______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD Author debuts 9/11 novel
Mount Sinai unveils Paxmobile
Football camps open this month
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Vol. 33 No. 32
AUGUST 4 - 10, 2022
$1.00
Auto body shop irks nearby neighbors By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
The AUTo BodY repair shop Competition Collision has been flagged for more than 60 code violations in less than two years. Neighbors claim such violations are a daily fact of life.
The scent of car paint fumes hangs in the air on the corner of Bismark and Rockaway avenues. Mechanics work on wrecked cars in the open air. Vehicles and debris creep into the street. The scene is a familiar one to neighbors who live alongside the auto body repair shop, Competition Collision. Flanking it on either side are not other commercial lots, but rows of houses on what are otherwise residential streets. It’s a business that’s been there Continued on page 15
Caring for health care workers day and night at LIJV By TAYloR NICIolI Intern
It’s a quiet night at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, but people are moving. The Friday night bustle includes employees and other members of the hospital community, walking through the corridors of the Franklin Avenue facility, following signs for “Sovereign Night Markets” in the basement. You know you’re close when you hear the music thumping through the walls, spilling out from the underground auditorium where 20 vendors have set up shop, waiting for night nurses,
doctors and the like to browse their wares of artisanal and organic treats. Such markets are generally reserved for the early morning hours of weekends. But health care isn’t 9-to-5, and neither are the needs of those working those shifts. That’s why Long Island Jewish’s parent — Northwell Health — enlisted the services of vendors from the Laurelton Farmers Market in Queens last year, as well as a group of fitness exercise specialists to provide food and stress-relief to those who almost certainly need it most. Especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
But while the intensity of the pandemic has declined, its languishing effects on emotional, mental and physical health remain. And so events like the nighttime market, hospital officials say, help ensure those minding the physical and emotional health of patients are having their own cared for as well. Held monthly between 5 and 10 p.m., through October, the nighttime market was designed to help provide something for those workers who aren’t up with the sunrise each day. “The night shift workers, in any industry, aren’t looked at as much because the administration will be there during the day
shift,” said Kevin McCombs, a supply chain manager for Northwell. “There are just as many important people working during the night shift, and they want something to feel encouraged about, too.” And feeling encouraged appears to be an understatement. At the recent market, a number of them were seen hold-
ing bags of purchased items ranging from bakery treats, to jewelry, to homemade soap and hot sauce. One booth, Sassy Sweet Vegan Treats, is run by mother and daughter duo, Celeste and Cheyenne Sassine, whose mission is to share the joy of topnotch vegan food. Continued on page 4