By John Asbury
Newsday
LONG BEACH, N.Y. — The Long Beach Emergency Department has added an new floating boat dock for the first time since superstorm Sandy flooded and closed the old medical center.
The $59,000 project includes an emergency access ramp for patients coming from Reynold’s Channel on Long Beach’s north shore.
“The new floating dock will help reduce response and transport time during marine rescues,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino said in a statement. “Quicker transports to the emergency room could spell the difference between life and death.”
The ramp replaces the dock that at the now-shuttered Long Beach Medical Center. South Nassau Community Hospitals a year ago opened the emergency department, equipped to take 911 emergency call patients, at the site of the old medical center.
“In emergencies, time is critical,” South Nassau president Richard Murphy said in a statement. “The new dock will allow us to see patients more quickly and provide an important new point of water access for the Long Beach Emergency Department.”
Hempstead officials installed the dock to give first responders the quickest access to medical care for boaters and others in need of urgent care on the water. It will be used by Hempstead Town bay constables, Nassau County police marine officers, Long Beach police marine officers and local fire departments with marine rescue units, officials said.
“Restoring dock access for our emergency personnel is another important step forward in rebuilding our barrier island medical services,” Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman said. “If there’s an accident on the water. We can get people out quicker and get people to the hospital quicker. It’s another component to our emergency services and the eight paramedics we added last year.”
The dock will allow emergency boats to tie to the port and unload patients for the Long Beach Emergency Department. The dock also has an aluminum ramp and hand rails and an elevated platform.
South Nassau installed lighting and an intercom system for communications between the emergency department and first responders.
South Nassau staff is also undergoing training on transferring patients on the dock from emergency vessels.
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