By Rich Bockmann
North Shore-LIJ’s new 10-story New Hyde Park building may look more like a hotel than a hospital, but the health system’s officials proudly boast that the 300,000-square-foot glass tower will provide the best care possible.
“What you’re actually looking at is a new philosophy of care,” said President and CEO Michael Dowling at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week. “It represents a new atmosphere of caring. It represents a new way to welcome families, patients and members of the community.”
The $300 million project, which features the Zuckerberg Pavilion and the Katz Women’s Hospital, is scheduled to open in January and represents the largest expansion in the health system’s history.
Each floor behind the building’s glass facade is the length of a football field, while its 162 single-bed rooms offer hotel-like accommodations meant to make patients as comfortable as they can be.
The facility features decentralized nursing stations and in-room medications, and each patient is assigned a food ambassador.
“I think we’ve always had great care, but now we have great facilities to go with great care, because to have a bathroom in every room and to have the facilities that we have in this building really make the whole experience a lot more pleasant,” said donor and trustee Roy Zuckerberg.
The pavilion that bears his name will serve as the new entrance for all North Shore-LIJ services and includes 60 new single-bed surgical rooms on the eighth and ninth floors for orthopedic, urological and cardiovascular patients as well as a physical therapy gym.
The Katz Women’s Hospital has its own entrance and features a range of maternity and gynecological surgery services on four floors.
“Women are so many things to so many people, and now it’s time to makes sure that they enjoy the same healthy, fulfilling lives they have worked so hard to provide for others,” said associate trustee Iris Katz.
Cheryl Lampasona, 30, was diagnosed nearly 10 years ago with a rare form of ovarian cancer that had been reported in only 11 other cases worldwide.
After several surgeries, she became pregnant in 2005.
“I am so honored to be standing in front of you healthy and with my beautiful family,” she said. “It made me so proud to give birth at this very hospital not once but twice. It was like a complete circle of life for me. The opening of this women’s hospital is so important for me. With a place like this women like me will have a place to go to for health guidance when they need it most.”
In May, North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, L.I., completed a $50 million modernization project and opened the first phase of the Katz Women’s Hospital on its campus.
“I’m told length of stay in Manhasset increased substantially because the mothers do not want to leave the rooms,” said donor and trustee Saul Katz. “My suggestion was to bring the mothers-in-law in and they’d leave quicker.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
