________ Franklin square/elmont _______
HERALD UBS Arena hosts blood drive
Elmont boys dominate court
legal clinic in honor of MlK Jr.
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Vol. 26 No. 5
JANUARY 25 - 31, 2024
$1.00
Hooping for hope at Sewanhaka By NIColE WAGNER nwagner@liherald.com
Keith Rossein/Herald
Sewanhaka basketball coach Jay Allen, SIBSPlace Executive Director Joanna Formont, Sewanhaka assistant coach Bill Dubin, Carey coach Dan Reece, former SIBSPlace President Michael Gliner and its secretary, Sheldon Soloway, with a check from the Peninsula Kiwanis Club for the 19th annual Hoops for Hope fundraiser.
The varsity boys’ basketball teams at Sewanhaka, Bethpage and Hewlett high schools hosted charity basketball last week at all three schools to benefit SIBSPlace in the 19th annual Hoops for Hope fundraiser. The matchup between Sewanhaka and H. Frank Carey, of Franklin Square, last Friday at Sewanhaka helped raise money, with the help of the Peninsula Kiwanis Club, for SIBSPlace — a cause that is dear to Sewanhaka assistant coach Bill Dubin, a survivor of colon cancer. Sewanhaka toppled Carey, 71-48. Dubin was head coach at Hewlett High School for 23 years, and joined the staff at Sewanhaka this year — bringing the Hoops for Hope fundraiser to the school for the first time. Survivorship in Brothers and Sisters, or ContInuED on PAGE 5
LIJ Valley Stream Hospital spine surgery nationally acclaimed By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
Last year marked another milestone achievement for the Northwell Health system making the list of 70 hospitals and health systems nationwide to receive national acclaim. Northwell was named to 2023 list of “Hospitals and health systems with spine and neuroscience programs to know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. As to the reason for Northwell earning a spot on the list, the medical industry trade mag azine cites the recent inroads made by four Northwell hospitals in achieving rari-
fied distinction in spine surgery. Among those four is Valley Stream’s own Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, which services the communities of Franklin Square and Elmont. The hospital made groundbreaking efforts to meet the highest standards of spinal surgery excellence in 2022, earning advanced certification in spine surgery from the Joint Commission, an independent regulatory organization that sets standards for healthcare programs in the United States. It also became the first in the nation to rack up certifications for advanced total hip and knee
replacement, total shoulder replacement, total ankle replacement, and hip fracture care surgeries all in the same year.
What led to success?
Several factors led to the hospital’s spine surgical success, according to Dr. Alfred Faust, Chief of Spine Surgery, but none more so than its tightknit and collaborative working environment that is large enough to serve an adequate volume of patients but still intimate enough to give each one specialized attention. “Because the operating room is so physically close to the
floor that patients recover on and because we can navigate so easily through hospital space of this size that is so compact, all people involved with the patient’s care are in physical contact,” said Faust. “We interact face-to-face daily. It’s not just emails and phone calls and text messages, which is good, because fewer balls are going get dropped that way.”
Rather than siloing medical staff on large separate floors or spacing them out in far-flung corners of the hospital, the hospital’s condensed design allows for open communication and frequent encounters. Medical professionals involved in each phase of a patient’s care are therefore placed in constant contact. And this, Faust argues, ContInuED on PAGE 9