_________ Oceanside/island park ________
CommUNItY UPDAtE Infections as of June 23
4,449
Infections as of June 20 4,444
$1.00
HERALD
Girls take victory with no losses
Pipes to be replaced in I.P.
lincoln orens rewards its own
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Vol. 56 No. 27
JUlY 1 - 7, 2021
O’side grads celebrate their tenacity By tom CArrozzA tcarrozza@liherald.com
Courtesy Donna Kraus
thE oCEANsIDE hIGh School class of 2021 tossing their caps in the air at the June 25 graduation.
After an extraordinarily long school year, Oceanside High School seniors finally had their moment together. Members of the class of 2021 gathered on the football field last Friday and were celebrated for their persistence through the pandemic. “As a true optimist, I’m thankful that the pandemic has taught me to never take small moments for granted,” Salutatorian Courtney Murphy said. “Through the past
year, I hope we all have learned that our futures are unpredictable and everything in life is only temporary. Recognize that nothing horrible will endure forever, so keep moving forward, and nothing valuable is everlasting, so cherish it while it lasts.” In his address, Valedictorian Matthew Friedman thanked Oceanside district officials for their work over the past 15 months. “Both the high school and district administrators, along with the Board of Education, have Continued on page 10
Mount Sinai hospital breaks ground on $130M wing By tom CArrozzA tcarrozza@liherald.com
On the morning of June 22, Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital celebrated the groundbreaking for its J-Wing on its Oceanside campus. The wing will serve as the cornerstone of hospital’s $400 million capital expansion to increase healthcare services. The $130 million, four-story, 100,000- square-foot J-Wing is projected to open in 2023. The chair man of Mount Sinai’s board of directors, Joe Fennessy, said the board re-evaluated old plans for the facility, updating the infrastructure to
match the evolving trends in health care. “We began to reimagine what this hospital should be, and we realized to best serve the needs of our community, we had to be something different,” Fennessy said. “And that’s an entity that really focuses on more advanced and tertiary type services.” The expansion wing will feature larger operating rooms that can fit the stateof-the-art equipment needed for advanced cardiac surgery. The ground floor of the J-Wing will expand the emergency department by 12,000 square feet. Combined with the renovations currently being done on
t
o best serve the needs of our community, we had to be something different. JoE fENNEssY
Chairman, board of directors the existing department, the improved ED is designed to serve 80,000 patients a year, which will more than double the current 36,000. One person who was excited
to see the proposed expansion of the emergency department was Rockville Centre resident Larry Ferazani. In December 2019, the cardiac emergency team conducted life-saving surgery on Ferazani after tests in the emergency room revealed he had had a heart attack. “If I was not in this emergency room with this team of incredible folks, I would
not be here today,” Ferazani said. “I do feel like an expecting father, and you’re all my cousins and family here today,” said Andrew Triolo, the vice president of design, development and construction. He outlined plans for a three-story parking structure and a utility plant to provide heating, cooling and emerContinued on page 15