Dear Mr. Dowling,
I am writing to you in the dual capacity of a concerned citizen/father as well as a former Bayville Trustee and current government official to urge you to reconsider the decision to close our essential, irreplaceable and beloved community hospital in Glen Cove. Given where my neighbors and I live, on the beautiful North Shore peninsula where Bayville touches the Long Island Sound but which includes Lattingtown, Mill Neck, Centre Island as well as parts of Oyster Bay and Locust Valley, we insist that you analyze this decision differently than any standard corporate model might indicate.
Like so many others in our community, my wife and I have rushed an injured child to Glen Cove for stitches. I have also visited an ill, elderly family friend who spent her last days being cared for by the incredibly caring staff of doctors and nurses nearby her home adjacent to Glen Cove hospital where her husband had worked for over 40 years. Being close by allowed dozens of others in the community to visit as well. And during several of the major storms our peninsula has endured it has always been comforting to know that our local hospital was close by in case we were cut off from the “mainland” of Nassau County.
The North Shore – LIJ Health System is one of the pre-eminent hospital networks in the state, if not the country. As someone who has worked in the private sector and government, I admire how the network has expanded while still keeping its eye on the highest levels of patient care and community concerns. On behalf of my former constituents, I implore you to remember exactly where the next nearest hospital is located before you check a box on an efficiency chart and thus close and cut us all off from the hospital that has served us so very well lo these many years.
Dave Gugerty
Chief of Staff – Nassau County Legislature
