful 10 story, state-of-the-art women’s hospital will rise in front of the 54-year-old Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
In a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, September 4, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the Katz family, North Shore-LIJ president Michael Dowling and several grateful women who had received care there, in praising the new facility.
The $300 million pavilion, future home of the Katz Women’s Hospital, will occupy seven of the 10 floors and provide 88 private patient rooms specially designed to accommodate both patients and family members.
This will be the largest single hospital expansion project in 50 years, according to the center, which is also in the process of a multi-million dollar expansion of maternity facilities at the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
Saul Katz reminded all that “women have unique needs when it comes to health care,” and that those needs were made more complex by the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of the area. He made it clear that the design of the new hospital was targeted at accommodating such diversity.
“We exist to support women,” he said, adding “they deserve it.” He promised that the spirit of the new facility would be “care, comfort and elegance.”
“We’re very exited,” Dowling said. “It took two years to design [the new structure] but the research and discussions have been going on for almost a decade.”
Iris Katz, who is also a trustee of the hospital system, pointed out that the services provided would include more diverse techniques as acupuncture, massage therapy and Tai Chi. “The best antidote is preventive medicine,” she declared.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was among the speakers who reminded those in attendance that between the two campuses, approximately 12,000 babies are delivered each year.
This makes them the second and third busiest maternity programs in New York State, Bloomberg noted.
The audience included Mets General Manager Omar Manaya, and a couple of his team’s “new arrivals,” outfielder Daniel Murphy and catcher Brian Schneider, who both participated in the groundbreaking.
Although the main entrance to the hospital complex is on Lakeville Road in Nassau County, the buildings and all but a small section of the parking areas are in the city, leading Bloomberg to tease Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, “What are you doing here? This is Queens.”
The crowd of about 250, also included State Assemblymember Mark Weprin, who thanked hospital management and praised the staff.
The audience braved the intense mid-day sun to hear laudatory remarks from the dignitaries - and several women who related their appreciation for the superior care they received at LIJ.
Among the numerous doctors, nurses, other staffers who either retreated to whatever shade they could find or fanned themselves futilely against the blazing sun, many seemed refreshed by the thanks.
The new hospital is scheduled to be completed in 2011; the renovation and expansion of the maternity facilities at the Manhasset location (also part of Katz Women’s Hospital) should be completed some time in 2010.
When Bloomberg, who has stirred up a controversy by suggesting an end to term limits which would prevent him from seeking re-election in 2009, was asked if he also planned to attend the hospital opening, he responded with a smile.
“If I’m invited to the ribbon cutting, I’ll attend - they always invite people who aren’t in public office… and people who are.”
