Meeting scheduled on fate of LBMC

Posted

A public meeting focusing on the fate of the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center is being organized by a group of residents from across the barrier island, in the hope of learning more and dispelling rumors about the status of the facility.

Barbara Bernardino, cofounder of the Beach to Bay Central Council — a group seeking nonprofit status that aims to galvanize local civic groups — said the organization is planning a forum, in conjunction with the City of Long Beach, on Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m., at the public library, where city and state representatives — and, it is hoped, hospital officials — will update residents on the hospital.

Bernardino, a longtime Long Beach resident and a past president of both the Long Beach and Nassau County League of Women Voters, said that residents are desperate for information about the fate of the hospital, and whether the emergency department will reopen if LBMC merges with South Nassau Communities Hospital. She also said that residents and LBMC employees would like to hear more about the proposed urgent-care center for which SNCH recently secured funding. Bernardino said there have been too many rumors circulating about the hospital, and that a forum would help dispel any misinformation.

“A lot of the information is not worth repeating because we don’t have any information as to what that facility is going to look like, and people are making a lot of assumptions,” she said. “And a lot of people may not know what they need to do in an emergency in the meantime. What services do we presently have in an emergency, and how do residents access them? And what is the future? What sort of medical services will be provided to residents on the barrier island?”

Page 1 / 2