Long Beach reopens Emergency Department devastated by Superstorm Sandy

LONG BEACH (WABC) -- One Long Island town is finally getting back the sort of round-the-clock emergency care that was swept away by Superstorm Sandy more than 1,000 days ago.

Sandy destroyed the Long Beach Medical Center, where all vital systems were located in the basement. But following an $8 million upgrade, South Nassau Communities Hospital opened a stand-alone emergency department right on the barrier island Monday morning. The new emergency department is meant to survive 100-year flood, and its backup generators are elevated.

Long Island's first off-campus emergency department has six private treatment rooms, including an observation unit with three beds where patients can be held for up to 23 hours, a special room for infectious disease cases, a medical laboratory, a triage area, a behavioral treatment area, a decontamination room, a trauma room and an advanced medical imaging department that includes an X-ray machine and a 64-slice CT scanner.

It is the only operational CT scanner of any type in Long Beach.

It will also be able to receive ambulances via the 911 system.

The 6,300-square-foot facility has the capability to surge to meet increases in volume if needed.

South Nassau also has ambulances stationed at the Long Beach facility, ready to transport patients to its main campus in Oceanside as the need arises. Previously, patients would have to drive or be driven up to 20 minutes to the nearest trauma center.

To be clear, it is not a hospital, and it is not intended to replace the Long Beach Medical Center. But for routine emergencies and critical cases that cannot wait, it will provide a lifeline to residents.

With the new ED, the trip from anywhere in Long Beach is five minutes or less.