_________ oCeANsIDe/IsLAND PArk ________
I.P. teens take the next step up
Pickle palooza goes viral
Firefighters of the future
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VOL. 59 NO. 28
JULY 4 - 10, 2024
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MSSN honors ‘health care heroes’ By KEPHERD DANIEL & RYAN DEMINO Of the Oceanside/Island Park Herald
Tim Baker/Herald
Shalom and Iris Maidenbaum and Amy Madmon were joined by local officials and Mount Sinai South Nassau health care workers as they unveiled Health Care Heroes Plaza.
Mount Sinai South Nassau dedicated its new Maidenbaum Health Care Heroes Plaza on Monday to the hospital’s doctors, nurses and health care workers in honor of their extraordinary efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. The plaza was made possible by a significant donation from Iris and Shalom Maidenbaum, property tax reduction experts from Maidenbaum Proper ty Tax Reduction Group LLC, and member Amy Madmon. “We support a lot of local orgaCoNtINued oN PAge 4
Los Ciegos del Barrio to perform at Island Park Library By KEPHERD DANIEL kdaniel@liherald.com
When Los Ciegos del Barrio takes the stage at the Island Park Library next Monday, they will showcase a story of lifelong friendship and musical evolution. The band — 53-yearold twin brothers Alvin and Derek Suare z, Jimmy Fontanez, 55, A.J. Vargas, 52, and their newest member, Armando Duschene, 62 — is a blend of talent and cultural heritage. The musicians also have unique challenges: Four of the five are visually impaired, and the name of the band translates to “the blind people of the
neighborhood.” Fontanez was born with congenital cataracts. The Suarezes were born with Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, a degenerative condition that affects the optic nerve. Both had some vision up until a dozen years ago, but now can only perceive light and dark. But they have never let their conditions define them or limit their aspirations. Instead, they focus on their passion for music. Duschene is the lone member of the band who is not visually impaired. “People tend to overlook that because it gets on to the music,” Fontanez said of their
challenges. “The whole visual impairment thing is kind of like an oversight, so to speak. They tend to forget that when they interact with us, and I like that, because we don’t want to be looked at as a bunch of Stevie Wonders or Ray Charleses . . . and we’re not. We just happen to be, but we’re not just a visually impaired band.” The group has performed around the country and in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Russia. Their journey has not been without complications. Early on, they faced skepticism, and were often pigeonholed as a novelty act. T hey proved their critics
wrong, however, with their music. “People used to think Los Ciegos del Barrio, which initially was a joke — now it’s changed, where we want to represent who we are rather than what we are,” Alvin Suarez said. “Even though it’s the name of the band, it used to be more than it should have been, where a lot of people would
write . . . about us where they overdo how much of an inspiration we are just because we’re blind. Nothing having to do with just being great musicians or just being proud of what we do or being creative. It took over 20 years for us to be recognized for our music rather than our blindness. Now the focus is on our talent, and CoNtINued oN PAge 5