Hospital: Bayville Mayor Lends Support; Officials Provide Update

By Heather Doyle and Adina Genn

The mayor of Bayville is throwing his support behind Glen Cove Hospital and asking his residents to do the same. Meanwhile, a North-Shore-LIJ spokesman says the hospital values input from the community as it navigates a changing healthcare climate. 

In an email blast Thursday, Bayville Mayor Doug Watson urged residents to show their support for the hospital by signing an online petition.

"Many of our residents depend on the care that Glen Cove Hospital provides this area," he wrote. "Show your support and help keep Glen Cove Hospital from cutting its services to ambulatory care only by signing this petition."

The message linked to a Change.org petition urging North Shore-LIJ Health System to "postpone and reconsider their plans to transform" the hospital into an ambulatory-only facility.

The petition had 3,435 signatures as of Thursday evening and aims to hit 5,000. Community members are also signing hard-copy petitions available at some Glen Cove businesses.

Earlier on Thursday, NS-LIJ spokesman Terry Lynam told Patch that hospital officials are sensitive to the community's needs and had a "very fruitful discussion" with Mayor Ralph Suozzi and other leaders on Tuesday. The hospital, Lynam said, is ensuring that there is input from "local elected officials, our physicians and the community at large" as to what ambulatory services to include.

Still, Lynam pointed out, the hospital needs to respond to the way healthcare is delivered. "The New York metro area is littered with remnants of hospitals that failed to adapt," he said. "We're trying to be proactive and meet the future needs of the community."

That includes providing services to the large number of nursing home and assisted living residents through community support so that they are cared for in their homes, and helping them stay out of the hospital, where they are at greater risk of picking up an infection, Lynam said.

Currently hospital officials are also considering ways to assist caregivers, so they are able to meet the needs of their loved ones who are hospitalized, Lynam said. 

As for inpatient beds, Lynam said, the hospital "never had any intention to decertify all 265 licensed beds," adding that it needed to maintain some beds so that it could be flexible in delivering critical care. 

Meanwhile, in Bayville, Watson joins Suozzi in support for the hospital. Suozzi praised the progress being made by officials at the hospital just after a rally to help save it.