South Nassau’s Supporters Raise Nearly $600K for Emergency Room Expansion Campaign at Annual Golf Outing

Most Successful Event of Its Kind in Hospital’s 90-year History/Outing Sold Out Three Courses, Hosted Nearly 400 Golfers

South Nassau Communities Hospital’s 35th Annual Golf Outing held Monday, May 20, raised nearly $600,000 with an estimated net of $400,000, a new record for the annual outing, surpassing last year’s record by 25 percent. All proceeds raised benefit the hospital’s Emergency Department’s Expansion Campaign.

South Nassau’s supporters from local business, civic and community groups flocked to the popular outing, which is the largest and most successful hospital golf outing on Long Island. Three premiere courses were sold out with nearly 500 golfers and guests attending the day and evening events.

Atlantic Beach resident and  real estate management executive Anthony Ponte and South Nassau’s long-time facility management vice president Bill Ulrich were co-honorees of the outing, which was held at three of Long Island’s most prestigious and challenging venues: The Seawane Club, Hewlett Harbor; Rockway Hunting Club, Lawrence; and Rockville Links Club, Rockville Centre. The event grossed nearly $600,000 with all net proceeds  benefiting expansion of the hospital’s Trauma-designated Emergency Department in Oceanside, which serves nearly 70,000 patients a year across the southern tier of Nassau County.

South Nassau’s Development team and board leadership reinvigorated the outing several years ago with formation of a new golf committee co-chaired by Tony Cancellieri, Vice Chairman of South Nassau’s board of directors, and Jeffrey Greenfield, a member of South Nassau’s Advisory Board and managing member, NGL Group, LLC. More than 50 local business and civic leaders now serve on the South Nassau golf committee.

Net proceeds from the golf outing have grown 80 percent from five years ago. In 2017, the outing grew from two courses to three courses, drawing on support from the new golf committee and from the dedicated golf outing honorees who helped bring in additional support each year.

“We are very grateful to the community for supporting the much-needed expansion of our Emergency Department,” said South Nassau President & CEO, Richard J. Murphy. “Our Golf Committee, the co-chairs, our honorees and the Development team all did a fantastic job.”

“The success of this event shows the deep community support that exists for South Nassau and for the planned improvement of the emergency room,” said Cancellieri, who also volunteers his time and expertise as head of South Nassau board’s buildings committee. “People care about this hospital and they are willing to come out and devote their time and their dollars to help make this renovation of the ER happen.”

Reconstruction of the Emergency Department is already underway and groundbreaking for a new Southwest wing of the hospital is expected to take place next year, allowing for the doubling of the size of the ER at the Oceanside campus. The new ER will feature dedicated areas for behavioral health and pediatric emergencies.

Mr. Ponte and Mr. Ulrich were honored at an evening barbeque at The Seawane Club after the golf outing. The reception was attended by a number of local leaders, including Town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen, Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman, Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray, Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett, Island Park Mayor Mike McGinty and former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato.

Mr. Ponte, a past president of Atlantic Beach Estates, was acknowledged for his community leadership and dedication to South Nassau as a member of the hospital’s buildings committee. Mr. Ulrich’s more than 40 years of service to the hospital in a variety of key leadership positions and his oversight of the current expansion projects were celebrated by the attendees, which included many of his co-workers.

Mr. Ponte was appointed to South Nassau’s board of directors in October 2017. He also serves on the board’s Building Committee. Mr. Ponte is a partner of Ponte Equities, Inc., a New York-based real-estate management and investment firm with extensive holdings in New York City and expanded holdings throughout the United States. Today, Ponte Equities has several properties under management and has been a fixture across New York City, particularly in Tribeca. Mr. Ponte has partnered with the Related Companies, building a luxury condo building in Tribeca, as well as developing the nearby 261 Hudson Street and an 80-20 split residential building on 460 Washington Street.

Mr. Ponte began his career in his family’s paper recycling business, serving as vice president of the company’s international sales department, as well as directing the company’s Florida operation. He has also was active in Ponte’s Restaurant, an Italian-style restaurant that has been a fixture in Tribeca for over 47 years.  Mr. Ponte is past president of the La Salle Military Academy Alumni Foundation. He and his wife, Wendy, have two children and live in Atlantic Beach.

Mr. Ulrich started his career at South Nassau in 1977, when he was appointed Laboratory Manager.  After serving in various operations roles, he was named vice president of administration in 1998, then six years later in 2004 he was named vice president of facility planning and development. Shortly thereafter, the facilities team under Mr. Ulrich’s leadership embarked on an aggressive expansion and transformation to a medically advanced hospital with a network of more than 30 community-based specialty satellite healthcare centers and physician practices. Among the many expansion projects that the hospital has completed under his direction include:

• the four-story North Addition (or D Wing, which was completed in 2006);
• Long Island’s only free-standing, 911-receiving Emergency Department, based in Long Beach (which opened its doors the summer of 2015);
• and the Gertrude & Louis Feil Cancer Center in Valley Stream (which opened in 2004).
  

South Nassau’s expansion under Mr. Ulrich’s guidance will begin another chapter in the near future as the hospital will break-ground on a multifaceted expansion project, which is highlighted by a four-story, 90,000   square foot “J Wing” addition to the Southwest corner of the hospital (which will house the expanded Emergency Department as well as 40 new critical care beds and 9 new operating suites); a two-story parking structure to alleviate neighborhood parking issues and new central utility and emergency electrical plant to harden South Nassau’s main campus against future storms.  The hospital also is planning a $40 million Medical Arts Pavilion in Long Beach to complement its free-standing emergency department on the barrier island.

The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, South Nassau® Communities Hospital is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. South Nassau 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. South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. South Nassau also 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 for disease-specific care for stroke, hip and knee replacement, heart failure, bariatric surgery, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit www.southnassau.org.